By Lewis Loflin
View from the corner of Oakview and Clinton Avenues.
Sapling Grove Apartments, a 26-unit complex (13 duplexes) on Oakview Avenue, Buckner Street, and Clinton Avenue in Bristol, Virginia, was completed in 2007 by the Bristol Redevelopment and Housing Authority (BRHA). BRHA CEO Dave Baldwin described the project as setting a new standard for affordable housing. The BRHA manages 401 public housing units, including two high-rise buildings for elderly residents, singles, and childless couples.
Featuring brick foundations, central heating, open dining areas, tiled kitchens, and appliances like washers, dryers, dishwashers, and refrigerators, Sapling Grove targets senior citizens and disabled individuals. Monthly rents are $355 for one-bedroom units and $420 for two-bedroom units, with eligibility based on income. However, these units are not available to low-wage working families, limiting access for Bristol’s working poor.
In 2008, Bristol Mayor Jim Rector acknowledged that one-third of the city’s residents needed affordable housing, stating, “Public affordable housing is the way to go. In private housing programs, the only goal is profit, while public programs do what is best for residents.” This marked a rare public admission of Bristol’s housing crisis, particularly for low-wage workers.
Despite this, local government prioritized economic development projects, allocating significant funds to retail and restaurant developments, such as the Highlands shopping center, while neglecting wage issues. Washington County’s focus on tourism, driven by attractions like Bristol Motor Speedway, has created low-paying service jobs, leaving many residents struggling with housing costs. In 2023, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that 49.7% of U.S. renters spent over 30% of their income on housing, a trend reflected in Bristol, where median home prices rose 7.3% from 2022 to 2023, outpacing wage growth.
View from the corner of Oakview and Clinton Avenues.
Sapling Grove was built in an area with high crime rates, near a public housing zone where a police substation was closed after federal funding ended. City officials declined to fund the substation with local revenue, instead investing in aesthetic projects like decorative light poles on State Street to attract tourists. Symbolic gestures, such as renaming nearby streets to Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway, were criticized as insufficient to address systemic issues like poverty and housing access.
While Sapling Grove provides quality housing for seniors and disabled residents, its location in a high-crime area and exclusion of working families underscore Bristol’s broader affordability challenges.
The Landmark Group of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, converted the former Douglass School in Bristol into 41 senior housing units, completed around 2008 for $4.7 million. The Bristol City Council sold the vacant building for $350,000, lending the amount to Landmark, and the Virginia Housing Development Authority provided $287,912 in tax credits. A similar project repurposed another closed school, reflecting population decline as families left due to economic hardship.
Landmark’s goal, as stated on their website, is to revitalize economically challenged areas in rural southwestern Virginia by repurposing historic buildings like schools and textile plants. While these projects, like Sapling Grove, received community support, they primarily serve seniors, not low-wage workers. Landmark’s earlier proposal for working-class housing at Exit 7 faced strong opposition, highlighting resistance to integrating affordable housing in more affluent areas.
Mayor Rector’s 2008 acknowledgment of Bristol’s housing needs highlighted a critical issue: low wages exacerbate affordability problems. Critics argue that local policies favoring corporate incentives over wage improvements contribute to out-migration of young residents and growing poverty among future retirees. The Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies reported in 2024 that 41 million U.S. households are cost-burdened, with Bristol’s challenges mirroring national trends.
Efforts to verify the current status of Sapling Grove and Landmark’s projects were limited by scarce recent data. However, the ongoing lack of housing for working families in Washington County suggests a need for policies that address both wage growth and affordable housing development.
Acknowledgment: I’d like to thank Grok, an AI by xAI, for helping me draft and refine this article. The final edits and perspective are my own.
