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Laurels for putting affordable housing on Middleburg's map
Close to 20 percent of Middleburg's 600-plus residents live today in clean, decent apartments and duplexes thanks to the work of Kim Hart and his colleagues at the Windy Hill Foundation.
Hart's role in making that happen has brought him the inaugural Loudoun Laurels Award from Inova Loudoun Hospital. Hospital Chief Executive Officer Randy Kelley said the awards are for those outstanding individuals whose service to the county deserves special recognition.
Hart credits the mentors he came to know, growing up in Montana, for his commitment of time and energy to his Middleburg neighbors.
"I was fortunate enough that there were some gentlemen in the community who were good leaders," he said. "They took me under their wing and taught me that community service is a part of what we do in this life."
Since its birth in 1981, the foundation has built or rehabilitated 67 housing units that are home to more than 125 men, women and children who otherwise could not afford to live where they work or close to their families. Many of the foundation's tenants earn 30 percent or less of the county's median income, and most can be found earning their wages at Middleburg restaurants, stores and shops. Others are elderly or disabled and could not afford to live here without the foundation's commitment of affordable workforce housing.
Much of the construction has been done under the watchful eye of Hart. He serves on the board and oversees an independent construction arm of the foundation.
The foundation started when Rene Llewellyn went to work raising money to rebuild the cluster of dilapidated shacks on Windy Hill lane on the west end of town.
Enter Hart. He had settled in Middleburg several years earlier in order to have space for his dog. He founded Hart, McMurphy & Parks, a small consulting firm that works with residential and commercial builders and made Middleburg his home.
Windy Hill "made it clear there was a great unmet need for affordable housing," Hart said.
Llewellyn Village, Barton House, Virginia Lane and senior living at Levis Hill House followed.
It's a myth that affordable housing is only for the poor and the unemployed, Hart said. Windy Hill's apartments and houses are home to "people who need to work here, and couldn't afford to live here. Our tenants are working, retired and disabled."
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