Restoring Empty, Falling Down Homes

Due to plant closures attributable to Globalization, our county has suffered a nearly 1/3 population loss in the last decade.

Our largest city, Martinsville, has one of the highest unemployment rates in Virginia.

These events caused many properties, especially single-family homes, to fall into disrepair due to abandonment.

As they atrophy, they serve as visual blights to those who live near or pass by them

Henry Cares aspires to restore some of these homes.

Having restored a number of falling down, empty homes in Alexandria, Baltimore, and Washington DC, Henry Cares believes it can make a difference, however modest, in Henry County

Ideally, owners of properties in desperate need of restoration, or those who are hopelessly behind in property taxes and/or their mortgages, will allow us to propose solutions that are mutually beneficial

For those who itemize their taxes, Henry Cares can produce a statement allowing donations of property to Henry Cares to deduct the value of their donation from their Virginia state taxes

When the US IRS recognizes us as a Federal non-profit —a status for which we applied over a year ago and which we anticipate receiving whenever the IRS “catches up on its paperwork” – Henry Cares will issue a statement allowing property donors to deduct the value of their property from their Federal tax obligation.

For a fulsome explanation of the empty home problem besetting not just Henry County, take the time to read this article:

https://www.huduser.gov/portal/periodicals/em/winter14/highlight1.html

Note that in nearby prosperous Greensboro/High Point, nearly 10% of its housing – roughly 31,000 dwellings — are vacant and in some state of disrepair