Family had historic housing impact

John Selden Taylor Sr. Lockport, N.Y.
Published: April 19, 2008

To look at Charlottesville’s inner-city neighborhoods today, it might be hard to imagine that 40 years ago there was much blight hidden in the shadow of Mr. Jefferson’s University.
As a young student at the University of Virginia in the late 1960s, I was inspired to work with civic leaders such as Francis Fife, who had a long history of improving housing in Central Virginia. I worked in Charlottesville for more than a decade as director of the Charlottesville Housing Improvement Program.
In 1980, I was first introduced to Eugene Williams shortly before leaving town to complete an MBA at the University of Buffalo in western New York. Little did I know at the time that the Williams family would be creating a new chapter in Charlottesville’s history that became known as the Dogwood Housing Limited Partnership.

Before leaving Charlottesville, I had the opportunity of crawling through all 62 units of the properties that the Williams family had acquired from the McCreary estate, compiling the initial specifications for the eventual massive renovations that were yet to be financed.

We had to rework the budget repeatedly to the meet the requirements of an ever growing mix of financing.
I thought for sure that Eugene and Lorraine Williams would become discouraged and lose hope. After many sleepless nights it was apparent that they would never give up.

Eventually, an unprecedented package of public, private and conventional financing was approved, and these blighted properties were transformed, and remain like new today. This is a legacy that is being carried forward by Keith Woodward, the new owner of Dogwood Properties of Charlottesville, LLC.

The neighborhood impact of the Dogwood Housing Partnership has been historic, but the impact that Eugene has had on its occupants has been even more dramatic. For 27 years the Williams family has inspired their residents to better their lives.

They used their monthly newsletter, Informed People are Better People, to celebrate the accomplishments of their tenants. These many people touched by Eugene’s passion for self-improvement will be the real legacy of the Dogwood Housing Limited Partnership that will keep on moving forward.