A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on June 16 for a new 12-unit housing project in Gloucester for individuals with a mental health disability. The first tenants have already moved in.

The project, years in the planning, is a joint effort of the Middle Peninsula-Northern Neck Community Services Board and Woodland Pointe, Inc., a nonprofit foundation in charge of helping operate the facility.

Woodland Pointe Apartments, located on Dixon Lane off Belroi Road near Gloucester Court House, is a significant project, foundation chairman Harrison Dixon said, especially since often rural areas are “an afterthought” in terms of receiving funds to benefit the homeless and those with mental health problems.

The project was made a reality, CSB executive director Chuck Walsh said, because of a $1.3 million federal Housing and Urban Development Section 811 grant and an approximately $362,000 grant from the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development.

Willie Fobbs, associat...