City Councilwoman Ellen F. Robertson has been a champion of affordable housing during her 11 years on City Council.

The 6th District representative, who previously led a nonprofit housing group in the Highland Park area, has been a staunch advocate for creation of lower-cost homes and apartments for working people and others.

Ms. Robertson also chairs the city’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund Oversight Board and has overseen the award of $1.9 million in city funds in the past year to support lower-cost rental units in five developments.

However, Mrs. Robertson has quietly blocked development in her district of a group home, called The Hampton House, for women who have been released from state prison.

The plan, developed by former teacher and human resources manager Gwendolyn H. MacClenahan, sought to respond to the hardship women can face in trying to find a place to live after incarceration, particularly if they have lost family support.

When the Free Press asked Ms. Robertson why she opposed Hampton House, her response was: “Do you have the addresses of all facilities of similar much-needed services in the city, Henrico, and Chesterfield?  Please forward. Thanks.”

Ms. MacClenahan is disappointed and puzzled.

“She didn’t want it in her district,” Ms. MacClenahan said. “Ms. Robertson never told me that explicitly, but that was the gist of what others told me about her position.”

Even though more than 150 nearby residents, church representatives and business owners signed a petition supporting her plan to open the structured group home at 2414 4th Ave. in Highland Park, Ms. MacClenahan has scratched the proposal.

“If the council member is against it, there’s no way it can go through,” she said.

She needed Ms. Robertson’s support because the house is zoned R-6, or a single-family district. City law allows only three unrelated people to live in such a house, except when the home is for people who are mentally disabled. A state law, which supersedes local zoning, allows up to eight such mentally disabled people to live together in a single-family house.

Ms. MacClenahan would have needed City Council to approve a special use permit to allow Hampton House to open. She said she dropped her application, believing it would be futile to spend $1,800 to go through the process only to meet rejection.

The 54-year-old said she learned about the need for living quarters for female ex-convicts while volunteering with the nonprofit group, Bridging the Gap in Virginia, which assists felons to make the transition from prison back to society.

“What I learned is that there are group homes for men, but very few for women anywhere in the state,” said Ms. MacClenahan.

The Louisiana native said she planned to compete for a Department of Corrections contract to open a “structured and comprehensive program” for five to eight women. She believes she has the background and experience to create a successful program.

She said that the women who would live in the house would not “be out wandering the neighborhood,” but would have reasons for leaving the group home, such as going to a doctor or searching for employment.

She planned to offer classes on everything from starting a business to preparing for job interviews. Other classes would have assisted women in handling their finances and taking charge of their lives so they would not return to prison.

“These women are coming out of prison,” she said, “and my response is that we need to help them.”

With support from her husband, Patrick, she said she began looking for a suitable space. One of the DOC requirements is for such a home to be on the line of public transportation, she said. “You can’t put it just anywhere.”

She said that she has run into NIMBY, “not-in-my-backyard” issues several times.

She said her first choice was to buy a home in Ginter Park, but she said she ran into opposition from the council representative, Chris A. Hilbert, 3rd District, who said neighbors would oppose it.

After looking again, she came upon 2414 4th Ave., which needed renovation. The place looked perfect, though, because the house sits apart from its neighbors on a big lot, she said. It also has a spacious interior that can be turned into four bedrooms and three baths once the improvements are complete.

She said she was buoyed when she learned neighbors did not raise objections. “Quite a few felt it would be an asset,” she said, but that was not enough to convince Ms. Robertson.

Now that her original plan has died, she has rented space in the house to three women “who have been facing health challenges or other problems.”

“I’m not giving up on establishing Hampton House, either,” she said. “I’m still looking for a location that will be acceptable.”