An abundance of reclaimable homes sit vacant in the Roanoke Valley and Alleghany Highlands, waiting to help fill the need for affordable living, if only someone or something would regionalize an approach to bring together those and other pieces of the housing situation, said the findings of a study from the Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission. Across the studied regionâs counties â Alleghany, Botetourt, Craig, Franklin and Roanoke â and its cities and towns â Covington, Roanoke and Salem, Clifton Forge, Rocky Mount and Vinton â one-third of all vacant housing units are classified by U.S. Census data as âvacant other,â with potential for rehabilitation and reoccupancy, the 2020 study said.