If he wants any chance at being a resident in Virginia for tuition purpose, he must live there and work full time without taking any class (perhaps one community college class).
He will not be considered a resident after a year of college.
Some states base residency on the State the parents pay taxes in; some consider a student who works and pays taxes; some states also look at whether the student graduated from a state high school.
Graduating from a Virginia high school + registering to vote in November + working and paying taxes in Virginia + having a valid va driver’s license would go a long toward establishing residency.
How old is your son? Can he simply enroll in a Virginia high school near where your relatives live? Can he keep his job, live on his own, attend high school in Williamsburg? (He should indicate he’s a minor living alone, which will lead to extra help and services.) Since he’ll be 17 still in August and is an American citizen, he automatically qualifies for high school. That would solve a lot of his/your problems. He would be considered a minor with no parents present and thus would not need to justify where you live.
The moment he turns 18, this vanishes. So, I would advocate he enrolls himself in a local high school as soon as possible.
Since you are very low income and he’s American, his best bet is to get into a meet 100% need private college.
I wouldn’t advocate the cc-> University route unless he gets into Richard Bland.
This student needs a full ride and those only exist for first year students, not transfers.
If your son is very capable, he needs to live and work in Virginia and take the SAT, scoring very high (1450-1500), then take 2 subject tests (each 750+), and apply to UVA: it’s one of the few public universities that meets need for instate and OOS students. UVA is considered a “public ivy” so only very strong students can get in.
I may have missed it, but what subjects is he interested in?