The rising cost of living in Charlottesville has prompted City Council and local developers to consider options for creating more affordable housing.
Council approved a land swap with local developing group Rivanna Collaborative LLC last week that aims to create a mixed-income residential community.
The Collaborative -- a group of five local architects and developers currently planning the Rivers Edge residential community -- approached Council with a proposal to obtain City land located in the flood plain in exchange for land owned by the developing group not in the flood plain.
"The City expressed interest in providing affordable housing," Collaborative Director Chris Hays said. "We had the idea at the idea same time."
Council approved the land swap on the condition that the Collaborative make two of the units in the Rivers Edge development affordably priced. The Collaborative agreed to sell two of the plots in the development to Habitat for Humanity for $13,000 a piece; the market value is $60,000 a lot.
Although a few parcels of land in this area have been donated to Habitat for Humanity, the organization typically purchases land at market value.
"They went above and beyond what the City asked them to do, which was to sell the homes for less than $120,000," said Overton McGehee, Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville executive director. "They believe in affordable housing and they put their money where their mouth is."
The availability of affordable housing has become a more serious issue in recent years as the cost of living in Charlottesville has continued to rise.
"Prices are getting so high that it is hard for people who work in the City to have access to housing they can afford," Hays said.
In response to insufficient affordable housing, Council and Albemarle County planners are looking to encourage mixed-income communities, such as Rivers Edge.
"They want developers to include some affordable units whenever they develop new housing," McGehee said. "This property sets an example that people are willing to buy a $300,000 home next door to a Habitat house that is worth only half as much."
Rivers Edge developers recognize the assumptions associated with including low-income housing in residential developments but said they are optimistic.
"Common wisdom would say that when you build low-income housing against high it brings down the value," Hays said. "We are not convinced this is the case."
The Collaborative's willingness to forge ahead with the low-income housing could spark change in future area development projects, McGehee said.
"Developers in this part of the country have always lived with the assumption that affordable housing in neighborhoods will hurt the value of expensive homes," he said. "We need to challenge that assumption."
While the Collaborative developers will work with Habitat for Humanity to ensure that the design of the low-income homes is consistent with the rest of the neighborhood, the Habitat homes will be built by volunteers, which will significantly reduce the cost of the homes.
Habitat for Humanity will select families making between 25 and 50 percent of the area's median income to live in the Rivers Edge housing units and will give first priority to families currently living in substandard or overcrowded housing, McGehee said.
Families are required to contribute 300 hours of "sweat equity" volunteering on the construction of Habitat homes and are offered interest-free mortgages.
The focus of the Rivers Edge Community is sustainability and ecological design, Hays said.
"The key for us is that we are hoping to do something good for the neighborhood," he said. "It is an opportunity to do something different from the standard construction you seen in the area. It is a new prototype for a community that could be imitated in other locations."
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