In an effort to combat the rising cost of housing in Charlottesville, City Council adopted goals aimed at creating more affordable housing Monday night.
However, Council did not approve the formal Housing Strategy presented by the City's Department of Neighborhood Development.
Council members expressed concern over several of the document's recommendations, including the hiring of a staff member to handle housing concerns.
The proposal to have a Housing Strategy staff member was developed several months ago and has since been abandoned, Charlottesville Neighborhood Development Coordinator Jim Tolbert said.
In addition, the document needs standard editing before official passage, Council Member Kendra Hamilton said.
"Those are things we are not necessarily sure we want to sign off on," Hamilton said.
Council has held several work sessions focused on setting up a housing trust fund and providing affordable housing in Charlottesville.
Council will likely reconsider and pass the strategy by Dec. 6, after members have the chance to edit the document and rework some of the details of the recommendations.
The Housing Strategy calls for collaboration with outside organizations such as the Piedmont Housing Alliance and Habitat for Humanity in order to develop affordable housing in the City.
Both organizations are currently working on housing scattered around the City, Tolbert said.
Organizations like PHA and Habitat are able to develop affordable housing primarily because they are not trying to earn a profit, Tolbert said.
Private sector developers are unwilling to produce the housing needed -- including town houses, condominiums and starter homes -- at low cost, Hamilton said.
"People are interested in making money," she added.
The City's Housing Strategy is aimed toward providing housing for low-income residents, including anyone making $30,000 or less annually.
Despite the need for affordable housing in Charlottesville's service-based economy, the price of living in Charlottesville continues to rise, Hamilton said.
"The market is only producing homes for the upper middle class and people of wealth," Hamilton said.
In recent years, Charlottesville has increasingly attracted people from other places in the country. Many of these Charlottesville newcomers, from places such as New York and California, are accustomed to higher real estate prices and are driving up bidding prices in the City.
The rising prices and subsequent increases in tax assessments are forcing locals to sell, Hamilton added.
"Long-term residents are being driven out of the City," she said. "Families have been here for generations, but changes in the market are affecting them."
Additionally, residents forced to relocate outside of the City are contributing to Charlottesville's sprawl and traffic congestion, Hamilton said. University students' preference to live off Grounds and in the Charlottesville community also is putting a squeeze on Charlottesville's housing situation.
"Students tend to be more affluent than the people in Charlottesville and bid up rental prices," Hamilton said.
Tolbert agreed that the higher rent prices students are willing to pay to live off Grounds have had a negative effect on the affordability of housing.
"When they can put four students in a house that pays $500 a bedroom, it inflates prices and makes it difficult for a family to compete with that," Tolbert said.
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