The Charlottesville City Council voted last week 4-1 to accept a charge presented by the City's Housing Policy Task Force. The charge sought to redefine the goals of the group by establishing a new standing task force and exploring its role in increasing the amount of affordable housing in the Charlottesville area.
The task force was established in 2003 and is comprised of community members in positions to deal with the rising cost of housing.
"The cost of housing is rapidly outpacing the income of the individuals needing housing," said Stu Armstrong, member of the Housing Policy Task Force and Executive Director of the Piedmont Housing Alliance, a group that provides housing loans to low-income families. "It is getting worse before it is getting better. The prices just go up and up and up, and next more subsidies are needed to help people, especially for those that are workers in the community."
Council's charge called for additions to activities of the task force including an annual review of the need in Charlottesville for affordable housing and the effectiveness of housing policy in Albemarle County.
Additionally, the task force will seek to explore barriers to the development of affordable housing. Although the task force has not specifically addressed housing close to Grounds, Council has identified the University and the over 8,000 of its students who live off-Grounds as one of the barriers to affordable housing.
"It is one of the variables that puts demand on the inventory of housing stock," Armstrong said. "It is a key player in the marketplace."
Others involved with the task force agree the demand generated by students and others in the University community for housing close to Grounds makes the existence of low-income housing near the University difficult.
"Obviously it affects it, I think more negatively than positively from an availability point of view," Council member Blake Caravati said. "The demand is higher than the supply therefore prices are way up."
Although Caravati said he believes the condition and amount of housing around the University has improved, the availability of low-income housing near the school is still an issue.
"Basically, if you are a working class family, or low income, you can't live anywhere near the University, even if you work there," Caravati said.
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