Each holiday season, Holly Edwards, chairperson for Charlottesville’s Public Housing Association of Residents (PHAR) (www.phar.typepad.com) watches It’s a Wonderful Life. This year, she said at a City Council meeting January 2, “It resonated to me that George Bailey saved his family’s savings and loan to provide affordable housing for the citizens.” Edwards continued, “It’s time for everyone who chooses to live in Charlottesville to be able to buy a house and say: ‘It’s a wonderful life.’” The audience, many wearing “Invest in Housing” stickers, applauded loudly.
 Councilor Dave Norris was elected on an affordable housing platform. But will the new Charlottesville Affordable Housing Investment Program (CAHIP provide a meaningful solution? |
The crowd was there to endorse the recently introduced Charlottesville Affordable Housing Investment Program (CAHIP), which would raise the amount the City is spending on affordable housing by consolidating funds from other programs, directing taxes and asking developers to proffer money.
CAHIP would boost affordable housing expenditures, roughly to $2 million from $1 million. CAHIP would create four funding streams: $570,000 for Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority’s (CRHA) neglected public housing; developer contributions totaling $500,000 to the Thomas Jefferson Community Workforce Housing Fund; a low-income home ownership fund totaling $420,000; and $500,000 for a special needs housing fund.
The plan got ringing endorsements from CRHA, PHAR, Habitat for Humanity (www.avenue.org/habitat) and groups like PACEM (www.pacemshelter.org), which helps shelter the homeless. Many community members made it clear they were looking to City Council to answer their housing prayers.
But, when the public bustle died down, councilors found they had their work cut out for them.
Councilor Kevin Lynch questioned why some parts of the program seemed to “reinvent the wheel,” overlapping with other funds.
Councilor Kendra Hamilton and freshman Councilor/affordable housing champ Dave Norris countered that current funding streams come with tough paperwork that prevents people from getting the help they need.
Councilors Julian Taliaferro and Lynch also questioned the City’s role providing all the affordable housing for the metropolitan area. The City currently holds all the area’s public housing and half the region’s HUD Section 8 clients. The County would have to be on board with programs to go along with CAHIP, councilors say.
And, Lynch says, local programs won’t change national trends in housing affordability, and there are many aspects of the program yet to be hammered out.
“There are a lot of symbolic things that we do that make people feel good,” Lynch says. “But actually getting the units built and keeping them affordable is a lot easier said than done.”