Rent prices on the rise
While Charlottesville is seeking ways to make housing more affordable (see p. 12), rent prices keep climbing as pandemic eviction protection and rental assistance programs end.
“Just over the past month, the median rent increased by 2.3 percent. And when we look year over year, rents in Charlottesville are now up by over 12 percent, so pretty significant rent increase that we’re seeing,” housing economist Chris Salviati told NBC29.
Charlottesville isn’t the only locality with rising rent prices due in part to inflation and supply chain issues. In fact, the city is still slightly under the national rise in rents, which Salviati said was around 14 percent. However, he also told NBC29 that Charlottesville’s status as a college town creates a different sort of demand and calls for a strong rental market.
City Councilor Michael Payne reported that the city is taking steps to address it.
“We have adopted our affordable housing strategy. We’re working on the city’s zoning rewrite and Comprehensive Plan update, which will include inclusionary zoning, affordable housing requirements,” Payne told NBC29.
Payne did note that these solutions are long-term and will require a significant amount of funding. During the most recent budget cycle, the city invested about $10 million, Payne said.
He admitted that “the reality is that for working-class people, the only way we’re going to get affordable housing is with community land trusts and with direct investment from the city, state, and federal government in housing.”
The need for such assistance increased July 1, as landlords now only have to give their tenants five days notice before evicting them, rather than 14. Compounding woes, rental assistance programs are also coming to an end, which NBC29 reports is already leading to an increase in eviction court filings in Richmond and Charlottesville.
Gold Star father gets Presidential Medal of Freedom
One president’s nemesis is another one’s hero. That’s the case with Khizr Khan, the Gold Star father and founder of the Constitution Literacy and National Unity Center, who’ll receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Joe Biden on July 7.
Khan, whose son Humayun Khan, was killed in Iraq in 2004 while serving in the U.S. Army, rose to national prominence when he gave an impassioned speech denouncing Donald Trump at the Democratic National Convention in 2016, and became a target of the now-twice-impeached former president.
“Go look at the graves of brave patriots who died defending the United States of America,” Khan said to Trump. “You will see all faiths, genders, and ethnicities. You have sacrificed nothing and no one.”
Undeterred by Trump’s public attacks that were publicly denounced by many, including the late Republican Senator John McCain, Khan, a Constitutional scholar, continued to speak out on the danger Trump posed to democracy. An advocate for the rule of law and religious freedom, Khan served on the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom under Biden.
In brief
Walk it off
As Charlottesville schools cope with a deepening shortage of bus drivers, the administration has announced a plan to expand school walking zones. In the current plan, elementary schoolers would have to walk up to .75 miles to school and some high schoolers could walk over a mile. Other efforts include encouraging students to ride their bikes to school and asking older students to use other public transportation.
The party’s over
UVA is removing two fraternities, Kappa Alpha and Phi Gamma Delta, after a university investigation determined they’d engaged in hazing. Among the hazing activities the two organizations were found guilty of were spraying new members with a water hose, forcing new members to eat inedible objects, forcing them to drink beer and smoke cigarettes, and ordering new members to do push-ups and sit-ups. Several other Greek organizations at the university are under investigation for allegations of hazing and will have trials in the fall.
Money for something
The Charlottesville Area Community Foundation is giving almost $100,000 in grants to Louisa County nonprofits. “We had 27 applications this go round, which is the most we ever had, and 17 organizations received funding,” the CACF’s Ethan Tate told NBC29. “The great thing about this community, in particular, is that we have a community of folks who live in Louisa County and know what the needs are in Louisa County.”
Giving back
Tampa Bay Buccaneers guard Aaron Stinnie came back to Charlottesville last Saturday to help kids in need, NBC29 reports. The St. Anne’s-Belfield alum hosted a school supply give-away at the First Recreation Center, giving away free backpacks full of school supplies to nearly 50 children. Stinnie said he hopes to continue to plan events like this and help even more kids in Charlottesville.
Edit 7/6/22 7:21pm: A previous version of this story incorrectly identified the Presidential Medal of Freedom as the Medal of Honor.