Tag: Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority

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If you build it: Despite pandemic, land use projects moved forward in 2020

City Council agreed in October to contribute $5.5 million in a forgivable loan to support the first phase of the Piedmont Housing Alliance’s redevelopment of Friendship Court, the 150-unit downtown public housing complex that was built in 1978. PC: Grimm + Parker Architects

In a year where many of us followed guidelines to stay at home, the skies of downtown Charlottesville were marked by cranes building new spaces for the 21st century. In their shadow, projects to provide more affordable units moved through the bureaucratic process required to keep them below-market. Before the clock strikes 2021, let’s look back at some of what happened in 2020.

Public housing

After years of planning and complaints of decay from residents, Charlottesville’s government took steps to renovate the city’s public housing stock. In October, City Council agreed to spend $3 million to help finance the renovation of Crescent Halls and the construction of 62 new units on an athletic field at South First Street. A date for groundbreaking has been postponed several times, but officials with the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority hope it will occur early next year.

At the same meeting, council also agreed to contribute $5.5 million in a forgivable loan to support the first phase of the Piedmont Housing Alliance’s redevelopment of Friendship Court. The 150-unit complex was built in 1978 in an area cleared by urban renewal. The first phase will see up to 106 units built on vacant land along Monticello Avenue and Sixth Street SE. The loan dictates that the new homes must be made affordable to people who earn less than the area median income. As with CRHA, there’s no set date for groundbreaking yet.

Also this year, a firm hired to complete an overhaul of Charlottesville’s Comprehensive Plan unveiled a draft of an affordable housing plan that calls for $10 million a year in city investment in similar projects. The draft also asks “to bring diverse voices from the community into decision making structure of the City and partners it funds.”

As the Comprehensive Plan edit process continues, affordable housing advocates hope to reform the zoning ordinance to make it easier to build more housing units without seeking permission from council. This conversation will spill over to 2021, as work on the Comprehensive Plan continues and as voters prepare to elect or re-elect two members of City Council in November.

Downtown towers

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of square feet for offices and other commercial uses are under construction. The largest is the Center of Developing Entrepreneurs, which is being erected on Water Street on the site of the former Main Street Arena. The triangle-shaped nine-story building will include a public courtyard, retail area, and incubator space intended to grow new businesses. Completion is expected by August 2021.

On Second Street, within sight of the CODE building, a nine-story office building called 3Twenty3 nears completion, despite a crane collapse in early January. The structure is ready for occupancy and tenants include Manchester Capital, CoConstruct, and McGuire Woods.

Not too far behind is the new headquarters for Apex Clean Energy, an eight-story timber-built structure on Garrett Street designed by Charlottesville-based William McDonough + Partners. Ground was broken in October 2019 and the building could be completed by the end of 2021.

Elsewhere in Charlottesville, Albemarle County hired Fentress Architects to design the $45.2 million renovation of the judicial complex in Court Square. The new general district court complex will be shared by both localities. Construction on the court building won’t begin until at least 2022, but the project is already drawing plenty of attention, as the city continues to move forward with the planning process for a parking structure at Market and Ninth streets to support the new facility.

A previous City Council bought the Market Street parcel in January 2017 for $2.85 million, and the current plan is to build a four-level parking structure with 300 spaces and 12,000 square feet of commercial space. Opponents have argued the structure isn’t needed and the city could invest the $10 million price tag in other projects, including affordable housing. The city says the new spaces would provide enough inventory to allow the nearby Market Street Parking Garage to be retired and redeveloped in the decades to come. The hulking parking garage is among the biggest decisions council will need to make as it hashes out a capital budget for next year.

What about Albemarle?

Albemarle County is also working on a new affordable housing plan. The draft calls for zoning changes that would allow for thousands more units to be built compared to the existing rules. This year, however, the county Board of Supervisors has not approved two projects that would have added to that number. In June, concerns about traffic left the board deadlocked on a vote that would have seen 328 units built on 27 acres at the northern end of the John Warner Parkway. In early January, super­visors are expected to take a vote on a rezoning for 130 units to be built near Glenmore. Neighbors cite traffic concerns for their vehement opposition to the project.

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In brief: Public housing progress, Trump rally trouble, and more

The Friendship Court redevelopment is scheduled to take place in four phases over the course of seven years. Phase one, indicated above, will begin in the fall. PC: City of Charlottesville

Do-over

Multiple public housing developments in Charlottesville are one step closer to getting a badly needed makeover. At its Monday meeting, City Council unanimously approved two ordinances regarding the redevelopment of Crescent Halls, South First Street, and Friendship Court.

The Piedmont Housing Alliance will take the lead on the first phase of Friendship Court’s redevelopment, while the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority will head the work at Crescent Halls, as well as the first phase of South First Street.

In this year’s budget, council allocated over $3 million to CRHA for its projects. At its meeting this week, council needed to approve the funds again into a community development corporation operated by CRHA. Constructing and redeveloping Crescent Halls and South First Street will cost an estimated $34 million in total.

Once redeveloped, Crescent Halls—which houses mostly seniors and people with disabilities—will have 98 one-bedroom, and seven two-bedroom apartments, as well as improved accessibility and amenities. At South First Street, CRHA will renovate the existing 58 units, and build 142 new ones.

For Friendship Court, PHA plans to build 35 new multi-family homes and 71 new apartments off of Monticello Avenue. Forty-six will be set aside for current residents, while others will be available to people making between 80 percent to less than 30 percent of the area median income.

Construction on Friendship Court is expected to begin in the spring.

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Quote of the week

“The grass around here looks terrible. It’s up above our knees. If we have a mayor that’s sitting on the housing board, have y’all really looked at Westhaven?”

—local activist Rosia Parker, calling out the poor conditions in the city’s public housing at Monday’s City Council meeting

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In brief

Trump train strain

On Sunday, Richmond City Council candidate Mike Dickinson led a “Trump Train”—a caravan of supporters in their cars—from Henrico County into the city. That caused yet another altercation beneath the Monument Avenue Lee statue, where protesters stood in the roadway, preventing the caravan’s progress. Police responded to reports that a gunshot was fired and one woman was pepper sprayed. No other injuries were reported. The statue’s days seem numbered—last week, a judge said Governor Ralph Northam can remove the Lee statue by executive order, pending one last period for appeal.

Whine and dine

A disgruntled bride is suing Pippin Hill Farm & Vineyards for $32,000 after the Albemarle winery refused to refund a deposit for a canceled wedding, reports NBC29. Heather Heldman and her fiancé pushed their May 2020 wedding back to October when COVID broke out, but even with the postponement, just 15 percent of guests said they were able to attend. Heldman asked for a full refund. Pippin offered to return $9,000, saying it will have hosted a dozen weddings by the end of the fall, and it’s not the vineyard’s fault the Heldmans’ guests couldn’t make the trip. The wedding is just the latest event that’s gone sour in 2020.

Wild times

The city continues to expand the Heyward Community Forest, a swathe of newly protected land near Ragged Mountain. Last year, the city used a $600,000 grant from the Virginia Outdoors Foundation to purchase 144 acres of land from a private owner, thus establishing the forest. At Monday’s council meeting, the city appropriated $65,000 in VOF grant money to purchase five additional acres.

PC: Stephen Barling
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Housing hero: Community mourns loss of Richard Shackelford

Richard Shackelford—known as “Shack” to his friends—was a driving force behind the redevelopment of Crescent Halls. PC: Eze Amos

Beloved public housing advocate Richard Shackelford passed away in his Crescent Halls apartment on the morning of May 21, after a heart attack. He was 66 years old.

Shackelford—known as “Shack” to his friends—grew up in Charlottesville, on the corner of Fifth and Harris streets. For many years, he worked as a gym instructor for Charlottesville City Schools, and was heavily involved in his church, Mount Zion First African Baptist Church.

In 2014, he moved to Crescent Halls, a public housing complex for the eldery and disabled, with his wife, Sandy, after they lost their house. 

For years, Crescent Halls residents protested against the 105-unit building’s poor maintenance, including broken air conditioners, sweltering heat, sewage flooding, broken-down elevators, and cockroaches. Plans to renovate the complex, as well as other public housing facilities, were made as early as 2010, but action had been notoriously slow.

Wanting to join the fight for change, Shackelford enrolled in the Public Housing Association of Residents’ six-month internship program, which trained him to be an advocate. After completing the internship in 2016, he went on to serve as vice president and president of the Crescent Halls Tenant Association, as well as vice chair of PHAR’s board of directors and a member of the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority redevelopment committee.

While Shackelford advocated for public housing residents across the city, he was an especially strong champion for the redevelopment of Crescent Halls, says CRHA redevelopment coordinator (and former mayor) Dave Norris. Last January, CRHA finally approved a partnership with Riverbend Development and PHAR, along with two other developers, to completely renovate the more than 40-year-old building. Construction is set to begin this fall. 

“He thought it was very unfair that people who had spent…and worked their whole lives in Charlottesville, in many cases, were having to live in such unfortunate conditions,” says Norris. “His advocacy for his neighbors was largely responsible for the fact that the city…and others have ultimately agreed to put about $19 million into renovating that building from top to bottom.”

Shackelford made sure his voice was not the only one heard, Norris points out. He helped to include more Crescent Halls residents in conversations about the building’s renovations, as well as other public housing issues.

“He really believed passionately that even if you were extremely low-income, you still deserved a voice and…a seat at the table,” says Norris.

Both inside and outside of meetings, Shackelford was friendly and encouraging, but “when he had something to say, he would be very firm about it,” says PHAR Lead Organizer Brandon Collins. “He’d been in Charlottesville his whole life and had a real perspective on things. He called [the city] out for not doing enough for poor folks, not giving people enough of a chance, [and] not using resources the right way to help people with homeownership…He was just really dumbfounded by the lack of help that poor people get.”

“He brought his personal experiences and family knowledge to the table with policy makers,” adds Legal Aid Justice Center Outreach Director Emily Dreyfus, who serves on PHAR’s advisory council. “He made a real difference in helping people understand some of the intentional wrongs that were inflicted on black people in Charlottesville over the decades.”

When not advocating for housing rights at meetings and community events, Shackelford could be seen helping his neighbors. He would often carry groceries for people and give out extra canned goods, says resident Alice Washington, who is now president of the tenant association.

“Not only did he love to cook—he could cook! He was always sharing food with people,” she says.

Shackelford ultimately touched many lives, and left a lasting legacy on our town. “He was a committed guy. He put in the work,” says Collins. 

“All in all he was just a good person,” adds Washington. “We are going to miss him a lot.”

Updated 5/29

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Coronavirus News

In brief: Masked melons, summertime sadness, and more

Cooling off in the city’s splash gardens is a thing of the past, thanks to a recent announcement that all Charlottesville pools and spraygrounds will be closed this summer. PC: Ron Paris

Goodbye, summer

Monday is Memorial Day, the traditional start to summer, but this year, much of the city’s outdoor recreation space will be off limits. Last week, Charlottesville Parks & Recreation closed all city pools and spraygrounds for the summer, and canceled camps. In addition, other outdoor facilities, including basketball and tennis courts, picnic shelters, and the Sugar Hollow Reservoir, will remain shuttered until further notice. In Albemarle County, all swimming lakes will be closed, along with playgrounds and ball fields.

“Our decision at this point is based on public safety and health, and our staff and keeping our staff safe,” says Todd Brown, Charlottesville Parks & Rec’s interim director. Where parks are open, both the city and county will employ monitors to ensure visitors are social distancing.

Under Phase One of Governor Northam’s reopening plan, which began May 15, pools are allowed to open for lap swimming, and private facilities like ACAC and Fry’s Spring have done so. But city and county officials say the decision to keep public pools closed has to do with staffing.

“We don’t have a year-round staff for lifeguarding, and so it’s really difficult to recruit seasonal lifeguards when we don’t know when they would be able to start work,” says Emily Kilroy, the director of communications and public engagement for Albemarle County. Brown noted that the city did not start training lifeguards in March, as it usually does, and that carried weight in the decision.

“With things being delayed in terms of the different phases…that uncertainty, it goes against being able to plan on how to open and operate pools so that you’re keeping people safe,” says Brown.

Amy Smith, assistant director of the county’s Parks & Recreation department, says “park ambassadors” will be stationed at the county’s swimming lakes this summer, to make sure no children make their way into the water. But how to keep kids with no other options for cooling off away from other, unguarded bodies of water—like the Rivanna River—is less clear.

“We know that there is going to be a reaction to this action, and that could also cause negative impacts elsewhere,” says Brown. “And we are concerned about that, too.”

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Quote of the Week

“I am hopeful that our students will be back in the classroom this fall.”

—Governor Ralph Northam, at a press conference on Monday. (So are we, Ralph. So are we.)

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In brief

Sour grapes

Listening to the President these days, you’d think the pandemic is over. But don’t tell that to Charlottesville’s Trump Winery, which soft-opened this week behind a set of complicated social-distancing requirements. While Trump has famously declined to wear a mask in public, they’re mandatory for servers at his winery, and recommended for guests.

Budget bristles

City budget officials have their work cut out for them, as staff projects a $5.4 million loss in revenue this year. That’s made some in City Hall grumpy: This week, The Daily Progress wrote a story about the city-county revenue sharing agreement, but City Manager Tarron Richardson (whose job is to talk about the budget) didn’t like the coverage, and said at Monday’s council meeting that he was “too upset to talk about it right now.”   

Seedy suspects

On the evening of May 6, two people walked into a Louisa Sheetz wearing unusual face masks: hollowed-out watermelons with holes cut out for their eyes. According to the Louisa Police Department, the pair committed larceny, though it’s unclear exactly what they took. Police arrested one of the suspects—20-year-old Justin Rogers—on May 16, and charged him with wearing a mask in public while committing larceny, underage possession of alcohol, and petit larceny of alcohol. The second melonhead is still on the loose.

Major makeover

After many years of residents protesting against its dilapidated conditions, Crescent Halls will undergo major renovations starting this fall—but not without a huge price tag. At a May 18 meeting, the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority announced that the project—which also includes the redevelopment and construction of new units on South First Street—would cost $26.94 million for construction, about $4.3 million more than last year’s estimates. To pay the bill, CRHA plans to secure additional funding from the Virginia Housing Development Authority, as well as private donors.

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Housing divided: Critics say new budget puts parking over people

“By failing to fund affordable housing in your city, you are quite literally causing and creating homelessness,” said Alliance for Interfaith Ministries director Kimberly Fontaine at the Planning Commission’s public hearing for the city’s Capital Improvement Plan last week. 

The Capital Improvement Plan covers non-recurring projects that last for five or more years and cost upwards of $50,000 each. Every year, the city manager’s office drafts a five-year plan, and the planning commission then puts forward non-binding recommendations. This year’s plan includes almost $5 million for a new parking lot on Market Street and another $5 million for the Belmont Bridge, along with smaller projects like replacement traffic lights, new police radios, and air quality adjustments at the Smith Aquatic Center.

What’s absent from the budget, however, drew the most comments at the hearing. As testimony after testimony piled up, the meeting became an emotional referendum on Charlottesville’s housing emergency. The proposed CIP spreads out appropriations for the Charlottesville Regional Housing Authority over a longer period of time than initially proposed, effectively resulting in a 50 percent cut to the CRHA budget for the next two fiscal years. 

Council chambers were standing-room only, even though the CIP won’t go into effect until April. Many people in the audience held printed signs reading “Fully Fund Affordable Housing.”

“It takes at least two and a half full-time minimum wage jobs to afford a market rate two-bedroom rental home here in Charlottesville,” said Sunshine Mathon, CEO of the Piedmont Housing Alliance. “We have an opportunity to realign our priorities, redressing the historical outcomes our systems were designed to—and did—produce.”

Elena Cleveland owns a house built by Habitat for Humanity. She said her mortgage is half of what she used to pay in rent. “With the rent being so high, we didn’t have money for anything else,” Cleveland said.

“We’ve been talking about this for a long, long time,” said public housing resident and activist Joy Johnson. “We live in the city, we’re taxpayers. You have a responsibility to make sure that folks who are not homeowners still have affordable housing to live in.”

Former mayor Dave Norris reminded the commission that city investment in housing earns generous matches from philanthropic groups and state programs. “That $3 million that was allocated this year leveraged in turn about eight dollars for every one dollar put in by the city,” Norris said.

Housing wasn’t the only point of contention—other residents voiced their concerns about the potential environmental impacts of the new plan. The proposed CIP includes funding for an $8.5 million parking garage on Market Street, but does not include any new money for sidewalks or bicycle infrastructure. 

“If you keep burning more and more fossil fuels, you will accelerate the destruction of this planet, said resident Josh Clark. “Which is a different kind of housing crisis, if you think about it.”

“As we turn our sights to hitting our city’s emissions targets, the city has few levers to pull,” said resident Andrew Jones. “Encouraging zero-carbon, low-cost transportation through cycling and pedestrian infrastructure is one of the few obvious paths forward to hitting these targets.”

For some, those concerns were secondary to housing. “If people can’t afford to live here, it doesn’t matter how many bike lanes we put in,” said resident Don Gathers. 

After more than 90 minutes of public comment, Commissioner Lyle Solla-Yates put forward a motion: “I’d like to move that the CIP needs additional work.” 

The planning commission addressed housing first. “Why are we making this so much harder than it needs to be? We’re fully funding it,” said Commissioner Taneia Dowell. 

The commission passed an amendment recommending that the city front-load their six-year, $15 million commitment to the Charlottesville Regional Housing Authority, increasing the budget from $1.5 million to $3 million for fiscal years 2021 and 2022 and effectively reversing this CIP’s proposed cut. The commission also asked the city to increase funding for the Charlottesville Affordable Housing Fund over the next five years. 

Freeing up funds for housing meant cutting other projects. The commission identified the Market Street parking garage construction as fat that could be trimmed. Building a new parking garage is “morally wrong, at any dollar amount,” said Commissioner Rory Stolzenberg. 

“I do think there’s something that can be done there, other than just an ugly old parking garage,” said Commissioner Lisa Green. “There’s so many options out there.”

The commission recommended that the project remain unfunded until the city has had an opportunity to produce alternate options.

From there, finding projects to defund became more difficult. At one point, Solla-Yates suggested postponing a request for a new ambulance. “It wasn’t in the projection, it’s not an emergency,” he said. His motion died without being seconded. 

“A friendly reminder to my fellow planning commissioners,” Solla-Yates said. “If we don’t decrease anything, we don’t get to increase anything.”

Towards the end of the discussion, Mayor Nikuyah Walker said that simply setting aside more funding for public housing wouldn’t solve the problem. The city wouldn’t know how to spend the money even if it became available.

“Where’s all this affordable housing we’ve been funding for years?” Walker said. “We are talking about meeting the needs of thousands of families. We haven’t been able to produce a quality program that can do that.” 

Walker said she doesn’t want to “keep tossing money into a lot of different things without measuring the effectiveness.”

The Planning Commission eventually passed a motion with nine amendments, each suggesting revisions to the CIP. Its resolutions are not binding. City Council will vote on a finalized plan in April.

Updated 12/18 to clarify the location of the garage.

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New venture: Riverbend dips into public housing

Residents of the 1976-built Crescent Halls have complained for years about its deteriorating condition.  Jack Looney

Music and real estate mogul Coran Capshaw’s Riverbend Development, known for 5th Street Station, the Flats, and City Walk, among many other projects, is now aligning itself in a different direction: a partnership with Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority to build new public housing for residents of the crumbling Crescent Halls.

Riverbend and the nonprofit Virginia Community Development Corporation will build units on city-owned Levy Avenue—now a parking lot for city employees—and green space on South First Street.

“They’re not looking to make a profit,” says former mayor and current CRHA redevelopment project coordinator Dave Norris. “They’ve agreed to waive the developer’s fees.”

The housing authority owns and manages all public housing in Charlottesville, and had a request for proposal for a redevelopment partner, says Norris. “Riverbend submitted a proposal and rose to the top because they’re local, they know the community, and they know how to negotiate the process.”

Says Norris, “They want to be part of the solution. I don’t think it’s a coincidence Coran’s office is across the street from Crescent Halls.”

Residents have complained for years about the deteriorating condition of the Monticello Avenue highrise, including its malfunctioning elevators and air conditioning, and, earlier this year, a plumbing backup that left the first floor smelling like sewage.

The actual redevelopment of Crescent Halls is not part of phase 1, which relocates the building’s 105 households, says Norris. He says they will be given the option of replacement units, housing vouchers, or assistance moving into market-rate housing.

The project is going to be resident-directed, he says, and Riverbend’s willingness to work with the residents is “pretty extraordinary.”

Not all are comforted by Riverbend stepping in. Community activist Jojo Robertson says, “There is much skepticism and mistrust in the community, which we must acknowledge. I am concerned that people may be homeless during this process.”

Norris acknowledges that those living in Crescent Halls have been hearing for years about redevelopment plans. “I think what residents want to see is action rather than talk.”

He notes that it’s a “long, long wait” to get in public housing, and the redevelopment plans are “not just about improving the quality, but also the quantity” of public housing.

City Councilor Wes Bellamy calls Riverbend’s foray into the affordable housing arena “major. It is absolutely major.” He says city officials have been working on the issue for years.

While Riverbend is getting a lot of accolades for its move into public housing, there’s some skepticism because the company has its own projects that will be coming before City Council, including a massive apartment and mixed-use development in the heart of Belmont.

“I think it’s specifically to curry favor, and I’m all in favor of currying favor,” says Belmont resident Joan Schatzman, who has been a critic of Riverbend’s Belmont plans, but commended its involvement in public housing. 

The notoriously press-shy Capshaw did not return a request for comment from C-VILLE, nor did Riverbend president Alan Taylor.

Capshaw also manages the Dave Matthews Band and owns Red Light Management. Last week’s announcement of DMB’s upcoming tour said a portion of proceeds from the two shows at John Paul Jones Arena will support redevelopment of public housing in Charlottesville.

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Affordable housing remedies include land purchasing and city-funded rental assistance

Between The Flats at West Village, The Uncommon and The Standard (pictured), which is currently under construction, a total of 861 units on West Main Street will have been created. None of them has been priced as affordable for lower-income families. Courtesy rendering

City Council is forging ahead with a multi-pronged attempt to stymie the affordable housing crisis in Charlottesville. The moves call for building new affordable housing, while also creating incentives for existing landlords to rent at rates affordable for lower-income families, and developing a city-funded rental assistance program for residents who are most in need.

“The affordable housing problem in Charlottesville is not going to be solved by simply building new housing, so I’m trying to find different ways to attack the issue,” says Stacy Pethia, the city’s housing program coordinator, who presented the recommendations from the Housing Advisory Committee last week to Council. “We’re looking at every tool that we have. What can we do to build new units while preserving the affordable housing we already have? And then, find ways to encourage existing landlords to help out. I’m trying to attack it on every front.” 

In 2010, the city set a goal to have 15 percent of its housing by 2025 be affordable, which for two-person families means earning at least $52,650 a year. In Charlottesville, 1,800 families—25 percent—make less than $35,000 a year, according to the Orange Dot report released in 2015. City Councilor Kathy Galvin said recently that only 20 percent of the 944 people who work for the city actually lives in Charlottesville.

Over the last seven years, the percentage of affordable units in Charlottesville has declined from 10.5 percent six years ago to 10.06 percent. During that time, 1,530 new housing units were created, but only 73 of those—fewer than 5 percent—were priced as affordable. And of the roughly 1,200 future units that have either been approved or are seeking approval from the city for construction, only 40 of them—fewer than 4 percent—are slated to be affordable.

Last week, councilors voted to move forward with several steps to combat the waning amount of affordable housing, beginning with creating a list of vacant city-owned pieces of land in residential areas. Because Charlottesville is landlocked and just 10 square miles, land is scarce. City Manager Maurice Jones has been tasked with identifying what city-owned land could be sold or leased to developers on which to build affordable housing. Jones was also asked to look into other possible land purchases for affordable housing sites.

Last week Council also approved the creation of a $900,000 rental assistance program. Under the current federal housing assistance program, the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority is authorized to fund 533 rental vouchers. But because rental rates are so expensive in Charlottesville, the CRHA can only afford to fund about 400 of those. Funding for this new rental assistance program would come out of the Charlottesville Affordable Housing Fund, which Pethia oversees, and which received an additional $800,000 in the city’s budget for the next fiscal year, for a total of $2.3 million. (Over the next four fiscal years the CAHF budget will increase to $3.4 million per year, for a total of $16 million over the next five years, which is more than double the amount the city has funded in the past five years.)

This new city-funded rental assistance program is expected to pay for the monthly rent of about 120 people—at a rental rate of about $600 per month, per person. Still at question, however, is who would be prioritized to receive the funds—people who are homeless, living with disabilities, on the CRHA wait list, etc. Also, would housing in Albemarle County be possible if city rentals proved too expensive? How long would the funding last? And does CRHA have the capacity to run such a program? Council delayed the actual implementation of the program until September 16, when the HAC is expected to report back with a set of guidelines and a structure.

The third measure Council approved was the creation of a Landlord Risk Reduction Fund. A significant hurdle to creating affordable housing, says Pethia, is convincing landlords they won’t lose money by renting to people who earn low incomes. This new fund would be used to reimburse landlords for repairs if a rental unit is damaged, with the agreement that they continue to rent the unit at an affordable rate. The fund would also serve as a security deposit for some lower-income residents who can afford to pay the monthly rent on a new unit, but can’t afford the security deposit.

The final component included in the approved proposals was aimed at incentivizing developers to build more affordable units. The proposal would waive preliminary and final site-plan review fees, as well as building permit fees, for projects that constructed at least 15 percent of their total units as affordable. It’s expected to save developers approximately $5,000 per unit, which would in theory allow landlords to price their rents lower for those units.