George,

You asked if I had anything to say about affordable housing. I do. We need a whole lot more of it.

If I may elaborate…. There's a housing crisis in our community that's forcing thousands of families to make some very difficult choices. Work two or three jobs to afford the rent, or be around for your kids. Move to Greene County to afford a house you can buy, or keep renting in Charlottesville and stay close to your job, family, services, etc. Move in to a crowded house with relatives, or renew your lease in that dilapidated and unsafe (yet overpriced) apartment of yours. Sleep in your car night after night, or swallow your pride and check yourself into a homeless shelter -- assuming you can find one with a free bed. I could go on.

Stu Armstrong is absolutely right, we can and should be doing more to address this problem. Thankfully, as with most social problems, we don't have to reinvent the wheel. I'll give you two examples:

" Over 350 cities, counties and states have now established local Housing Trust Funds to help underwrite the costs of constructing affordable housing. These funds are typically focused on meeting the housing needs of the working poor, low-income elderly, disabled, homeless, etc. - i.e., those who are by far the most vulnerable to the kinds of housing pressures we're facing in communities like ours. It's about time that our city jumped on this particular bandwagon. One way that localities can capitalize a Housing Trust Fund is to dedicate a small portion of their property tax revenues (the Washington Regional Network for Liveable Communities suggests 2 cents for every $100 of assessed value) for the development of affordable housing. You've heard of "One Percent for Art" -- how about "Two Cents for Housing"?

" Hundreds of localities across the country have adopted Inclusionary Zoning ordinances which mandate and/or incentivize the inclusion of affordable units in new housing developments. We need a moratorium on the construction of exclusive, upper-income housing developments in our city, and this is one tool to make it happen. At the very least, any time that a wealthy developer comes begging Council for a taxpayer subsidy, special zoning variance, etc., for his high-end housing project (e.g., Belmont Lofts, Burnet Commons), the City has the right (and, in my mind, the obligation) to require that a certain percentage of affordable units be included in that development. It is a sad commentary on the City's priorities that this does not already happen as a matter of course. The City (or the County, for that matter) can also adopt a whole range of incentives to make voluntary inclusion an attractive option for developers who see the wisdom in ensuring that the working families who make our city function can afford to live here. An effective Inclusionary Zoning ordinance backed up by a substantial Housing Trust Fund would provide a powerful one-two punch for the expansion of affordable housing options in our community.

These are just two things that we can and should do. I can think of many others. For example:
" We can and should continue to press for a Living Wage (or better yet, a Housing Wage) for all local workers so they can hope to afford the rising costs of housing here.
" We can and should adopt progressive guidelines for redevelopment to ensure that community revitalization initiatives uplift the existing residents of low-income neighborhoods and avoid making their lives more difficult via the poisonous creep of gentrification.
" We can and should expand the availability of rental assistance programs so that the thousands of local families on waiting lists for such programs can finally get some help with their soaring housing costs.
" We can and should charter neighborhood-based Community Development Corporations to engage the leadership of low-income residents in efforts to enhance housing and economic opportunities in their neighborhoods. If CRHA wants to tear down Westhaven and build something new and improved in its place, for instance, it could start by working with residents to form a Westhaven CDC to lead the way.
" We can and should build more supportive housing/Single Room Occupancy units for the homeless.
" We can and should put more pressure on UVa to build more housing for its students and employees.
" We can and should encourage more homeowners to make accessory apartments available to renters.

I could go on and on, but you get the general idea. The most important thing is, we've got to do SOMETHING before this crisis gets much worse.

Thanks for listening,

Dave Norris (electronic mail, May 5, 2005)

[former Chairman, Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority Board of Commissioners; current Executive Director, PACEM homeless shelter]