City can’t gauge return on housing outlay

By Rachana Dixit

Published: October 9, 2008

Charlottesville spent $2.1 million on affordable housing last fiscal year, yet the city has no record of the numbers of planned or completed affordable units.

The lack of information flummoxed city councilors Thursday as they started discussions on how to spend the next $1.4 million set aside for the purpose.

“That’s what’s been difficult about this entire process,” Councilor Holly Edwards said.

Jim Tolbert, director of Charlottesville’s Neighborhood Development Services, said though the city keeps track of funds allocated to different projects, there is no data on the number of units built using the city funds.

“Finding that information is very difficult,” Tolbert said.

Despite the shortage of statistics, the council moved ahead with its discussion of how to spend this year’s funds.

A proposal by Mayor Dave Norris suggests that $600,000 — the largest piece of the city’s $1.4 million fund — could be used for rehabilitation of the city’s existing housing stock, special needs housing and housing assistance. Separate amounts would also be directed toward debt financing, contributions to the Thomas Jefferson Community Workforce Housing Fund, master planning for public housing redevelopment and a new housing planner position.

The new planner could, perhaps, look into the number of affordable housing units built, Councilor David Brown suggested, but he argued that asking the city’s existing staff to do so would be too much of a burden.

Discussion was in its infancy at the work session, but officials recognized that they still have not nailed down a goal for how many affordable units should be built within a specific time — something that may greatly hinder their progress. Beginning with next year’s budget, the city is forecasting spending $1 million each of the next four years on affordable housing.

To set a goal, Brown said, they must find out how many units have been built thus far with city funds and where money has been lost.

“That’ll be better served when we have information on where we’ve been,” Brown said.

Councilor Julian Taliaferro concurred, saying, “I think it’d be nice to go back a few years and see what we’ve done.”

The council was in agreement that a significant portion of Charlottesville’s population is in need of less expensive housing. Charlottesville’s housing costs are 28 percent above the national average, according to the ACCRA Cost of Living Index for the second quarter of 2008.

A report compiled by a joint task force — made up of Charlottesville, Albemarle County and University of Virginia officials — concluded that households that earn less than 50 percent of the area median income have many unmet housing needs. Those who make even less — 30 percent of the area median income, or about $20,000 — have the greatest need, in large part because proffered affordable units are typically meant for households making 80 percent of the median income.

The joint task force began convening in December and came up with myriad recommendations for the three entities — such as committing to a dedicated investment in affordable housing, supporting the Thomas Jefferson Community Land Trust to control inflation and creating a regional housing fund.

To allay the problem, councilors mulled over developer incentives to build affordable units for the very low-income segment of the city’s population. Financial incentives would come from the city’s $1 million Strategic Investment Fund, set aside to encourage high-density and mixed-use projects.

Officials agreed that for a project to be considered, it should have at least 15 percent of its units be affordable. Within that number, the units should be split evenly for households making no more than 80 percent of the area median income and those making no more than 40 percent.

But flexibility should remain, Norris said, given the current economic climate. Plus, construction of affordable units is already difficult for developers, he added, because of potential monetary losses.

“Going stricter than that is just unrealistic,” Norris said.