News from Housing Virginia

Housing Virginia E-News

May 2010

Virginia's High Cost of Housing Highlighted

According to a national report recently released that provides data on the cost of rental housing for every county, metropolitan area and state in the nation, the Housing Wage for Virginia is $19.63. The Housing Wage is the hourly wage a family must earn - working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year - to be able to afford rent and utilities in the private housing market. Virginia's Housing Wage has increased 54% since 2000, the 10th largest increase among the states.

This year, Virginia is the eleventh most expensive state in the nation for renters. The National Housing Wage is $18.44 in 2010.

The report, Out of Reach 2010, was jointly released by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), a Washington, DC-based housing policy organization, and the Virginia Housing Coalition (VHC). The report provides the Housing Wage and other data for every state, metropolitan area, combined non metropolitan area, and county in the country.

"Again the Out of Reach data demonstrates that it is becoming more difficult for low income families to find decent homes they can afford in Virginia," said Orlando Artze, President of the Virginia Housing Coalition. "The recession has only made a bad situation worse. We must act now to ensure that low income families have access to the safe and affordable housing they so desperately need.

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Richmond Affordable Housing Awareness Week Engages Over 500 Volunteers

The Richmond Partnership for Housing Affordability sponsored a week of activities from April 19^th through April 24 designed to raise awareness of affordability issues in the region and create opportunities for corporate and individual involvement in housing projects. Affordable Housing Awareness Week began with an Affordable Housing Symposium and Bus Tour on April 19th, where more than 130 guests learned about the benefits of mixed use/mixed income developments and sustainable communities, and then boarded buses that gave them insider's look at our non-profit partners' current building programs that guarantee that the Richmond region continues to have a supply of safe, affordable housing.

From April 20-24^th, 566 volunteers from across the community signed up to work at 40 different job sites, donating their time and talent to help build and repair homes, beautify neighborhoods and improve the quality of life for our neighbors in need. Volunteers included members of the Virginia House of Delegates, Richmond City Council, and business leaders who were fortunate enough to work side by side with those they were helping, further enriching their experiences.

Virginia Beach Roundtable Previews the Housing Affordabilty Index

VB Roundtable Previews HAI

Fifty two people attended the Virginia Beach Workforce Housing Roundtable breakfast entitled "Affordable Housing in Turbulent Times" on April 15th. The Breakfast featured a presentation by Neal Barber staff to Housing Virginia on the changing landscape of housing affordability over the last 5 years using recently developed Housing Affordability Indexes developed by Virginia Center for Housing Research at VA Tech. Click here to review the presentation.

Northern Virginia Homeless Study Released

This week the Northern Virginia Affordable Housing Alliance (NVAHA) and the Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness (VCEH) released "Homeless in Northern Virginia: Local Communities Respond to Preventing and Ending Homelessness."

Using 2009 Point In Time survey data, as well as extensive interviews conducted with nonprofit service providers and local government agencies, this report details the policies and programs utilized by five Northern Virginia jurisdictions to prevent and end homelessness. Other topics that are addressed include: implementing Ten Year Plans and the resources needed to sustain them; optimizing data management; developing political support and countering policy barriers; and identifying the chronic shortage of affordable housing options for households with extremely low incomes.

On June 15 NVAHA and VCEH will host a regional forum to evaluate the report's findings and highlight the challenges to ending homelessness that are common to all five jurisdictions. Presentations will be made by two national speakers, and participants will move into breakout sessions to discuss selected topics.