HV Board Member Andy Friedman: SOURCEBOOK Tells Your Local Housing Story
Dear Housing Friends, 
As a career professional working to provide decent and affordable housing, and as a Housing Virginia Board Member, I am keenly aware of the critical housing needs and challenges that Virginia Beach and Hampton Roads face.
Today, housing needs that were once considered to be the exclusive problem of the very poor in our community are affecting many sectors of the population. The housing boom a few years ago caused the price of housing to rise out of reach of many middle-income and working families; and more recently the foreclosure crisis has spread difficulties throughout the population. Despite the fact that housing is a major issue for many people today, a shared understanding of what those issues are and how they actually affect people is significantly lacking. In addition, old stereotypes about what affordability really means, and what quality affordable housing is, are significant obstacles to making progress in creating new housing options. Housing Virginia is committed to addressing these obstacles. Read More...
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What is the SOURCEBOOK?
 Housing Virginia has launched a new comprehensive tool which will, for the first time, provide current detailed information on housing affordability across Virginia, including regional (MSA) and local (county and city) data. Visit the Housing Virginia Website to see the SOURCEBOOK in action.
A key feature of the SOURCEBOOK will be the Housing Affordability Index (HAI) - answering the question - "What percent of a typical household's income is required to afford a typical home?"
Updated quarterly, the HAI measures affordability for ownership as well as rental. It also compares household income to housing costs and provides measures across a wide spectrum (at median income, 80% of median, 60% of median and the lowest quartile of households). The data is available for Virginia, MSA's, counties and cities.
HAI was developed in partnership with the Center for Housing Research at Virginia Tech with key data provided through a partnership with the Virginia Association of REALTORS.
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Across the State there are widespread affordability problems with Eastern, Northern and I-64 & I-81 corridors having especially high indices. |
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What Does the SOURCEBOOK Tell us About Housing Affordability in Virginia Today?
Overall, housing has gotten more affordable with the decline of housing prices since 2007
Key Fact: Rental housing has become less affordable during this period.
Affordability is a significant problem for over a third of families in Virginia
Key Fact: In 2009 over a third (35.8%) of Virginia households were paying more than 30% of their income on housing - This is just over 1 million households.
Affordability of housing is severe for lower-income households
Key Fact: For households (owners and renters) making less than 60% of the median income ($37,075) it would require 42.4% of their income to afford the typical home.
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HV Co-Sponsors Roanoke Forum on Jobs, Transportation and Affordable Housing
On November 4th, over 40 local housing providers, local officials, business owners and smart growth advocates joined for a community forum to discuss the connection between jobs, transportation and affordable housing. Trip Pollard, Senior Attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, kicked off the event with a presentation of "Jobs, Transportation and Affordable Housing: Connecting Home and Work".
This report was written by Trip Pollard and is being co-released by Housing Virginia and the SELC (see related article). The Roanoke Regional Housing Network was Housing Virginia's local sponsoring partner for the event and Karen Mason, the Network's Vice Chair and Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity of Roanoke Valley provided the opening remarks.
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Give to Housing Virginia Your generous gift helps Housing Virginia to make the case for increasing the supply of affordable housing options across the Commonwealth. Your tax-deductible donation may be sent to: Housing Virginia P. O. Box 4658 Richmond, VA 23220 Or you can make a secure online donation here.Housing Virginia also participates in the Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign. Please use CVC code # 3690. |
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