A home for everyone

 

The notion that you can’t afford to work in Goochland if you live here and vice versa seems truer than ever. As prices for new homes rise in concert with soaring lumber prices and labor shortages, fewer of the fine people who keep our county running can afford to live here. Those at the bottom of the economic scale are just plain out of luck.

There is a shortage of rental properties outside of the two apartment complexes, whose rents are pricey. (According to its website, one-bedroom apartments in The Retreat at The Notch start at $1,511, $1,885 for two bedrooms.)

The term “affordable housing” conjures up images of subsidized dwelling units for the economically challenged. In Goochland though, high prices and low inventory force many deputies, fire-rescue provider, and teachers to live outside of the community where they work.

At the May 4 Board of Supervisors’ meeting, Sally Graham, Executive Director of Goochland Cares (http://www.goochlandcares.org/) said that finding local affordable housing for clients is one of the biggest challenges GooclandCares faces. Existing homes visited by its critical home repair team are “just substandard; it’s hard to believe anyone can live in them,” Graham said. Before Covid, then County Administrator John Budesky suggested bringing stakeholders in the housing issue together to study the matter and offer possible solutions.

Housing GVA, comprised of representatives from civic organizations, county government, churches, and interested community members was formed. “We were pretty good at gathering data, but unable to mine it deeply and tell the story in a compelling way so people could understand it,” Graham said.  She thanked members of GVA Housing who combined different perspectives, experiences, and opinions with hard work and patience to make the study very rich.

Grant funding enabled Housing GVA to retain the consulting firm of hdadvisors, whose principal, Erica Sims, has extensive experience in non-profit management and community organizing.

Sims focuses on social and economic justice. She explained that hdadvisors is an eight-person consulting firm based in Richmond that focuses on housing, housing policy, and housing development. She presented a draft report of findings to the board, asking for feedback so that the final report can be a working document for the community.

An important part of their work, said Simms, was a community survey with more than 660 responses, which she contended is a representative sample of the county’s more than 24,000 residents. Survey results indicated that 65 percent of respondents believe it is difficult or very difficult to find a good quality reasonably priced starter or middle market home in Goochland County. The median home price in the county in 2020 was $421 thousand, which requires an income of $106 thousand to afford. Sims said that 53 percent of Goochland residents earn less than $100 thousand. In 2003, said Sims, 20 percent of people who worked for the county—it was unclear if this included employees of the school division—lived in Goochland. By 2017, that number had decreased to nine percent. Only seven percent of Capital One’s workforce —the county’s largest employer with approximately 13,000—live in Goochland. (This could be due to the lack of amenities preferred by young professionals.)

Sims said that Goochland “has an incredible housing market that is working well on a number of levels”. In fact, she contended that the Goochland housing market is comparable to that of Northern Virginia rather than neighboring jurisdictions. Unsurprisingly, she found that there are great disparities among income groups and housing types in the county.

An influx of older people to age restricted and other communities has and will increase the number of senior citizens here. According to UVa population projections the 65 and older age group in Goochland will increase from 4,600 in 2018 to 8,100 by 2040.

Three groups of people who are having difficulty finding housing are extremely low income, new families who need starter homes, and seniors, one third are living alone and “cost burdened”.

Sims presented recommendations to expand the opportunity for home ownership or high-quality rentals to a wider range of Goochland residents. Expansion of home repair initiatives to help low-income people in substandard living situations topped this list.

A way to increase affordable rental units is to ease or eliminate zoning restrictions on accessory dwelling units. Under current county ordinance, living quarters added to a home for an aging relative may be occupied only by family members. If no longer used for this purpose, the stove in the accessory unit must be removed to make it unsuitable as a home. Why should property owners be prevented from renting these spaces if the units meet building and health codes?

Sims mentioned encouraging developers to set aside some units at below market rates for starter homes. This sounds good in theory, but does it work in the real world? What sort of incentives would encourage developers to do this?

High density housing requires public utilities available only in Courthouse Village and the Tuckahoe Creek Service District. Land prices in the TCSD are high as are connection fees and the additional ad valorem tax levied to cover debt service. New homes in Courthouse Village are expensive.

Sims mentioned a land trust as another way to deal with high development costs but provided few details. She also suggested that alternative building methods such as prefabricated homes, tiny houses, and dwellings crafted from repurposed shipping containers could significantly reduce construction costs if they were allowed in the zoning ordinances.

Low-income people who are in default on mortgages, rent, or property taxes fall into a different category.

The final report will be submitted in June. Thanks to all who are working to find solutions to this thorny problem.