A Virginia Beach housing needs assessment and market analysis’ findings recommends the city shift its attention to the importance of millennials, aging residences and the increase of lower-wage jobs.
Consultant Mel Jones presented study’s highlights and recommendations to city council at its meeting Tuesday afternoon.
“The goal for the presentation is not for council to say ‘we agree with you and we’re going to act on it today,'” Andrew Friedman, director of housing and neighborhood preservation, said in an interview. “The goal is for them to hear it, understand it and then to convey to staff, ‘has this study identified important issues that we want to address as a city.'”
After briefing city council on the study’s findings, Jones gave the recommendations. They are based on data analysis, understanding of local context in the city, staff policies, programs and plans, development history, stakeholders and residents, according to Jones.
“We suggest you use land more intensely, which will, as a byproduct, increase the values of that land and revenue potential,” Jones said. “Increased values will encourage investment, and again, generate revenues. Those revenues can be used to alleviate some affordable housing challenges that [the city] is experiencing because of economic shifts in Virginia Beach.”
Jones suggested that the city shift from single family, low density, single use housing to multi-family, medium- and high-density mixed-use housing. In detail, Jones touched on recommendations including housing rehabilitation incentives, enhancing code enforcement capacity, and building more in the city’s strategic growth areas.
To address the issue of housing affordability, Jones presented the study’s recommendations that suggest the city provide maintenance assistance to low-wage workers, provide gap financing to low-to-moderate-income multifamily rental housing and rehabilitation and just to simply address the issue of the increase of low-paying jobs in the city.
“Reorientation of the housing stock from suburban to urban will improve values and allow Virginia Beach to retain millennials… and help long-time residents age in place successfully. Increasing values will create revenues to fund affordable housing for future workforce and programs for households in need, like maintenance needs for low-income seniors aging in place,” the study states.
The $90,000 study, launched last April, was conducted in association with the Virginia Center for Housing Research at Virginia Tech and the neighborhood planning firm czb LLC. It was conducted to give insight to revitalize neighborhoods and planning for the future, which is one of city council’s five ongoing goals, according to the presentation.
The housing study found there is a disconnect between low-income households’ wages and housing costs, specifically women and seniors. In terms of numbers, the median salary for women in Virginia Beach in 2014 was $34,286, compared to $62,522 median salary for men, according to the Census Bureau’s Public Use Microdata Samples for 2014.
The study also showed that eight of the top ten occupations pay wages that don’t meet the medium of housing costs, which is about $1,200 a month. It also shows that there has been a 13,207 decrease in Gen-X households from 2005 to 2014, the most significant demographic change, according to the study
Councilman John Moss said it’s all about the city’s strategy and looking at a private sector solution would be better than government subsidies.
“I think the data is very good. I don’t necessarily agree with the value structure and the conclusions drawn,” Moss said. “I think it’s a body of knowledge from the CATO Institute, and other institutions, that we come from different private market conclusions on how to approach this, versus a governmental solution.”
Councilwoman Rosemary Kennedy said that the loss of Gen X households is significant and Jones didn’t have an answer as to why it has happened. Councilman John Urhin said he suspects it’s because of the military.
“The true trouble with millennials is poor credit and low income, and regardless of whether or not there’s housing available,” Councilwoman Jessica Abbott said. “I really think we need to hash out if our goal is to make housing affordable through subsidies, or is our goal to bring in jobs that give us a livelihood that we can support to stay here.”
No decision has been made at this point and the full study will be released in February. But if city council considers the proposed goals the study presented, they will be consulted, along with stakeholders and the public, before any action items are proposed and finalized.
