Dan Murphy / Darden

EXPLORING SOLUTIONS TO THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING SHORTAGE IN CHARLOTTESVILLE

This project will explore housing policy in Charlottesville as an extension of the module on housing markets in my elective, “Markets, Government, and Society”. The city’s new Comprehensive Plan proposes to address rising housing costs that are displacing long-term residents of the city. While new development has the potential to ease housing costs, there are concerns that it may accelerate the crowding-out of affordable housing. Some of the concerns are based on history of urban renewal projects in the city.

My plan is to ask approximately six students who have taken my elective to participate. Students will engage with community activists, developers, and city officials to discuss proposed solutions and possible challenges to the effective implementation of the city’s comprehensive plan. The exact format is yet to be determined, but I anticipate asking different pairs of students to meet with different members of the community and then to report back to the group over a series of dinners. The main costs will be the dinners and possibly any “speaker fees” that would be appropriate to pay community members for their participation.

If I could pursue a much more costly and time-intensive “Dream Idea”, I would then take the students to Belfast, Ireland to meet with community leaders who are addressing a similar set of problems, including housing shortages, historical inequities and segregation.