There's been a lot of talk about whether single-family zoning is good or bad for affordability. Without comment, here are some single-family homes that were built in Charlottesville in 2020.
915 Stonehenge Ave Ext, sold for $545,761.
1105 Altavista Ave, sold for $533,000.
532 Bennet St, sold for $579,000.
560 Lochlyn Hill Dr, sold for $560,000.
1507 E Market St, sold for $696,945.
909 Monticello Ave, sold for $700,000.
1618 Rialto St, sold for $474,000.
124 Franklin St, sold for $528,000.
OK, now I'll comment: if we only allow single-family homes in a neighborhood, it's going to be hard to find new homes that go for under $500,000. That seems bad!
Livable Cville is an all-volunteer group that advocates for better housing, transportation, and land use policies in the Charlottesville area. Here’s what we’ve been up to in 2023. (🧵)
One of our goals is to educate ourselves and the community and use that knowledge to advocate for a better Charlottesville.
In 2023 we sent 10 editions of our newsletter and added 400 subscribers, taking our total to almost 1000!
In February we sent a letter to City Council supporting a plan to add speed cameras near Clark, Buford, and Johnson schools. drive.google.com/file/d/1odLU8i…
We sent a letter to the city advocating for elimination of parking minimums in Charlottesville’s zoning code. We believe this is a key step for meeting the city’s housing, climate, and equity goals.
Many U.S. cities as well as Oregon and California have reduced or eliminated parking minimums, recognizing there create a number of problems. usa.streetsblog.org/2022/01/31/ana…
We think eliminating parking minimums is one of the keys to meeting Charlottesville’s housing, climate, and equity goals. More on this from us coming very soon!
Livable Cville wrote a Letter to the Editor in the Daily Progress on the relationship between housing density and climate change. Please read, distribute, and act!
[N.B. The Daily Progress did not mention that this Livable Cville wrote this letter. Their conventions don’t appear to allow for a group to sign a letter. They wanted 1-2 names, so @mtgillikin and @whatthecarp are listed, but many others helped write this.
Impressive work from @c3climate, pushing our community towards a more equitable, functional, and climate friendly transportation system. Thank you @CaeCL and @kruse_susan!
A question that keeps coming up is whether Charlottesville has a housing crisis.
We think the answer is yes & that it extends beyond very low income residents. Here is a chart from Albemarle County showing jobs that do not make a “housing wage,” such as teacher & electrician.
What is a housing wage? It’s how much someone working full time needs to made to afford a 2 bedroom apartment. In Albemarle County in 2019, it was around $24-25 an hour, more than most people working in the county make.