Nelson Supervisors agree to contribute $10,000 to housing study 

The cost of housing has risen in the localities of the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission over the past few decades due to a variety of factors. In 2021, the regional body adopted a plan called Planning for Affordability that identified potential solutions.  (read the document)

The implementation of plans is often only as good as the data that follows. The TJPDC is now in the early stages of conducting another study with more details. The last data was collected in 2019 as part of a housing needs assessment. (view the assessment)

“The median household income at the time was $53,000,” said Laurie Jean Talun, Regional Housing and Community Development Grants Manager for the TJPDC. “There were 485 renter-households and over 1,000 owner-households who were paying more than 30 percent of their income on housing, which we know is cost burdened.”  

Just two years later, the Planning for Affordability report captured Nelson’s median household at $64,313. The TJPDC now wants to do a follow up to see what other changes have occurred. 

“We want to have a really up to date picture of all of the housing markets in our region, but this one also is going to break out each locality in a lot more depth we did before,” Talun said. 

The TJPDC wants Nelson County to contribute $10,000 to the study which would be conducted in partnership with the Virginia Center for Housing Research at Virginia Tech. The work will take place over two years and will include community listening sessions. 

“They’re really adamant that they want to help localities like ours,” Talun said. “And they’ve worked with lots of different parts of Virginia, covering a lot of the rural areas and understanding the different housing needs of each different rural county.”

The two-year process would coincide with a review of Nelson County’s zoning code to implement parts of the Comprehensive Plan. The Berkley Group has been hired to continue their work to assist Nelson’s long-term planning efforts. 

“I think it’s a small investment into a big project that we need the information, especially at this point,” said West District Supervisor David Parr. 

Before you go: The time to write and research of this article is covered by paid subscribers to Charlottesville Community Engagement. In fact, this particular installment is from the October 10, 2024 edition of the newsletter. To ensure this research can be sustained, please consider becoming a paid subscriber or contributing monthly through Patreon.