CHESAPEAKE — Hampton Roads city leaders said Wednesday they are working to find solutions for the region’s affordable housing shortage although they have limited resources.
“This is a nationwide crisis we are confronting,” Virginia Beach Mayor Bobby Dyer said during the event.
The Hampton Roads Association of Real Estate Brokers teamed up with Virginia Housing and Community Development Corp. to host a discussion among city leaders.
Prices continue rising in the region as buyer demand outpaces the supply of homes for sale. At the same time, real estate leaders say interest rates and other costs have made owning a home less obtainable for many potential first-time buyers.
The challenges have forced city governments to work with limited resources to address a huge need, Chesapeake Mayor Rick West said.
For housing, he said the city was moving toward more mixed-use developments and mentioned the future of Greenbrier Mall as an example. A new Greenbrier area plan, designed to guide future redevelopment, envisions the mall property as a multiuse athletic and entertainment center with shopping and high-rise housing nearby. The mall, like many in the area, has declined in recent years and entered foreclosure in 2022.
Norfolk, too, is poised to potentially convert malls into mixed-used developments, Mayor Kenny Alexander said. The city owns the former Military Circle mall and MacArthur Center, setting the stage for redevelopment at both properties. However, the city has shelved one proposal for Military Circle as it reconsiders development options, a city official said last year.
Alexander said Norfolk faces housing challenges in part because the city is 97% developed. Still, he pointed to the redevelopment of the St. Paul’s neighborhood as a successful mix of affordable housing and market-rate units.
Portsmouth Mayor Shannon Glover said his city staff began viewing housing as an economic development priority because new workers will need places to live.
“As you create a stable housing community, you create opportunities for other things to come, particularly business,” he said.
Cities also are working to assist first-time homebuyers with expenses such as mortgage down payments, Newport News Mayor Phillip Jones said. For example, Newport News Redevelopment and Housing Authority offers up to $14,500 in federal funding for down payments and closing costs for first-time homebuyers who qualify.
The median sales price of homes in Hampton Roads increased 5.9% from $300,000 in 2022 to $317,777 in 2023. Only 3,100 resale homes were on the market in January, a 69% decline from the 10,000 homes on the market for much of 2015, according to an Old Dominion University housing report from earlier this year.
The cost of renting also increased as the average monthly rent in Hampton Roads jumped nearly 27% from $1,162 five years ago to $1,474 in 2023, according to the report.
Trevor Metcalfe, 757-222-5345, trevor.metcalfe@pilotonline.com
