CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Preceding a series of work sessions to review County Executive Jeff Richardson’s proposed Fiscal Year 2027 recommended budget, the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors took community input during a public hearing on Monday night.
The majority of those who attended were members of IMPACT Charlottesville, a group of 29 congregations of Charlottesville and Albemarle County that works to build strong relationships across racial, ethnic, and socio-economic lines to significantly address local community problems at their source. The called in unison on the Board to address affordable housing.
“We’re grateful that the current budget proposal allocates five million dollars to go towards the Affordable Housing Investment Fund,” said Rev. Susan Carlson of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation. “Unfortunately, the housing crisis in our community is a huge problem that you well know because you’ve heard about it every single year. People cannot afford to live in Albemarle County. They have to live far away from their jobs, from their healthcare, from their children’s schools, from their places where they have to take cars that maybe they can’t afford either. We cannot abide by this moral travesty, for we believe that a budget is a moral document, and this is getting worse and worse every single year. I cannot urge you strongly enough to fully support the investment fund so that the housing crisis doesn’t blossom and bloom even more.”…