THE PROBLEM
There are at least 10,000 low income families who are one paycheck away from homelessness because they pay more than half their income toward housing. This problem has grown since the start of the pandemic. Four out of five of these families earn less than $43,000 each year. In the past ten years, average rents have risen from $1000 per month to now over $2100 per month. Within the next ten year, affordability requirements for 445 units will expire in Albemarle County, potentially kicking 445 families into the streets. Seniors and people of color are affected at disproportionate rates.
WHAT ARE WE ASKING
We need Albemarle County to take action so that enough homes can be built for everyone in our community to have a safe, accessible and affordable home. The largest obstacle to building affordable housing is funding. Over 850 communities across the country have begun to address this be establishing affordable housing trust funds that leverage public dollars to create more affordable housing. In fact, IMPACT got the city of Charlottesville to establish a housing trust fund in 2008, that has now funded the construction and renovation of nearly 3500 affordable homes. In 2026, Albemarle County finally passed a policy to create its own housing trust fund; however, the fund will not work if it is not adequately funded.
IMPACT is pushing Albemarle County to ensure the Albemarle Housing Investment Fund (AHIF) has recurring funding of $10MM every year. This funding would go to the construction of new housing for families at or below 60% of the Area Median Income. $10MM a year is enough to build 300 such homes every year.
PROGRESS SO FAR
When we first voted on housing as an issue in 2017, Albemarle County did not have a long-range housing plan or any long-term funding for affordable housing.
Since 2017, IMPACT has been able to push the county and made some major headway on addressing affordable housing:
- Albemarle County now has a housing plan in place, that includes the establishment of an affordable housing trust fund
- Albemarle County created their “Housing Investment Fund,” which has operated as a source of affordable housing funding while they work to create an official housing trust fund
- In the 2026 budget, Albemarle put $7.2MM towards the Housing Investment Fund. This marks a high water mark as the most the County has ever funded towards affordable housing and will help fund over 200 new homes for families in need.
All of this happened because IMPACT brought together over 1000 people every year to push the County forward. Just this past year in 2026 there were 1200 people at our Nehemiah Action, and we won commitments from a majority of the County Board to prioritize getting to $10MM in the fund in 2027 and to establish that funding as dedicated recurring funding.