Correction

In today's Daily Progress, there is an article implying that the City of Charlottesville does not know how many affordable housing units were produced or preserved or rehabbed with $2.15 million in City affordable housing funds this past year. If I were a taxpayer reading this article, I'd be outraged. How can the City not gauge the return on such a substantial outlay of public funds? What's the City doing with my money? Are all these tax dollars going to waste? Who's minding the store over there in City Hall?

The problem is, the implication is simply not accurate. We know exactly how many units of affordable housing were (or are being) produced, preserved and/or rehabbed with those funds. Unfortunately, the information presented at our City Council work session on this topic last night was not clear or detailed enough, and the discussion was so wide-ranging in parts as to confuse the issue. In other words, I don't necessarily blame the reporter, who is one of the best I've worked with in my time on Council. But I do think it's important to correct the record. The public deserves to know what they're getting from their tax dollars and in this case, the information is readily available. I've asked staff to provide the exact numbers to the Progress so as to clear up the record.

UPDATE: Here's the tally -- for FY08, our $2.15 million in affordable housing funds assisted in the preservation, production or rehabilitation of 152 affordable housing units (75 units at Dogwood Housing, 50 units at Monticello Vista Apartments, 6 home renovations through Albemarle Housing Improvement Program, 10 homes through Habitat for Humanity, 1 home through Piedmont Housing Alliance, 10 rental units through Region Ten Community Services Board). Dollars from this fund were also allocated to the Jefferson Area Board for Aging (JABA) to conduct a homesharing/accessory apartment study, to the Shelter for Help in Emergency (SHE) to provide transitional housing to victims of domestic violence, and to the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority to advance its effort to revitalize our public housing communities.