In December of 2023, the Charlottesville City Council approved a revised zoning ordinance, designed to combat the housing shortage in Charlottesville. Key changes to the ordinance included expanding the number of multi-family residence zones and prioritizing affordable housing and economic diversity in a process known as upzoning. The decision was hotly contested, with some particularly disgruntled locals, including three professors from the University filing a lawsuit against the City of Charlottesville. The crux of their argument was bureaucratic in nature — a cover for quality of life concerns — and as of right now three of the four counts have been thrown out, with a ruling on the fourth coming soon. In the meantime, the City is allowed to continue operating under the guidelines of the new ordinance. One year removed from the drama, the current progress being made signals optimism for the future of Charlottesville’s housing market.
Last year’s new zoning ordinance was long-overdue. For example, the median home price in Charlottesville is currently $643,000, which is an eye-watering 43 percent increase in price since 2020. In addition to exorbitant price increases, there was a shortage of more than 4,000 affordable homes for lower-income households in 2022. Moreover, local overnight shelters routinely reached their capacity last winter, largely due to the end of pandemic-era relief programs such as rent assistance and an eviction moratorium. Essentially, Charlottesville was in dire need of increased housing density, specifically for low-income individuals, which is what the new ordinance was explicitly designed to assist with.
Nevertheless, instead of looking at the holistic benefits of the ordinance, some critics, like the plaintiffs of the lawsuit, choose to focus on quality of life concerns such as a theoretical increase in traffic congestion. Any concerns about a massive increase of traffic or the sudden transformation of Charlottesville into a megalopolis, are unfounded, as a cursory glance at the ordinance itself shows the vast majority of the city is still zoned for the lowest density, 1-3 units per plot. Moreover, even if traffic congestion did increase slightly, this ordinance would still be necessary. Without it, Charlottesville would continue to price out many of its most essential workers, such as teachers, nurses and firefighters, many of whom have already been forced to move into Albemarle County. Forcing these public servants out of the community has a detrimental effect on their connection to the community and willingness to serve it, something the City would do well to avoid.
Of course, we cannot expect the moon and stars from this ordinance immediately — progress on matters of this nature is naturally slow. However, we can look elsewhere to see that the likelihood of this ordinance paying dividends is high. Consider the Minneapolis 2040 plan which was an initiative for sweeping changes to land-use and zoning passed in 2018, including upzoning and a more robust public transportation system. Since then, over 1,000 units of housing have been constructed, with more high-density projects currently in construction, alleviating pressure on the constrained housing market. Minneapolis’s experience of rapidly-filling new developments indicates that there is a need being met by these freshly-built housing complexes, similar to the need which exists in Charlottesville.
It is also important to acknowledge one of the groups placing great strain on Charlottesville’s housing availability — ourselves. It is a simple calculus to see how tens of thousands of students in a city of roughly 50,000 place additional pressure on an already strained housing market. Moreover, students are crowding out historically low-income neighborhoods, such as those on 10th, Page and Jefferson Park Avenue. Given that we contribute to the problem, the University must also add to the solution.
The lack of upperclassmen housing has resulted in increased pressure on the Charlottesville housing market, and the University’s 2030 Plan, while admirable in its efforts to increase student housing, also requires the purchase of land on the Emmett-Ivy corridor for further expansion. It is unclear what the net effect of the University’s plans for the future will have on housing availability, but it is necessary for the University and students to closely monitor their expansion and impact if they wish to actually be "Good Neighbors."
In its current situation, Charlottesville is an early adopter of the upzoning movement, giving the City the unique opportunity to act as a shining example of its benefits for cities similarly suffering from housing shortages. Students and residents alike still suffer from the shortage, but as more and more and more housing developments are built, the new ordinance shows promise. Although it is still too early to fully ascertain the benefits and drawbacks of Charlottesville’s new zoning ordinance, it is safe to say that the zoning changes are a strong step in the right direction.
Conall Castagno is a viewpoint writer who writes about politics for The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at opinion@cavalierdaily.com.
The opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of The Cavalier Daily. Columns represent the views of the author alone.
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