More than 1,100 organizers with Interfaith Movement Promoting Action by Congregations Together turned out to its annual Nehemiah Action on April 8. This year’s gathering focused on housing and transportation in Charlottesville and Albemarle County.
Affordable housing is a longtime priority for IMPACT, with efforts dating back to 2016, according to the organization’s website. The greater Charlottesville area is the second-most expensive real estate market in Virginia, only lower than the D.C. metro area (though, typical home values in Keswick are roughly $5,000 above Arlington, according to insidenova.com and Zillow).
The 27-congregation coalition is calling on the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors to allocate $10 million annually to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, create an “independent governing structure for the expenditure of the funds and a requirement for public annual reports,” and to prioritize the funding of housing for families earning less than 60 percent of area median income.
While the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors allocated $5.2 million toward affordable housing this budget cycle (see page 17), the amount falls short of the $10 million requested by activists. IMPACT plans to lobby for additional affordable housing funds at the county’s next budget hearing on April 23.
IMPACT’s transportation efforts are focused on Charlottesville Area Transit, calling for the city to staff 82 drivers to better achieve 30-minute wait times. Organizers successfully lobbied city council to hire eight additional drivers last year, but hiring for the positions has been difficult, according to city leadership. Funding for additional drivers is not included in Charlottesville’s FY26 budget.
CAT has still not returned to pre-pandemic operation or ridership levels.
Local representatives from both the city and county were in attendance at the Nehemiah Action.
“Though we didn’t get the commitments we hoped for on affordable housing and transit, the city councillors and supervisors in attendance did hear us and pledged to move toward the goals we set in the year to come,” says Reverend Alex Joyner, co-president of IMPACT and pastor at Charlottesville First United Methodist Church.
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