The Town of Blacksburg has launched the second phase of its public engagement process on housing affordability in Blacksburg.
The increasing lack of affordable housing has become a major topic of community concern and the town is now taking a close look at a variety of affordable housing strategies to help address this issue.
Over the next six weeks, Blacksburg will be asking for feedback on preferred housing types and densities for future residential development. Feedback will be used to help weigh the tradeoffs of potential approaches in order to select the most appropriate strategies to address local growth and housing availability.
Citizens can provide their input now on the Town of Blacksburg’s online community engagement platform called Let’s Talk Blacksburg. The town encourages citizens to register on the site, so they can receive project updates and notices about future engagement opportunities on their chosen topic.
A report with results from the first round of citizen engagement is also available on the housing affordability project page. Respondents noted the cost of housing, housing supply, the loss of small town feel and traffic congestion as the biggest challenges Blacksburg will face as it continues to grow.
Many respondents named the growth of Virginia Tech as the main driver impacting our housing market and noted the need for a wider range of housing types to create housing for a wider range of incomes. There was also a strong desire for greater separation between student housing and housing for permanent residents.
Also on the project page is a link to data from the New River Valley Regional Housing Study. The full report will be publicly released later this month.
To start engaging on this issue, visit: https://letstalkblacksburg.org/affordable-housing.
For more information contact Kim Thurlow, Blacksburg Housing and Community Development Initiatives Manager at 540-443-1619 or email kthurlow@blacksburg.gov.
