CHESAPEAKE, Va. — The cost of housing is high across the country and in Hampton Roads. On Monday evening, the Chesapeake Alliance's Housing Task Force hosted Housing on Tap at Big Ugly Brewing in Chesapeake.
Business leaders who attended the event said the area's housing cost impacts employees.
"I have employees at the Humane Society that live in North Carolina and make that commute up because they cannot afford to live here in Chesapeake," said Lacy Shirey, executive director of the Chesapeake Humane Society.
Others with businesses in the area said they are experiencing the same issues with their employees.
"One of our biggest issues is we have a lot of associates that are not able to make it on time because of the traffic, of not being able to live in this area," said Kayla Leroy, Director of Operations with Woody's Raw Bar and Grill.
Leroy said she and her family also do not live in Chesapeake because of the high cost of housing.
According to the Chesapeake Alliance, Chesapeake has one of the highest housing inflation rates in the country.
Thaler McCormick is the President and Chair of the Housing Task Force for the Chesapeake Alliance. She said the cost of housing spiked during the pandemic.
"Housing has been rough now for years, but things got worse significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic, so we have seen housing costs up 52% on rental units in Chesapeake," McCormick said. "It's been unstainable for renters."
Therefore, the alliance has six recommendations for the city and community to consider adding affordable housing to the area.
It includes increasing multi-family zoning in urban and suburban overlay districts, providing density/affordability incentives, dedicating resources for housing affordability, aligning economic development, education, and housing policies, supporting the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program (LIHTC) and developing a dashboard to track progress.
The organization asked the city to add 15,000 affordable housing units over the next ten years so everyone can be able to work and play in Chesapeake.
"We're going to take a look tonight with some specificity. If we have somebody working in an Amazon warehouse, what are they making? What do they need in housing? We really need to have housing that can make sure they can stay in their community," said McCormick.