Rockbridge Area Housing Study: An Assessment of Rental Housing Needs In Lexington, Buena Vista, and Rockbridge County, Virginia

Abstract

This study focuses exclusively on renter households. Several important features of the local market contributed to the narrowing of this focus. First, there are already a number of programs within the Rockbridge Area that aid low-income families seeking homeownership. Private organizations, such as Habitat for Humanity, provide homes at low cost with low-interest mortgages in an effort to make homeownership a reality for low-income families. Similarly, the City of Lexington's Threshold program renovates old houses and sells them at below market value. Both of these programs help facilitate homeownership within the low-income population. In addition, the population with which this study is concerned is comprised of households that are likely financially unable to own a home. These families, who earn below 60% of the area median income, rely primarily on rental housing. Therefore, the central concern of this study is the state of the affordable rental housing market. [From Introduction]