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By Matt Pelkey
Rappahannock News Staff Writer
The results of two surveys conducted in May of this year indicate that people earning moderate incomes in Rappahannock County are having trouble finding affordable housing.
The surveys were distributed to employees at county public schools and the Rappahannock sheriffs office. The school system and the sheriff’s office are two of the largest employers in the coun3 ty.
An overwhelming percentage of respondents said they had encountered difficulty finding affordable rental housing — 75 percent of those from the schools and 57 percent of those from the sheriff’s office. In searching for an affordable home to buy, 48 percent of respondents from the schools and 40 percent of respondents from the sheriff’s office said they had trouble finding something in their price range.
An analysis of home sales in Rappahannock County supports those sentiments.
The Rappahannock Community Housing Partnership, which conducted the surveys, found that only five percent of Rappahannock homes sold in 2006 would have been affordable for the single-income respondents from the sheriff’s office. And just nine percent of Rappahannock homes sold in those years would have been within the financial reach of sheriff’s office employees who currently rent, a group likely to be searching for homes to buy.
79.9%