After several years of double-digit real estate value growth and an accompanying rise in rents, affordability is slipping further out of reach for Hampton Roads residents.

In several cities, city workers can’t afford to live in the localities they serve.

Mayor Philip Jones of Newport News called that “a travesty,” Wednesday morning at a panel discussion hosted by the National Association of Real Estate Brokers. Bobby Dyer, the mayor of Virginia Beach, called it “unfair for everybody.”

Housing affordability is something the cities of Hampton Roads have to tackle together and individually, several of the region’s mayors said.

Portsmouth Mayor Shannon Glover said Portsmouth groups housing in with economic development, which has long been treated as a business-focused enterprise.

“As you create a stable housing community, you create opportunities for other things to come, particularly business. Businesses come, they want to bring employees. Employees have to have what?” Glover asked.

“Housing,” the crowd answered.

While each city’s representative reeled off steps his city was taking to tackle housing issues, there were fewer solutions when asked how they plan to work across city lines to address housing.

Glover said the cities are working on putting together a regional group specifically to look at housing demands, just as it has with other issues like transportation.

“We all have unique but similar needs,” Glover said.

Norfolk Mayor Kenny Alexander noted that despite the cordial working relationships of city leaders, they’re ultimately separate entities that sometimes battle back and forth. He noted, for instance, Fortune 500 company Dollar Tree started in Norfolk before moving its headquarters to Chesapeake.

“Yes we work together, but we compete against one another. … It’s no net gain for the region when we do that,” Alexander said.

One concept that crosses city lines: saying no to NIMBYs.

Dyer, Virginia Beach’s mayor, said many residents show up to council meetings saying they support affordable housing, but they don’t want it built near them — the “Not In My Back Yard” argument that makes up the NIMBY acronym.

“It takes courage of conviction from your elected leaders to ignore the NIMBY crowd and say ‘We’re going to do what’s right,’” Dyer said.

Norfolk’s recent housing study identified NIMBY opposition as one of the key obstacles to affordable housing development in the city.

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