For a business guy like Ken Kahn, population declines in Hampton Roads cities are setting off alarm bells.

“If (this region is) interested in continuing to grow, continue to attract business, we're going to have to make ourselves attractive to folks who want to live here and bringing new folks here,” said Kahn, the dean of Old Dominion University’s Strome College of Business.

The biggest road block to that growth? Housing, Kahn says.

“The issue is if we are bringing people here, but then they can't find a place to live, we're actually not going to economically grow,” he told WHRO.

Government and business leaders have been talking about the dire need for more affordable housing in the region for many years now. But progress in addressing the lack of housing has been slow, and the housing market gets tighter every year that goes by.

That’s a problem for existing businesses trying to find employees locally. But it’s also a big issue for future prospects, Kahn says.

“Companies, if they're looking to locate here, certainly they want to know where people are going to be able to live and be able to not necessarily have a long commute either,” he said. “If you look at the successful cities and having housing near where I work, that's what people want.”

Kahn and others are trying once again to wave the red flag and prompt action.

ODU and Dollar Bank – which operates bank branches throughout Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia – teamed up for a forum specifically to talk about improving access to workforce housing.

That’s the kind of housing that people making the area’s average salaries can afford. Kahn points to people like nurses, police officers, plumbers, shipyard workers and the like – people he says are working full-time “making a fair wage.”

The average household income in Hampton Roads is about $100,000 per year, before taxes and other deductions. Many households find housing eating up a major chunk of their salaries.

The region’s average rent for a three-bedroom unit is $2,284 per month - or about $27,400 annually.

The U.S. government says if you spend 30% or more on housing expenses, you’re considered “cost burdened,” which can leave families scrambling to cover other expenses.

An analysis by WHRO last fall found that more than a third of Hampton Roads households are cost-burdened.

That analysis also found living in Hampton Roads is less affordable than Northern Virginia, Richmond and many other areas traditionally seen as more expensive.

Housing costs have grown dramatically more quickly than wages in Hampton Roads while available housing aimed at those people in the center of the economic spectrum has dried up. 

The October forum brought together activists, academics, business leaders and government officials to try to dissect the problem. It’s the latest in a series of discussions and the few conclusions to come out of the meeting are the same that city planners and housing advocates have been saying for years.

Kahn said the primary directive from the forum is to change the perception of workforce housing, which is viewed with many of the same stereotypes that plague affordable housing, like that they attract people more likely to commit crimes.

The forum also discussed ways to deal with community pushback against proposals for more affordably priced apartments, condos and townhomes.

A recent workforce apartment project considered and ultimately approved in Virginia Beach drew dozens of opponents to a city council meeting. Residents objected to, among other things, the size and density of the project. 

“Putting the high elevation, extreme high density complex on limited real estate is not the right direction,” resident John Spencer said at the October meeting.

Experts say increased density is one of the best ways to develop housing that’s more affordable.

Kahn said established residents don’t realize what a lack of affordable housing means for the region.

“If we can't bring employees in then we can't grow… If we're not growing, we're not generating tax revenue, that's going to have implications right now,” Kahn said.

That lack of growth can compound into a downward spiral, causing a younger workforce to move away to places like Charlotte or Richmond, which in turn leaves Hampton Roads with an aging population and the issues that come with that.

“What makes me really sad is when I have a student who graduates and there's opportunities for them here, but they go, ‘You know, it's so expensive to live here and I'm actually going to go over to Charlotte.’ And now that's a lost opportunity for us,” Kahn said. 

“My hope is that if we can address this workforce housing, we can say, ‘Hey, come back, come back. You have some great ideas.’”

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