Hampton Roads in Virginia has long struggled with affordable-housing issues. Compounded by the pandemic, the price and availability of housing seemingly dominates our community’s conversations, from City Council to the kitchen table.
But why is quality housing so expensive and why can’t we, as residents, access it?
WHRO, public media in Virginia, hopes to explore the ways local housing ebbs and flows thanks to bigger trends, like the financialization of housing, and the longtime, far-reaching impact our significant local military presence might impact home values and prices.
Residents in Hampton Roads will play a significant role in this series of stories by sharing firsthand accounts of whatever housing conundrum they’re facing—from young, first-time homebuyers trying to navigate a record-setting market; to families struggling to find subsidized housing among a trend of redeveloping public housing; to how current homeowners are girding their property and wallets against rising waters.
All of these issues will be presented in accurate, thorough digital news stories with compelling photographs and, when appropriate, data visualizations. WHRO hopes to provide readers with a solid foundational understanding of the core conflict of affordability.
