ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, May 2, 1996 TAG: 9605020041
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: S.D. HARRINGTON STAFF WRITER
NOTE: Below
SINCE Warren Robertson moved into his Salem house 40 years ago, he has watched his property's value escalate as the land around him became a prime target for development. He owns several acres around his home at the far end of High Street in North Salem.
Within the past five years, developers have snatched up neighboring land to build homes costing from $100,000 to $250,000. He sold two pieces of his property for development, prodding the market activity in his neighborhood even more.
And when reassessment time rolled around last year, he saw the effect.
An eight-acre tract of land he owns tripled in value from $20,400 in 1993 to $61,200 in 1995.
His real estate taxes for his home and the land it sits on went from about $500 to more than $800. And the assessed value of the land his home rests on almost quadrupled - from $6,300 to $24,600.
"That's not anything compared to what I'm going to see," he said, pointing to the land across the road, where bulldozers have begun clearing trees for a housing development of 17 homes, each at a starting price of $250,000.
"They're going to tax me out of this area," said Robertson, a retired engineer with the Virginia Department of Transportation.
Assessors will tell you such an increase is common in any area that has become a high priority for development, but it is becoming even more common in Salem, where land is scarce. Only about 5 percent of land in the city is developable. And that scarcity, along with other factors, is driving up the value of the land that is left - causing developers to build ever more expensive houses.
It has caused concern among certain Salem residents. They fear the city's young people and first-time home buyers will have a hard time finding affordable houses.
Nine residents who participated in a "community conversation" held by The Roanoke Times in Salem last month raised the cost-of-housing issue. Many said it should be an issue in the Salem City Council campaign, where five candidates are running for three seats. The election is Tuesday.
"Salem is fast becoming a city for people who are a little better off," Billy Proffitt said. "A person working at Wal-Mart for $6 an hour - they can't afford to buy a house in Salem now."
Proffitt mentioned a prospective North Salem subdivision of 90 homes where each will sell for around $225,000.
"Who's going to buy them?'' he asked. "My granddaughter has been trying to buy a home, and there's nothing in Salem she can afford."
Laura Spurlock jumped into the conversation.
"That's been happening for quite a while," said Spurlock, a Salem native. "I know a lot of people living in Roanoke who tried to buy a home in Salem, but they could not find anything" they could afford.
There is still plenty of affordable housing in Salem, says Wendel Ingram, the city's real estate assessor. It's found mostly in the city's older neighborhoods.
"You can probably find an affordable house," Ingram said. "It's probably not a new house. We have neighborhoods that are still selling in the $60,000s to $80,000s."
Because Salem is almost totally developed, the housing market has already been set in most areas, said Planning Director Joe Yates.
"The cost of land reflects what's around it," Yates said. "There's a market already established."
Yet, where no market is established, most of the new houses being built have been in the middle-to higher- income levels.
Again, both Ingram and Yates said, that's because of the scarcity of land mixed with a strong housing market in Salem.
"It's a kind of `if you build it, they will buy it''' housing market in Salem, Yates said.
"I love to get listings from Salem," said Anne Lee Stevens, a Realtor with Gearhart-Stevens. "Salem is such a desirable place to live that it drives up the market for homes."
But, Stevens said, while houses in Salem sell quickly, the turnover of ownership is not as great. That creates even more demand.
Statistics show that, overall, houses in Salem are not much more expensive than in Roanoke and cheaper than in Roanoke County.
The average selling price for a home in Roanoke County was $120,000 in 1995; in Salem, about $105,000; and in Roanoke, $85,000.
But Salem does stand out when comparing how fast the average selling prices have increased over the years.
During an eight-year period - from 1987 to 1995 - the average selling price for a house in Salem increased 12 percent more than in Roanoke County and almost 15 percent more than in Roanoke.
Salem residents say they don't have the answers on how to assure there is enough affordable housing in Salem so that lower-income residents and first-time home buyers aren't pushed out of the city.
Some believe the city's government could get involved.
"The city of Salem has never been too interested in expanding houses to anybody," said the Rev. Enos Glaspie, retired pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church.
Others say no.
"Is city government - should they really be in the housing business?'' asked Dale Wolfer. "I think direct involvement is beyond the scope that government ought to get in."
That is pretty much the philosophy Salem's government has taken.
Salem doesn't have any programs to help low-or moderate-income residents become homeowners or fix dilapidated housing. Neither does the city have any public housing. Roanoke County has no such programs, either. Roanoke, on the other hand, has 1,500 units of public housing and a number of programs using federal funds to assist low-income residents become homeowners.
Salem is the only government in the valley that has never applied for Section 8 rent subsidies. Roanoke has 1,300 Section 8 vouchers or certificates and Roanoke County has 46 that are administered through Total Action Against Poverty.
In 1993, the Enterprise Foundation, a national organization that works with local government to make housing more affordable to the poor, assessed Roanoke Valley housing and made several recommendations for Salem to consider.
The foundation said Salem should identify possible sites for development of low-income housing, rather than have TAP do it alone. The group also said Salem should consider a city-funded down-payment assistance program for first-time home buyers and possibly offer a real estate tax break in certain target neighborhoods to encourage improvements.
Salem did identify sites for low-income housing in its comprehensive land use plan. But the city "never seriously considered" getting involved in subsidized housing, Yates said.
With only 3 percent of Salem's population below the poverty level, he said, the city government has never really seen a need for such programs.
The private sector has made some federally subsidized housing available in Salem, Yates notes. And he believes that the private sector has been able to handle it more efficiently than government could.
"That's more effective than the local government throwing money out and saying come and get it," he said.
As for a program to assist the poor and first-time home buyers with down payments, Yates said, "that seems to be more of a lending institution function rather than a government function."
The Enterprise Foundation also suggested that Salem make it easier for duplexes to be built in the city. In the 1970s, after the city experienced an overabundance of poorly designed duplexes, Salem City Council placed a moratorium on duplexes.
Plans for a duplex must go through public hearings in front of the Planning Commission and City Council for approval. The Enterprise Foundation said that may be a barrier to affordable housing.
Some residents believe there has been a prejudice against rental housing, in general, in Salem.
"Every time they want to build an apartment house, which would be more affordable, there is a great big negative feeling against that," said Inez Good, a former professor at Roanoke College. "No one wants apartments in their neighborhoods, because it lowers [property values]. I think we have very little rental property in Salem because of that."
Salem does have fewer rental units than Roanoke, but more than Roanoke County. In 1995, 31 percent of Salem's residential units were renter-occupied; 40 percent of Roanoke's; and only 22 percent of Roanoke County's, according to statistics from the Action Alliance for Virginia's Children and Youth.
However, Yates said public hearings have never created a blockade to affordable or rental housing in Salem.
"It doesn't necessarily create a barrier to affordable housing," he said. "It does give a neighborhood's input." |n n| A few Salem residents say the city's rising cost of housing may be more of a problem in the future than it is now.
As more expensive houses are built, they say, the tougher it may become for the city's young people to find affordable houses.
But Anne Lee Stevens, who grew up in Salem, believes there are still plenty of homes for first-time buyers - it's just a matter of finding one available.
"Houses in Salem go fast," she said.
LENGTH: Long : 163 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshots) Billy Proffit, Laura Spurlock, Inez Good,by CNBDale Wolfer. color. Graphic. logo. color. KEYWORDS: POLITICS CITY COUNCIL