A higher priority
for Virgina Beach Affordable Housing
No wonder there's an affordable housing
crisis in Virginia Beach. City Hall
courts industries that don't pay well,
and tells industries that do to take
a hike. If you need a high-end hotel
at the oceanfront, a BRT system, or
housing for immigrant students, the
city's there for you. But when NAS
Oceana and all its high paying jobs
says please don't develop three story
housing on the 19th Street Corridor,
City Hall thumbs its nose and says
we don't need your high paying jobs,
we can make ice cream.
We've got to focus on creating high
paying jobs so people who work here
can afford to live here. And every
project at the oceanfront asks the
question: how much money are you going
to put into an oceanfront that generates
low paying jobs.
People fresh out of college cannot
afford to live in Virginia Beach because
the entry level, private sector, college
degree job doesn't pay enough for
them to qualify for the average home.
We educate them, we graduate them,
and then we kiss them goodbye because
they can't get a job that qualifies
for a mortgage in Virginia Beach.
We need to be creating high paying
jobs so Northern Virginia, The Research
Triangle and other high paying areas
do not lure away our best and brightest
-- and create a brain drain in our
city.
The demand for high paying skilled
labor in our area is high, but we
don't promote that in our schools.
We've financed and created some outstanding
high school magnate academies for
college bound students such as the
Health Sciences Academy at Bayside
High School, the International Baccalaureate
Program at Princess Anne High School,
the Legal Studies Academy at First
Colonial High School, the Mathematics
and Science Academy at Ocean Lakes
High School, the Technology Academy
at Landstown High School, the Visual
and Performing Arts Academy at Salem
High School, and the Global Studies
Academy at Tallwood High School. I
support all these programs and feel
they are a wonderful stepping stones
to success. But I will also pursue
the same investment and focus for
Vo-Tech schools for skilled labor
such as masonry, mechanics, electricians,
air conditioning/refrigeration and
heating, auto body and paint technology,
automotive services technology, carpentry,
cosmetology, culinary, electricity,
plumbing and heating, welding, early
childhood education, fashion design,
practical nursing, and more.
go back
No wonder there's an affordable housing
crisis in Virginia Beach. City Hall
courts industries that don't pay well,
and tells industries that do to take
a hike. If you need a high-end hotel
at the oceanfront, a BRT system, or
housing for immigrant students, the
city's there for you. But when NAS
Oceana and all its high paying jobs
says please don't develop three story
housing on the 19th Street Corridor,
City Hall thumbs its nose and says
we don't need your high paying jobs,
we can make ice cream.