A rather sad email fell across our desks this morning. It’s from J.E. “Chip” Harding, the Albemarle County Sherrif. He explains that:
The number of evictions in Albemarle County has risen approximately 40% since 2006. So far this year we have seen approximately 285. With the economy currently on the “down swing” we can only anticipate the numbers to continue to climb. In an effort to bring assistance to families in jeopardy I spent some time researching and meeting with agencies that might be able to provide assistance. They have all agreed that it would be helpful if the Sheriff’s Office provides referral information as early in the eviction process as possible. Starting today a letter from my office will be attached to all civil process affiliated with eviction.
It’s a sad time for people who own houses beyond their means. As Jim Duncan explains in his analysis of the 2nd quarter housing marketing, “I think that the calls for the proverbial “bottom” are premature.” So, if you are in this sinking ship, you can at least get a little help from Albemarle County.
Chip provides a lot of information in the letter:
You can call Love, INC at 977-7777 MACCA- CARES at 295-3171 ext.4 and the Salvation Army at 295-4058. Piedmont Housing Alliance at 817-2436 has counselors specialized to assist you in avoiding foreclosure.
[Read the Full Letter Here] [pic]
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Tagged as: albemarle, Charlottesville, eviction, help, housing, support, Virginia
Are they doing this in the city? I hope so but I doubt it.
Yeah, I never knew a two bedroom, one bath, no yard house could cost $600,000 dollars… until I walked around town near the downtown mall. I doubt the house has sold, but for some reason people think C’ville is Arlington county or something. Houses are too numerous and not selling, so why are house prices ridiculous here? It baffles the mind.
Are we talking eviction from a rental, or foreclosure?
so why are house prices ridiculous here?
@2 The inventory of unsold homes in the area has increased considerably over the past year, but prices are just beginning to soften. Look for lower prices in 2009, imo.
Paging Jim Duncan for confirmation.
@4
Yeah, I will look into something foreclosed on. Cheaper still.
Thor, thanks for posting this. It’s interesting (to me anyway) and part of the reason I keep visiting here: info about the area. I definitely appreciate all the gossip, but not knowing anyone who posts here (well, I’m sure I know some people I just don’t know who they are IRL), I don’t participate in the threads where everyone knows each other and consequently, they have less interest for me. I’m not complaining, this isn’t a “there’s a clique” comment. That’s all fine and I do sometimes enjoy reading about the exploits of people with weird names.
So, even though posts like these gets very few comments, there are those of us (wait, I shouldn’t assume I guess, maybe it is just me) who appreciate posts like this.
It’s actually a little heartwarming to see the Sheriff thinking in broader terms and not just mean and tough doing the minimum requirements for the job.
SuggestionBox - Totally, we don’t want to alienate people with insider banter and all that stuff. It’s actually people like you who make up the vast majority of our readers and it’s important for us to cover local issues that are meaningful to all of them.
I appreciate your suggestions and we will keep doing the local things.. we have our own suggestion box if you want to see certain articles.. just email us at gossip@cvillain.com !