Albemarle County is betting that a new program it's introducing will help its own government employees cope with the region's high housing costs.

The pilot program unanimously approved by the Board of Supervisors last Wednesday will use $840,000 from the county’s Affordable Housing Investment Fund to help county employees make a down payment on a house or to provide one-time rental assistance.

The fund traditionally supports a variety of affordable housing initiatives, such as homeowner rehabilitation projects, construction of affordable rental units, construction of permanent supportive housing, energy efficiency upgrades and noncongregate shelter service.

“A reminder of our local housing data demonstrates that our average housing costs have gone up, up, up,” Jessica Dimmick, the county’s principal transportation planner, said at Wednesday's Board of Supervisors meeting.

The median Albemarle County house price is roughly $554,000 today, and the median rent sits at about $2,200 per month.

The real estate market surrounding Albemarle County is the second-most expensive in the entire state, outside the Washington suburbs of Northern Virginia.

The high cost of living has pushed multiple county employees to find housing elsewhere and commute into the area, according to the county.

For example, 90 sworn Albemarle County police officers — roughly 62% of the force — live outside the county, according to Albemarle County spokeswoman Logan Bogert.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development says the median Albemarle County income is $139,800. The starting salary of a county police officer is $60,798.

“I think it's very important, especially for our first responders, police, fire, etc., to live in the county where they service. Because when, not if, there’s a disaster, you want them living here,” Bea LaPisto-Kirtley, supervisor for the Rivanna District, said prior to voting in favor of the new program on Wednesday. “This is a way to help people, so that they're not living an hour away.”

The five-year pilot program could provide full-time county employees who make at or below 80% of the median county income, $111,840, a forgivable $20,000 loan to be used on a down payment for a residence in Albemarle County.

The loan would be forgiven at a rate of 20% each year, meaning that it would be completely forgivable after five years of continuous employment with the county.

Full-time county employees who make at or below 60% of the median county income, $83,880, would qualify for a one-time rental assistance grant of $2,500 if more than half of their income is spent on rent.

“Currently, 85% of County employees earned less than the 80% AMI threshold,” Bogert told The Daily Progress in a statement.

Additional eligibility requirements are to be established and program guidelines should be provided to employees as part of the pilot implementation, according to county documents.

Applications for each type of assistance will be reviewed by a loan committee composed of "representatives from the County Attorney’s Office, Human Resources, Office of Housing, and Department of Finance and Budget," according to the county.

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