GLOUCESTER COUNTY, Va. —In rural Gloucester County, housing is scarce - which means finding a safe and affordable place to live is challenging.
“It’s not a good market,” said realtor Nikki West.
West told News 3 it's the perfect storm.
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“The owners of the rentals when the market escalated said 'hey it’s time for us to get out', so I sold 27 rentals last year,” said West.
She said it's a lack of inventory, combined with higher interest rates and house values.
“It pushes people out of the buying market, where they could have bought, they can’t buy, so then they come looking for rentals,” said West. “We just need more rentals, and they’re just not here.”
Pastor Wendy Roundy with Helping the Homeless says she is contacted 20-25 times a day from people facing homelessness.
“All these people who are trying to find places to live, to rent, they can’t find anything, so they call us,” said Roundy. "We try to help them find a place and very rarely is there anything available to rent and when there is it’s extremely expensive."
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She also says it's not just one group of people.
“It’s not just people who are moving out of homelessness and into a place that we are trying to help," said Roundy. "It’s all walks of life, it’s affecting everyone."
Her nonprofit tries to do what they can, by providing food, toiletries and clothing, but she says they can't just make affordable housing appear.
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