By Catherine Keightley
The Rockbridge Area Relief Association received a record number of applications for rental assistance last month, according to RARA staff.
The increase comes as the federal Housing Choice Voucher waitlist remains closed and the Rockbridge County area continues to operate with very little public housing or a permanent homeless shelter.
RARA provides assistance by either helping a household with rent or utility bills, support designed to help residents through temporary setbacks, said Lindsey Peréz, the nonprofit’s executive director. RARA has become one of the county’s main safety nets.
Peréz said the organization typically helps with 20 to 30 rents per month. In January, Peréz said, that number spiked to 44, nearly double the average.
“It’s very rare that we see this many at the beginning of the year,” Peréz said.
High housing prices drive up need for rental assistance
The increase in rental assistance calls results from a combination of factors, according to Peréz. Rents in Rockbridge County have climbed in recent years while wages and fixed incomes have struggled to catch up, leaving many households spending 50 to 75 percent of their income on housing.
At the same time, Peréz said, pandemic-era federal support like stimulus payments, expanded tax credits and additional SNAP benefits have ended.
“It’s just really easy to get behind with unexpected expenses, or if you’re on a fixed income,” she said. “Housing, utility and food costs are really high, and so it just adds up.”
Without a local shelter, people who lose housing have to rely on short hotel stays or travel to different communities. The closest emergency shelter placement services operate out of Staunton through Valley Homeless Connection. Waynesboro has a cold-weather shelter program. But both of those options are at least a 30-minute drive from the Rockbridge County area.
“When hotels are the best kind of service providers for our homeless populations, it’s never a good thing,” said Shadrey Sands, director of RARA’s Neighborhood Grocery.
Unlike urban areas where homelessness is visible on sidewalks or in parks, the problem often goes unseen in rural areas like Rockbridge County. Many facing housing insecurity have to sleep in their cars, stay temporarily with friends or live in remote areas
“People would be shocked at how many folks are really struggling,” Sands said.
Lack of access to state and federal funding
One of the only long-term rental assistance programs available locally is the federal Housing Choice Voucher program, also known as Section 8. The program helps eligible low-income residents pay rent by covering the portion of housing costs that exceeds 40% of their income.
But access has been limited for residents in this area. Virginia Housing, previously known as Virginia Housing Development Authority, is a nonprofit created by the commonwealth to help Virginians attain quality, affordable housing. It provides mortgages and assistance grants and helps with housing choice vouchers.
Melissa Christiansen, a contract employee with Virginia Housing for the Rockbridge area, said the Housing Choice Voucher waitlist has been closed since May 2023. The waitlist cannot reopen until Virginia Housing finalizes its federal budget allocation and Christiansen finishes processing the remaining applicants from 2023.
Even when the list is open, recipients have to find qualifying housing within 120 days, which Christiansen said has become a growing challenge in a market with so few affordable housing options. She said several vouchers have expired because the recipient could not find affordable housing in that time period.
Virginia Housing has 124 vouchers available to Rockbridge County, but only 90 households are currently using rental assistance. Since the program is funded through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Christiansen said, the state agency had to be cautious about issuing vouchers without the certainty that they can cover the cost.
“When rent gets high, you have to allocate more money per each of the vouchers that you have,” she said.
119 in January 2023 to 89 in January 2026, the average amount paid per household rose
from $463 to $643 over the same period. Source: Virginia Housing
Records from Virginia Housing show the average amount paid per voucher has steadily increased, which means that fewer people will be able to get rental vouchers.
Christiansen said finding qualifying rentals is often the biggest challenge.
“As you know, there’s not a lot of housing here,” she said. “It’s the limited inventory that we have.”
Local rent prices higher than federal benchmark
Many listings price rent above HUD’s fair market rent levels for the area, making it harder for voucher recipients to secure housing within the program’s guidelines, according to Christiansen.
In fiscal year 2025, HUD set the fair market rent for a two-bedroom unit in Rockbridge County at $899. But census data show the county’s median gross rent reached $925 in 2024, meaning the typical rent was already priced higher than HUD’s benchmark. HUD increased the two-bedroom fair market rent to $1,005 for fiscal year 2026, but Christiansen said rents remain high in the county’s market—which has a limited supply.
Christiansen said demand from Washington and Lee University and Virginia Military Institute students and staff have pushed rents upward.
Organizations focused on permanent housing said they refer people facing immediate housing crises to RARA.
“When people come in and say, ‘I need some place to stay instantly,’ we don’t have any place for them to do that,” said Lynne Johnson, executive director of Habitat for Humanity Rockbridge. “So, we steer them over to RARA.”
Peréz said the strain on RARA is not just about a couple busy months. Last year, the organization provided emergency financial assistance on more than 906 cases and helped roughly 76 households facing homelessness, which is a 20 percent increase from 2024.
The organization increased its annual rent assistance cap from $600 to $900 per household to keep pace with rising housing costs and help as many people as they can.
Local leaders recently formed the Rockbridge Homeless Connection coalition to better understand the scope of the issue and explore long-term solutions.
Multiple bills aimed at expanding affordable housing across Virginia have also passed through the state Legislature this year. Gov. Abigail Spanberger has said she intends to sign the legislation.
The legislation gives localities new authority and funding tools to expand affordable housing programs and strengthen renter protections to support housing development across the state. It remains uncertain whether those changes will impact the Rockbridge County area.
Rural communities often lack the land, funding and development needed to build affordable housing. In Rockbridge, proposals have faced delays and setbacks over the years – including a plan to add 65 apartments on a Spotswood Drive lot.
In the meantime, families are struggling to deal with the dual challenges of rising costs and limited options when it comes to housing.
“People’s expenses aren’t going down anytime soon,” Peréz said. “It’s not sustainable at this level.”