Blacksburg candidates debate housing shortage | Cardinal News

Source: https://cardinalnews.org/2025/09/09/blacksburg-candidates-debate-housing-shortage/

Blacksburg is a town in demand and not just a destination point — a permanent stop.

If they could only afford it.

Coupled with a shortage of off-campus housing for Virginia Tech and concern is compounded into a crisis.

The five candidates running for three available seats on the town council, as well as the two men vying to be the new mayor, acknowledge that the housing shortage, which is compounded by a lack of affordable homes, is a problem in need of solving.

Mayor: Two candidates seek to succeed incumbent, who is retiring

The candidates for Blacksburg mayor: Peter Macedo (left) and Michael Sutphin (right)

“Certainly, affordability and addressing the housing needs for our town are some of the most important things we’ve done,” said Vice Mayor Michael Sutphin, who is running to fill the seat being vacated by outgoing Mayor Leslie Hager-Smith. “… We’ve done a lot of work in that area. We’ve looked at different zoning changes as well.”

Sutphin’s opponent, Pete Macedo, agrees that housing must be addressed, but disagrees with how the council has addressed the challenge. When the council voted 4-3 to allow an eight-story student housing project on North Main Street that its developer says will include some first-floor commercial space and 759 bedrooms, Macedo questioned the transparency provided by the council prior to casting their votes.

Macedo, who owns and operates Blacksburg Bagels and has been a resident of the town for more than 30 years, said he and several other small business owners and residents who live in the vicinity of the proposed project tried to share information and concerns with the council. But he believes there were communication breakdowns.

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“As a community we were trying to do our best to give the town council as much information as we could so they could make the best decision possible,” said Macedo, who hoped that council would at least tweak a proposal that, in his opinion, was flawed.

“There were some missing pieces — sort of a lack of explanation and things weren’t adding up,” he said.

While his work did not result in the decision he wanted, Macedo said many of his friends, and even people he did not know, liked how he approached the issue and encouraged him to consider running for mayor.

“I have been approached in the past about running for council, but that was not something that interested me,” he said. “But then this time, someone said ‘No, you need to run for mayor.’ And I said ‘OK, why?’

“And their answer was that the mayor sets the tone, and right now the tone is one of distrust and the community gets the perception that … they’re being dismissed from interacting, and it’s discouraging.”

Sutphin, who was one of the four council members to vote yes on the project, acknowledges that he and Macedo disagree on the issue, but believes all city officials — elected and unelected — were transparent throughout the process.

On the project, Sutphin said: “I believe it’s in a location that makes sense. If you can’t build student housing across the street from the Virginia Tech campus, there’s not really anymore locations where you can.”

On transparency, Sutphin believes the council has worked hard to be up front with the public. He said all meetings are streamed live and all documents that are part of council meetings are shared on the town’s website.

“I do think there’s more that we can do to get the word out about the work we’re doing,” he said. “I hear from some folks that they didn’t know something was happening, so we need to continue to work on that.”

Sutphin has two years left on his current term, so win or lose, he will still be part of the council. If he wins, the council will have two months to fill the vacant position by appointment. He said when Hager-Smith decided to step down, he saw this as his best opportunity to move over a couple of seats during meetings.

“I have a lot of experience that I believe I can bring to the position,” said Sutphin, who was first elected to the council in 2011 and has since been re-elected three more times. “Also, there’s an opportunity. … Right now, there’s an opening. I think I have a lot to bring to the table — certainly my experience, my perspective of living here.”

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