A county advisory panel proved disinclined to push for a mandatory local “rent registry” giving the public more transparency when it comes to rising apartment costs.
The proposal, floated in late May by the legislative-priorities subcommittee of the Housing Commission, did not make the cut at the subcommittee’s June 29 work session.
As a result, it is not moving on as a 2027 legislative priority to be considered at the July 9 Housing Commission meeting.
The proposal was one of many vying to be included for consideration by the full commission. The final package when adopted will be forwarded to the County Board for further consideration.
The transparency measure would have sought County Board backing for state legislation giving localities the power to compel landlords to make certain rent information accessible, including the amounts of annual rent increases.
Speaking at a May 26 legislative subcommittee meeting, Kellen MacBeth, who chairs the Housing Commission, said rent increases “shouldn’t be secret information.”
At present, though, “it’s shrouded in mystery,” he said then.
Arlington has some of the most expensive apartment costs in the nation, typically ranking fifth on a monthly list compiled by Apartment List and seventh on one from Zumper.
On the Apartment List scorecard, county rents have declined from a year before, when median monthly leasing rates for two-bedroom units peaked at more than $3,000.
At the commission’s June 29 legislative-subcommittee meeting, it was decided that only proposals with support of at least three of the four members would advance to full commission consideration. That follows County Board guidance to keep requested legislation to a minimum.
Only MacBeth ranked the transparency measure as one of his top priorities. Other members of the subcommittee — Joe Ventrone, Jason Schwartz and chair Nikkie Blake — did not.
As a result, the rental-registry proposal was not further discussed at the June 29 meeting before final recommendations to the full Housing Commission were decided upon.
Consideration of the proposal by the subcommittee in late May had drawn the attention of the Apartment & Office Building Association of Metropolitan Washington (AOBA), which had voiced concern about its scope.
State law currently prohibits localities from demanding granular rental-cost details from landlords. A 2020 bill to set up a Virginia Residential Rental Property Registry overseen by the state government died in committee.
After gathering input from advisory panels and the public, County Board members later in the year will develop a package of legislative priorities to support when the legislature reconvenes Jan. 13 for what is expected to be a 46-day session.
