Following resistance in the General Assembly this year, a new working group has been appointed to study possible changes to Arlington’s Affordable Housing Ordinance.
County Board members on Tuesday chartered the eight-member, limited-term working group, which will spend the next four months developing proposed revisions. The current Affordable Housing Ordinance outlines ways for developers to gain additional density for projects by building affordable units or contributing to the Affordable Housing Investment Fund.
Changes could potentially be presented for consideration in Richmond in 2027.
“It is a process to create a process, which may be the most Arlington thing we could be doing,” said County Board member Maureen Coffey.
County leaders had sought changes to the county’s 2006 affordable housing ordinance from the General Assembly earlier this year. However, the requested changes stalled in the House of Delegates, where some members felt there had not been enough input from the Arlington community.
“We worked hard on this in the last session, but didn’t quite get where we wanted to go,” Board Chair Matt de Ferranti said.
Having a task force report “will carry more weight when we go to the General Assembly session” in 2027, Coffey said.
The panel will be equally balanced between representatives of county advisory panels and the development community:
- County representatives: Tony Striner and Tenley Peterson (Planning Commission) and Bryan Coleman and Danny Ross (Housing Commission)
- Industry representatives: Scott Pedowitz, John Musso, Cathy Puskar and John Kusturiss
Meetings will be open to the public.
The working group was directed to hold meetings and provide a written report, a presentation, or both, to Board members no later than Nov. 26.
A similarly named Affordable Housing Ordinance working group was set up by the Housing Commission in 2025 to deliver recommendations for consideration in the 2026 General Assembly session.
