Proposals for new and expanded support of lower- and moderate-income Arlington homeowners could run into budget headwinds in 2025.
County staff closed out 2024 by presenting a host of proposals to County Board members. They aim to support those priced out of the county’s housing market, as well as those who already are homeowners but are having difficulties maintaining their properties.
The goal is to develop and maintain a “holistic and overarching approach” to supporting home ownership in a county where sales prices of single-family homes now average nearly $1.5 million and supplies of other types of residential properties remain tight.
As first outlined at a recent meeting of the county government’s Housing Commission, staff are seeking a number of new programs, including offering low-cost or interest-free loans to homeowners needing to make repairs and creating a fund to support property developers bringing creative ideas to the table.
Also proposed: A look a changes to the government’s Moderate Income Purchase Assistance Program, known as MIPAP, and to other programs, including more tax-relief opportunities.
The reviews would work to determine “how they can operate better to address barriers and create better outcomes,” Jones said at the Board briefing.
The menu of options handed over to elected officials represents “a starting point, not an ending point,” said Board member Maureen Coffey, herself a renter and one whose 2023 election to office was fueled in part by a pitch to voters priced out of the local housing market.
The study that served as the basis of the recommendations was two years in the making. An online survey of county residents found “strong support” for housing initiatives but no consensus in what programs and policies to prioritize, staff said.
And then there is the question of how to pay for anything that might be approved.
County staff are attempting to secure about $7 million in grant funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, but that might be just a fraction of what would be needed long-term to implement some of the proposals.
“We’re still trying to figure out what the best option is,” Jones told Board members.
Coffey praised staff for the detailed report.
“This represents above and beyond what most localities provide,” she said.
The average sales price for a single-family home in Arlington in November was just over $1.4 million, according to Bright MLS. For attached properties — townhouses, rowhouses and condominiums — it was about $575,000.
Those prices were generally flat in the second half of 2024, but are being kept elevated by a lack of supply.
Arlington homeowners are likely to see a second straight year of a tax-bill double-whammy, with both the tax rate and assessments rising.
Updated home assessments will be released later this month, with Board members set to adopt the fiscal 2026 budget and set the calendar-year 2025 tax rate in the spring.
The Arlington County government’s efforts to increase the number of single-family homes (detached or attached) suffered a blow when a judge in September invalidated portions of the government’s Missing Middle/Expanded Housing Options ordinances.
The appeals process could take years, and at least for now, county leaders have said they are putting the invalidated Missing Middle policies on hold rather than try to rewrite them in a way that could address the judge’s concerns.
Photo by Ernie Journeys/Unsplash
