Arlington’s Tenant-Landlord Commission is seeking more state support in treating and testing for mold, despite protests from some industry representatives.
The commission is recommending legislative approval of a statewide mold-remediation fund and free mold testing for Virginia residents. Members placed the issue atop their recommendations to County Board members in advance of the 2027 General Assembly session.
The commission also recommended seeking more funding to enforce fair-housing laws, along with the ability to require more contributions from developers for affordable housing. These recommendations were less contentious.
Representatives from the leasing industry objected to the proposal to require landlords to reimburse the state government for mold testing and remediation if they do not address issues within 20 days of discovery, and to give the state government the power to carry out remediation if a landlord won’t.
“As a landlord, I have to — ‘vehemently’ is probably too strong of a word — but almost vehemently oppose the mold-remediation fund. It’s crazy,” said Kristin Clegg, one of three industry representatives on the panel.
Clegg said the proposal did not distinguish who was responsible for causing mold, instead putting the onus on landlords to fund corrective action.
Scott Pedowitz, representing the Apartment & Office Building Association of Metropolitan Washington on the advisory panel, raised similar concerns.
The proposal “goes very heavily on pushing on the housing providers on remediation,” Pedowitz said.
He also voiced concerns about widespread testing, as “mold testing can be a little bit of an iffy proposition.”
Despite the opposition, the mold issue was kept as the commission’s top legislative recommendation to County Board members. The Board will decide whether to include it in the county’s package of legislative priorities for 2027, to be adopted later in the year.
There was more unanimity on the panel on the second proposal sent for County Board consideration. It seeks additional state funding to enforce fair-housing laws.
If more enforcement of housing laws leads to better training of staff at local apartments, that would benefit everyone, commission chair Andrew Ferreira said.
“We all know how much turnover there is in this front-line industry,” he said.
Clegg said responsible landlords follow the law and would not object to additional funding for oversight.
“If we hold our less tenant-friendly landlords and less responsible landlords more accountable on how our residents are taken care of, maybe we wouldn’t have some other issues,” she said.
The third commission proposal calls for enabling legislation from Richmond, allowing Arlington to require more contributions from developers for affordable housing.
County officials unsuccessfully attempted to get General Assembly approval for a similar measure in the 2026 session, but legislators told county leaders to get buy-in from the development community before coming back a second time.
In response, Board members set up a task force that includes developer participation. Its recommendations are expected before the end of the year.
The 2027 General Assembly session convenes on Jan. 13 in Richmond for what is expected to be a session of 45-46 days.
Tenant-Landlord Commission members were limited to sending three proposals to the Board. Among proposals that did not receive enough support were increasing funding for rental assistance and regulation on the use of AI in setting apartment rents.
Under its charter, the Tenant-Landlord Commission is composed of four members representing tenants’ interests, four members representing landlord interests and three at-large seats.
According to the county government’s website, one of the seats for tenants, one for landlords and two public-interest seats are currently unfilled.
Photo via Ceners for Disease Control and Prevention/Unsplash
