Why: Arlington County households continue to struggle to meet housing costs, but the greatest burden is on renters earning under $46,000 a year (under 40% area median income (AMI)). Public funds should be targeted effectively to help these lowest income renters
Who: GMU professor Terry Clower (Center for Regional Analysis); Thaddaeus Elliott, National Low Income Housing Coalition; and Charles Albert, NOVA Catholic Community
Background information: Arlington County’s Housing Program focuses primarily on the acquisition/funding of committed affordable units (CAFs) for housing, and rental grants that are limited to only 1,600 households. Only 3% of the 12,000 CAFs were built to house the lowest income households (those making under 40% AMI). The vast majority of these lowest income rental households are without housing assistance of any kind, and often spend more than 50% of incomes on rent which is termed "severely housing cost burdened.”