The Little City is starting to think big for the nation’s 250th birthday in 2026.
Much remains up in the air, including the question of how much funding the City of Falls Church will set aside. At a March Falls Church250 committee meeting, however, officials floated ideas ranging from history talks to planting a remembrance tree.
Another Democrat is entering the race for one of Arlington’s House of Delegates seats.
Sean Epstein formally kicked off his bid to unseat Del. Patrick Hope (D-1) on Wednesday. He will join Hope and Arjoon Srikanth on the ballot for the June 17 primary.
This regularly scheduled column is written by Eli Tucker, Arlington-based Realtor and Arlington resident. If you would like to work with Eli and his team in Northern Virginia and the greater D.C. Metro area, you can reach him directly at [email protected].
Question: How much of an impact do you think the ROAD to Housing Act will have on housing affordability in Arlington?
Answer: The Road to Housing Act became law ten days ago, with the stated goal of improving housing affordability in the United States.
I don’t see many policies in the Act that will improve affordability in the Arlington/Northern VA/DC Metro markets, outside of incentives for more affordable multi-family housing, but there are policies that should improve affordability in other markets that are more saturated with institutional investors that own swaths of single-family homes (e.g. Atlanta and Phoenix) and for manufactured/mobile homes.
The Local Conversation Needs to Change
If we are going to improve affordability in our market, most of the change has to be done locally/regionally, not nationally, but it requires a paradigm shift in how we discuss and solve for housing affordability.
Affordability Disconnect: Near Term Expectations Not Realistic
A disconnect between housing affordability expectations and reality prevents the right community and political conversations from happening. We expect/demand housing affordability immediately, ignoring the difficulty, and consequences, of achieving it that quickly.
Stable and healthy housing affordability is a long-term process requiring gradual change over a 10-15+ year period.
Demand-Side Solutions Won’t Work
Demand-side solutions, such as lower interest rates or easier financing, artificially inflate home values, as seen during the COVID-era housing boom and early 2000s. They are not a good long-term solution to affordability because they push values even higher (along with your property taxes) and affordability gets worse when rates/lending normalize and no longer provide artificially low monthly payments.
Supply-Side Solutions Are Not Immediate
Most policy discussions focus on supply-side solutions: building more/faster and denser housing (e.g. Arlington’s Missing Middle/Expanded Housing Option), incentivizing more existing home sales, or disincentivizing concentrated ownership by companies and individuals. Econ 101 tells us that more supply = lower prices = affordable housing (winner winner!).
This is the only path to stable, long-term housing affordability…BUT, at current interest rates, prices must drop 30-35% in the United States to become affordable, at current income levels. A 30-35% drop in home values would devastate the economy, so a supply-side solution won’t (shouldn’t) provide immediate affordability. (more…)
Teacher on Trip Saves Father, Son — “The St. Agnes school community in Arlington, Virginia, is buzzing about a teacher’s heroic actions during a field trip to Baltimore. What started out as a trip to learn about genetics turned into one about heroism instead, as one of their teachers plunged into the Inner Harbor to save a little boy and his father.” [NBC 4]
Arrest After Parking Lot Assault — “At approximately 11:50 p.m. on April 3, the male suspect approached the male victim outside of the business and a verbal dispute ensued. The male suspect then allegedly assaulted the victim, causing him to fall on the ground, before a witness intervened.” [ACPD]
Discussing Arlington’s Economy — “Panelists at the conference… generally engaged in painting lipstick on the calamity pig of Trump layoffs that are hitting [Arlington] with its 25,000 federal workers. Already with a 26.7 percent office vacancy rate, the county is bracing as fully 20 percent of its currently occupied office space is leased to the federal General Services Administration.” [FCNP]
Favola Questions Virginia529 Surplus — “State Sen. Barbara Favola, D-Arlington County, says the General Assembly wants to take a closer look at the billions of dollars in surplus that the 529 plan has amassed before committing it to the military education waivers. ‘Where did it come from?’ she asked. ‘Should we be returning any of that surplus money to some of the original subscribers?'” [NBC 4]
I-395 Crash on Camera — “A crash in the noon hour on I-395N over Route 1. The striking vehicle’s front right tire took a solo ride for a bit but somehow missed striking any other cars.” [Dave Statter/X]
F.C. Officials Studying ‘Abundance’ — “Falls Church Mayor Letty Hardi and Council member Justine Underhill took a whirlwind trip to San Francisco last week to participate in an event featuring New York Times columnist Ezra Klein. It was about growing a new movement centered around themes in the new book Klein and Atlantic writer Derek Thompson authored entitled, ‘Abundance.'” [FCNP]
It’s Monday — Expect rain mainly before 11am, with patchy fog from 7am to noon, and a high near 51°F. The northeast wind will blow at 6 to 10 mph and there’s a 60% chance of precipitation. Precipitation may range from a tenth to a quarter of an inch. Tonight, there’s a slight chance of showers before 2am, with clouds giving way to partly cloudy skies and a low around 35°F. Light west wind will shift to northwest at 9 to 14 mph, with gusts up to 22 mph. [NWS]
Today’s Morning Notes are brought to you by Industrious. ARLnow has been in an Industrious office for years and we love the convenience — you get to focus on your work rather than worrying about brewing your own coffee or keeping the copy machine stocked. Industrious has several Metro-accessible coworking locations in Arlington.
The start of high-school football season is still a good five full months away, but the official schedules have been released for the upcoming 2025 campaign.
All four Arlington County varsity teams open play on Thursday night, Aug. 28, with two of those squads meeting in their openers.
Live standup comedy in Arlington on Friday July 31 starring Jim Bryan, Kim Villamera, and Greg Billet.
Friday, July 31, 2026
After struggling at times during the early portion of the boys basketball season, the Arlington Aces played their best as games progressed — and won a championship as a result.
The Arlington Travel Basketball sixth-grade Division 2 squad won the season-ending Fairfax County Youth Basketball League tournament title with a 3-0 record.
Last year’s lack of offensive production has been turned around during the recent Washington-Liberty Generals’ winning streak.
During a three-game string, the high-school squad plated 28 runs in victories over the Marshall Statesmen by a 9-4 score, the Herndon Hornets in a 7-0 blanking and the South County Stallions in a 12-3 rout.
With Kaiya Ovando leading the way with two victories, a number of athletes from Arlington schools had top finishes at the multi-team Carolyn Legard Relays at C.G. Woodson High School.
Ovando, of Yorktown High School, won the girls discus and shot put competition with throws of 114-2 and 34-1, respectively, in the day-long track-and-field meet last Saturday (March 29).
Two swimmers from Arlington high school enjoyed standout junior seasons for the Division I University of Delaware’s men’s and women’s teams during the winter season.
Yorktown High School graduate Lauren Hartel swam on the winning 800 freestyle relay for the Blue Hens in the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) women’s championships.
With one of the best overall records of any boys Arlington Travel Basketball teams this past winter, the fifth-grade Division 3 Blazers finished with a 16-1 mark and champions of the Fairfax County Youth Basketball League tournament title.
The Blazers finished 3-0 in the tourney, defeating Chantilly Youth Organization, 25-10, in the first round; Lee-Mount Vernon, 42-27, in the semifinals; then Herndon, 41-35, in the finals.
