The proposed $845 million fiscal 2026 budget to fund Arlington Public Schools (APS) for the 2025-26 school year has again brought up concerns over how much funding should go into classrooms and how much is needed to provide central-office oversight.
Given fiscal challenges faced by the county government and school system, and the ongoing uncertainty over the region’s economic future, those concerns may be more pronounced this year.
A cyclist was seriously injured after being struck by a driver in Clarendon this morning.
The crash happened just after 8:30 a.m. on eastbound 10th Street N. at N. Irving Street, across from Fire Station No. 4.
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…)
With warmer weather comes higher pollen content and an influx of runny noses, but Arlington is filled with some of the best doctors to have you feeling better.
Here are the top picks for “Best Primary Care Doctor in Arlington” as part of our ARLnow Readers’ Choice awards. Is your go-to doctor not listed? Be sure to write them in!
Don’t wait to vote as polls will close in two weeks.
Voting for Best Mexican Restaurant in Arlington is still taking place. Be sure to cast your vote before voting closes next Friday at 9 a.m.
Two weeks ago, we voted on Best sports bar in Arlington. The results are now official:
Two measles exposures were reported at Reagan National Airport and on the Yellow Line last Friday.
Exposures were possible on the airport’s terminal shuttle bus between noon and 2:30 p.m., the Virginia Department of Health announced in a press release yesterday. They were also possible between 12:15 and 3:15 p.m. on the Yellow Line train from the airport, transferring at the L’Enfant Plaza station to the Silver Line train heading toward Downtown Largo.
Live standup comedy in Arlington on Friday July 31 starring Jim Bryan, Kim Villamera, and Greg Billet.
Friday, July 31, 2026
The Arlington County Board has joined a chorus of regional voices asking Dominion Energy to be more judicious in tree removal efforts.
The Board unanimously voted on Tuesday in support of a resolution calling on the energy company to avoid draconian efforts to manage the landscape along Washington & Old Dominion (W&OD) Regional Park and adjoining power lines.
The D.C. area’s restaurant community is warning of closures as economic pressures and federal actions raise fears of less spending and higher costs.
Impacts may be less severe in Arlington and Falls Church than in D.C., as some businesses are considering leaving the District for “better deals” in Northern Virginia. However, Shawn Townsend, president of the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington (RAMW), cautioned that Arlington restaurants remain vulnerable to issues involving federal job cuts, rising costs and a possible meals tax increase.
Ousted AIM CEO Alleges Bias — “[Kernodle] points the finger at basically everyone else: the county board and staffers who balked at her request for funds, the AIM board of directors, volunteers at WERA, and even the media outlet ARLnow … ‘my grave mistake was telling people that’s what my goal was. I told them I was going to undo White patriarchy and White privilege through the media.'” [Washington City Paper]
Armed Robbery of Lighter — “The male victim was outside when the male suspect approached him and asked for a lighter. The victim loaned the suspect their lighter and the suspect began to walk away with it. When the victim verbally confronted the suspect, he lifted his shirt exposing what appeared to be a firearm before fleeing the scene on foot.” [ACPD]
Limbo for Feds — “All over the country, fired federal workers got a bit of good news this week — they’re getting their jobs back. For now, anyway. The recently rehired could soon become the newly re-fired, and the productivity of the entire federal workforce is taking another hit.” [Axios]
Architect for DCA Project — “On Wednesday, the airports authority board awarded an initial two-year contract not to exceed $35 million to Houston architecture and engineering firm PGAL Inc. to provide design and planning services for a new concourse within Terminal 1 at DCA.” [WBJ]
Plea in Classified Doc Case — “A civilian electrical engineer for the Department of Defense pled guilty today to unauthorized removal and retention of classified material. According to court documents, Gokhan Gun, 51, of Falls Church… without permission, removed at least five classified documents from his Department of Defense workspace.” [DOJ]
Gov: Va. Can Take Over for DOE — “Governor Glenn Youngkin and Virginia education leaders expressed support for the Executive Order issued by President Donald J. Trump returning education to the states. The Executive Order directs U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to take all steps within her authority to return education to the states.” [Press Release]
It’s Friday — Expect sunny and breezy conditions with a high of 57 degrees and northwest winds blowing between 17 to 21 mph, gusting up to 36 mph. Friday night will have increasing clouds and a low of around 37 degrees. The west wind will calm to 5 to 7 mph. [NWS]
Good Thursday evening, Arlington. Let’s take a look back at today’s stories and a look forward to tomorrow’s event calendar.
The following articles were published earlier today — Mar 20, 2025.
Here is what’s going on Friday in Arlington, from our event calendar.
Expect sunny and breezy conditions with a high of 57 degrees and northwest winds blowing between 17 to 21 mph, gusting up to 36 mph. Friday night will have increasing clouds and a low of around 37 degrees. The west wind will calm to 5 to 7 mph before becoming light and variable. See more from Weather.gov.
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
The MonumentCam screenshot above is used with permission of the Trust for the National Mall and courtesy of EarthCam.
Thanks for reading! Feel free to discuss the day’s happenings in the comments.
The spotlight is on South Arlington in an upcoming episode of WETA’s local real estate television series, “If You Lived Here,” which airs next week.
The episode and season finale showcases three homes in the Four Mile Run area and in the Fairlington and Claremont neighborhoods. Part of the series’ fourth season exploring D.C.-area homes, the episode premieres this Monday, March 24.
