News

Arlington-based True Ground Housing Partners says it can’t build apartments for the region’s poorest renters without a level of subsidy that doesn’t exist.

The nonprofit developer laid out the math for the Associated Press: a unit for those earning 60% of the area’s median income — nearly $70,000 a year — brings in $1,715 per month in rent. But after $1,575 in mortgage and operating expenses, only $140 is left.


News

A key Falls Church civic group wants the Virginia Village affordable housing project to focus at least partly on low-income residents.

Citizens for a Better City (CBC) is calling for at least half of the new units in the project to go to those earning 30% or less of area median income (AMI). Advocates say this income bracket is “largely ignored” in the city’s existing affordable-housing efforts.


News

The Falls Church committee tasked with evaluating affordable housing proposals for Virginia Village got down to business last week.

The seven-member Virginia Village Proposals Evaluation Committee met Aug. 6, the same day proposals were due from prospective partners seeking to be part of the redevelopment project.


News

An affordable housing project that opened near Rosslyn late last year was highlighted in a recent presentation on model projects in Northern Virginia.

The Northern Virginia Affordable Housing Alliance (NVAHA) zeroed in on Wholey Legacy Homes, a 234-unit project at 1300 N. Pierce Street, in an annual “virtual bus tour” of three projects last Wednesday.


News

Several Falls Church residents and one Council member have urged city staff to exercise maximum transparency around a major affordable housing development.

Several speakers on July 28 voiced concerns to City Manager Wyatt Shields that staff have not been communicating adequately about documents related to the Virginia Village plan as they evolve.


News

Following resistance in the General Assembly this year, a new working group has been appointed to study possible changes to Arlington’s Affordable Housing Ordinance.

County Board members on Tuesday chartered the eight-member, limited-term working group, which will spend the next four months developing proposed revisions. The current Affordable Housing Ordinance outlines ways for developers to gain additional density for projects by building affordable units or contributing to the Affordable Housing Investment Fund.


News

Falls Church leaders are about to hit the launch button on their most significant affordable-housing effort.

City Council members on Monday, July 27 are slated to appoint a seven-member screening committee to rank prospective partners for redeveloping portions of the Virginia Village site.


News

Falls Church leaders this week took a major step forward on a key affordable housing proposal, but ongoing divisions may imperil getting to the finish line.

Council members voted 6-1 authorizing staff to release a request for proposal (RFP), seeking development partners for the apartment buildings owned by the city in the 4.5-acre Virginia Village community.


News

Which should come first for the Virginia Village redevelopment in Falls Church: Selecting a development partner, or considering zoning changes?

City leaders are facing a “chicken-and-egg”-type challenge as they tackle the major affordable housing initiative.


Around Town

Culpepper Garden boosters put a difficult year in the rearview mirror and looked to the future at the organization’s “BBQ & Blooms” summer fundraiser.

“We’re raising the bar and we’re hoping to do more” in support of residents, Culpepper Garden’s president, Marta Hill Gray, said at the June 6 event, held at Rock Spring Congregational United Church of Christ.


News

Falls Church leaders are weighing a few options as they decide the fate of a major affordable housing project.

City officials plan to rehabilitate or redevelop at least a portion of the 40 fourplex apartment buildings on the Virginia Village site through a future partnership with a housing developer. A work session on Monday focused on refining the request for proposal that will be put out, soliciting partnerships.


News

An affordable housing redevelopment project at the Goodwill on S. Glebe Road broke ground over the weekend.

Community leaders joined Goodwill of Greater Washington and Affordable Homes & Communities (AHC) personnel at the ceremony to mark the beginning of work on redeveloping Goodwill’s longstanding retail outlet and collection facility at 10 S. Glebe Road.


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