The Arlington Tenant-Landlord Commission is refereeing a dispute about living conditions at The Shelton affordable-housing apartments.
On one side is the Green Valley Civic Association, which contends the property owner is turning a blind eye to everything from drug use to needed apartment repairs.
A working group on affordable housing met last week to explore possible solutions to ever-spiraling costs for Arlington’s low- and moderate-income households.
Though the hour-long meeting on July 1 didn’t resolve any core issues, members suggested that pushing developers to provide more funding to the county’s Affordable Housing Investment Fund might be the best way to get more apartments built in Arlington.
True Ground Housing Partners has filed plans to redevelop an affordable housing complex in Waverly Hills with even more affordable housing.
The nonprofit developer, formerly the Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing, filed site plans last week for a 10-story building with 249 committed-affordable units at the current Leckey Gardens site at 2031 N. Woodrow Street.
The Culpepper Garden senior-housing community has announced plans to close its assisted-living wing, leaving some families to scramble to find new homes for loved ones.
Current residents will be able to stay until at least next summer, which leadership hopes will give families enough time to find other housing. Still, the closure means Northern Virginia will be losing one of its only assisted-living facilities for low-income seniors.
A decision on whether there’s any historic value in a former schoolhouse bound for redevelopment in Aurora Highlands is unlikely until next year.
Historic-preservation staff will begin a study of the Melwood property “by the end of the year at the latest — like the December time frame,” said Mical Tawney, a historic-preservation specialist, in response to a question at the June 18 meeting of the Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board (HALRB).
A local nonprofit is sounding the alarm about a worsening affordable housing crisis that’s driving homelessness to new heights across Northern Virginia.
Falls Church-based Homestretch released new data showing that finding affordable housing in the region has become increasingly difficult for many residents.
Street upgrades in Bluemont, Claremont and Shirlington, plus a loan for renovating 73 affordable housing units, are scheduled for County Board consideration this weekend.
Board members have a total 52 items on their consent agenda this month, but no regular hearing items. All items pulled for further consideration will be heard at the Board’s recessed meeting, set for Wednesday, June 18.
Arlington’s Democratic candidates for County Board are critical of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown but acknowledge limits to how local governments can take him on.
Both incumbent County Board Chair Takis Karantonis, who immigrated to the United States from Greece, and challenger James DeVita, an attorney whose practice includes immigration law, offered similar thoughts at a recent Arlington NAACP forum.
Recent management changes at an affordable housing complex bought with Amazon’s money followed months of advocacy and frustration from both tenants and county officials.
Last month, complaints led Washington Housing Conservancy, the property owner, to install a new management company to support ongoing changes at the Crystal House 1 and 2 buildings at 1900 and 2000 S. Eads Street. The shift didn’t come easily, however.
Changes to Arlington County’s affordable housing regulations might bring some improvements, but they’re unlikely to solve larger affordability issues, people studying the topic say.
“Tempering expectations is really important,” said Bryan Coleman, who chairs a working group set up by Arlington’s Housing Commission to study potential changes in the county’s Affordable Housing Ordinance.
As development around the Crystal House Apartments begins to pick up speed, some current residents are raising concerns about the property’s management.
A recent change in management companies has not resulted in improvements, several renters said at last week’s meeting of the county’s Tenant-Landlord Commission.
While an annual point-in-time count showed the D.C. region has seen a slight decline in homelessness, Arlington’s count increased by 12%.
The point-in-time count from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) is an annual snapshot tallying people experiencing homelessness around the region.
