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Too Poor for Hot Housing Market, Too Affluent for Buyer Assistance
Lee Ann Gardner is a longtime tenant of Gunston Hall in Alexandria, where the City Council voted to lend a nonprofit group $12.8 million to buy the complex. Officials hope to have units for those earning too much for public housing.
(By Melina Mara -- The Washington Post)
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Silverman countered that Leggett's idea is vague and unworkable and said his own proposal will "create middle-class housing units as soon as buildings are built."
'Expanding Our Focus'
In Fairfax County, the Board of Supervisors voted recently to consider expansion of its affordable housing policy. It now requires some developers of low or mid-rise buildings to allocate a percentage of the apartments or condominium units as affordable housing. Officials are looking at applying the requirement to high-rises, mostly around Metro stations. The demand for the county's 1,957 homes and apartments is so high that applicants are chosen by lottery.
Supervisor Catherine M. Hudgins (D-Hunter Mill) said she hopes the county will increase the income levels of those applying for the high-rise program to appeal to teachers, law enforcement officers and other middle-class residents.
"We're not shifting our focus -- we're expanding our focus," Hudgins said.
In Arlington County, officials have continued to increase funds going to traditional affordable housing as they try to address workforce housing with an assistance program for moderate-income homebuyers.
Meanwhile, the county has lost about 10,000 apartments that would be affordable to those whose salaries are 60 percent of the area's median income or below, said County Board Vice Chairman Chris Zimmerman (D). Cheaper apartments are far more scarce. Of more than 42,000 rental units in the county, only about 200 are priced at a level that a person whose salary is 40 percent of the area's median income could afford.
"When we talk about the housing we've lost, the greatest losses are at the lowest levels of income," Zimmerman said. He said he was "concerned that we not lose sight of the fact that the most desperate needs are still at these lower income levels."
Halford, the librarian, saw a two-bedroom condominium in a Silver Spring high-rise Friday. Looking past the tired brown carpet, the dated appliances, the "little bug" crawling in a kitchen drawer, she saw some potential. But for $199,000, she said, "I would want it to be in better condition than that."
Staff writer Debbi Wilgoren contributed to this report.
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