Mission: Affordable

Eligibility requirements for the nascent Montgomery County program haven't been established yet, and there aren't any units available right now, said Montgomery County officials. But in anticipation of the program, work force projects are already under way.

PN Hoffman and Stonebridge Associates are redeveloping a county-owned parking lot into a mixed-use property with retail and condos, including some work force units. The anticipated 245-unit complex in Bethesda will offer about 35 work force units, 27 MPDU units and 183 market-rate units, said Alanna Deal, a PN Hoffman representative. Sales are slated to begin in 2008 with completion projected in 2011.

Work force housing advocates say local governments are in different stages in terms of their attacks on the shrinkage of affordable housing in the region.

Montgomery County, Arlington, Alexandria and D.C. are "far more aggressive in trying to stem the tide of erosion," said Barbara Favola, chairwoman of the Washington Area Housing Partnership and an Arlington County board member.

Favola thinks the term "work force housing" has become a euphemism for "affordable housing" in suburbs like Loudoun, because residents there associate the phrase "affordable housing" with images of congested roads and unsavory new neighbors --things they'd never put up with. Suburbanites are more comfortable with the idea of "work force housing," which summons visions of helping public-sector employees such as teachers and firefighters.

Reduced-price homes are a rare find, Favola said. Often, it takes developers, of their own free will, to convert an existing rental building without making as much money as they would make otherwise.

"Basically, they have the social conscience," she said. "These developers are few and far between."

AHC, a private, nonprofit developer of low- and moderate-income housing, aids Arlington County by selling reduced-price units at Arlington Oaks, also a converted apartment complex.

Arlington resident Jill G., who wished not to be identified, got on the notification list for Arlington Oaks, even though she works in Montgomery County as a social worker. She met the criteria of living in Arlington, earning a modest salary and not owning a home. The 32-year-old had been renting in Crystal City with a roommate for about five years. She wanted to find a place of her own, after her roommate decided to move out, but Jill wasn't willing to give up the Arlington community.

One day in March of this year, she began surfing the Internet to assess whether it would make more sense economically to buy a condo or rent a one-bedroom place in Arlington. The last time she had priced condos was three years ago.

Since housing prices had skyrocketed since then, Jill realized she could no longer afford the area. New construction was stratospherically pricey, and even older buildings like Arlington Oaks were beyond her means. And, yet, the rents were all too high at the apartments she liked. Then, Jill discovered AHC's Web site. She immediately called the organization.

That weekend, Jill took a six-hour class -- a sort of Home Buying 101 -- required for placement on the notification list.