Skepticism Greets Springfield Apartment Plan
Residents Query Officials on Units For the Homeless

By Bill Turque
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 26, 2007

More than 80 Springfield District residents grilled housing officials for 90 minutes last week about plans for a mixed-income apartment development on the grounds of the county Government Center.

They weren't exactly thrilled with the answers they got.

At issue is the county's plan to use a portion of the government center area for "workforce housing" -- apartments for schoolteachers, firefighters, police officers and other middle-income professionals who cannot afford to live in Fairfax, where the average monthly rent is $1,157 and the median sale price of a single-family home is $425,000.

The county has solicited proposals from six developers for the project, which would feature rents within the financial reach of people making from 50 to 100 percent of the area's median household income, just under $84,000, according to census figures. Preference would be given to county employees, officials said.

Final decisions are still a long way off. Once a developer is selected, the proposal must go to the county Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors. If approved, construction probably would not begin before early 2009, with the work taking anywhere from 12 to 16 months.

But residents of communities near the Government Center said they became concerned when they learned that the county's official request for proposals from developers called for some of the apartments to be "residential studios," a new term for "single-room occupancies," or SROs. Advocates for the homeless say such housing is essential to lift people out of emergency shelters and get them into the mainstream.

Paula Sampson, director of the county's Department of Housing and Community Development, said SROs for the homeless were never part of the plan.

"It's not a shelter. We want to make sure everybody understands that," Sampson said.

Supervisor Elaine N. McConnell (R-Springfield), who convened the July 17 meeting at the Government Center, vowed that the project would accommodate no homeless. "This supervisor will not support housing for the homeless there," said McConnell, who is not seeking reelection this fall.

Pat Herrity, the Republican candidate seeking to succeed McConnell, echoed her promise. He accused the county of trying to sneak homeless people into the project without the community's input.

"Without a doubt," he said.

Residents also raised questions about a provision for a "multi-purpose facility" that would be used for community meetings "but also be able to accommodate the emergency housing of individuals." County officials said the intent was not to shelter the homeless but to provide for those displaced by natural disasters or other civil emergencies.

But a sense of skepticism colored questions and comments from residents, and some said the county had not been candid about the project.

"In an age in which information travels so fast, they have to be careful about what kinds of words they are using," said Scott Ridings, vice president of the Carriage Park Condominium Association.

Josh Chamot, 31 and a lifelong Springfield resident, said he was not opposed to including the homeless, but he cited numerous questions about the environmental impact of the apartment development on the Government Center site, which is surrounded by woods, trails, ponds and gardens.

"There are some serious issues that have not been addressed," he said. "There is not a lot of trust in this room."

There were groans from the audience when Sampson hedged her answer on whether any of the apartments would be subsidized under Section 8 or other federal housing programs for low-income families.

"This is not intended to be Section 8," Sampson said, as people scoffed.

In fact, some of the units could be rented under the Section 8 program, according to John Kershenstein, the Springfield District appointee to the county's Redevelopment and Housing Authority.

If the developer decided to build extra apartments under the county's Affordable Dwelling Unit program, the housing authority would have an option to buy them and could use them for Section 8 tenants.