Want to Live Where You Work? New National Effort May Help.

The goal is to construct 3,500 affordable units in five years across the country, 1,200 in this area.

"We hopefully will be the group that takes the concept of workforce housing and turns it into bricks and mortar," Patenaude said.

Fairfax officials have made it a priority to work toward the same goal.

"We're moving in that direction. This is happening," said Rodney Lusk, a Fairfax planning commissioner who has worked on the issue.

Last week, the Board of Supervisors approved changes to the county's zoning law that require developers of high-rises to designate at least 12 percent of their residences as reduced-price housing. In exchange, the developer gets to build an extra unit for every one set aside.

Before, high-rise developers were exempted from having to designate units for lower-income individuals, which was already required in many other developments.

"We missed out on the last housing boom," Lusk said. "The intent is that, for the next one, we'll have in place a series . . . [of] requirements and regulations that will allow us to get these much-needed workforce units."