Housing Is Issue In County Board Race

Barbara A. Favola and John G. Reeder agree on the problem: It's tough to find an affordable apartment in Arlington County. Since 2000, thousands of residences have dropped from the affordable category, they say, squeezing out many lower- and middle-income families.

Reeder, a retired foreign trade economist, has built his bid for a spot on Arlington's County Board around this theme. "The number of affordable rental units in Arlington fell by about 13,000 between 2000 and 2008," Reeder wrote on his campaign blog.

Government efforts to try to keep rents within reach for some -- by setting aside below-market units -- have fallen short of county goals, Reeder, a Green Party member, said in an interview.

"He's right, and I concede that," said Favola, a Democrat who joined the board in 1998. "It is a struggle to create the number of affordable units that this community really wants, because we value our diversity so much. We'd like a much more even mix of affordable housing than we have."

In 2000, about half of Arlington rentals were affordable, as measured by federal standards, Favola said. "In 2008, it's slightly less than 25 percent," she said.

But although Reeder and Favola share a view of the challenge, they part ways on the solution. Reeder said he wants voters to approve a referendum proposal on the Nov. 4 ballot to create a housing authority. Favola said such a body isn't the right fix.

The authority would be an independent government entity with a board appointed by the County Board. Today, the county's affordable housing initiatives are run through Arlington's Housing Division, which works with nonprofit and for-profit developers and others, Arlington officials said. Funding comes from county taxes, state and federal grants, and developers.

"There's no guarantee that a housing authority would do any better because they are under the same constraints we are: They are facing high land costs. They'll have to come up with the money to buy the land," Favola said.

Moreover, the authority would not be able to offer the kinds of incentives the county does, such as allowing additional apartments when a developer commits to renting some units below the market rate, she said: "They won't have as many tools as the county currently has."

But Reeder, citing the example of Fairfax County, which has a housing authority, said such an entity would bring much-needed focus and efficiency to the task.

"They do larger projects. They raise more money," Reeder said.

Favola said Arlington has created more units per capita.