Alexandria needs to solve its affordable housing crisis, but should building up be the solution?
The City’s bonus density and height program would allow developers to increase heights of buildings to 70 feet in areas of the city that are capped at 45 feet in height, like in Del Ray.
City Manager Jim Parajon will discuss the Alexandria’s bonus density and height program at Agenda Alexandria’s upcoming discussion on Monday night, October 24. The event will begin at the Lyceum (201 S. Washington Street) with a reception at 6:30 p.m., followed by the panel discussion with Save Del Ray founder Nate Hurto and Kamilah McAfee, the senior vice president of real estate development for Wesley Housing.
In June, the Planning Commission deferred the proposal from city staff after a wave of Del Ray residents protested that the program will eliminate the neighborhood’s small town feel.
Alexandria is currently experiencing an affordable housing crisis, and lost 14,300 (or 78%) affordable housing units between 2000 and 2022. Consequently, the city has pledged to produce or develop thousands of units to meet 2030 regional housing goal set by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.
Agenda Alexandria will be hosted this month by its Board Chair Rod Kuckro. In last month’s panel, Alexandria Police Chief Don Hayes said that the city’s public school system needs school resource officers to curb violence.
