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Notes: Alexandria secures $1.08 million for workforce housing near INOVA campus

Good Thursday morning, Alexandria!

⛈️ Today’s weather: Showers and thunderstorms before 3 p.m., then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m., then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 4 p.m.. High near 70 degrees. Light and variable wind becoming west 5 to 10 mph in the morning. Winds could gust as high as 20 mph. The chance of precipitation is 80%—new rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts are possible in thunderstorms.

Tonight: A chance of showers, mainly before 8 p.m. Partly cloudy, with a low around 53 degrees. West wind around 7 mph. The chance of precipitation is 30%.

🚨 You need to know

Alexandria is getting a $1.08 million boost for workforce housing as part of a larger $16.9 million investment announced by Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin on Wednesday (May 21).

The money comes from the Virginia Workforce Housing Investment Program and will help create new homeownership opportunities near the upcoming INOVA campus in the Landmark Mall redevelopment project.

Virginia Housing administers the Workforce Housing Investment Program, which aims to increase the supply of workforce housing in areas with new or expanding businesses. In total, the Workforce Housing Investment Program commits $75 million over five years, with the potential to catalyze $750 million and build 5,000 units of workforce housing in conjunction with economic development projects in the Commonwealth.

The program provides loans, loan subsidies, and grants to support communities developing housing for homeowners and renters making 80%-120% of the area median income (AMI), or up to 150% of AMI in rural areas. Workforce Housing Investment Program awards of up to $3 million are available to localities within a 30-minute drive of a new or expanding business where a qualified job announcement was made within the previous fiscal year. Up to $5 million is available for transformational projects of 500 new jobs or more.

The Alexandria project, called Seminary Road, is one of 10 initiatives statewide that will create a total of 740 workforce housing units.

Seminary Road 

Housing Alexandria | City of Alexandria 

$1,080,000

Located close the new INOVA campus, this project is part of the Landmark Mall redevelopment, which will bring new homeownership opportunities to workforce households in the region.

As ALXnow reported on Wednesday (May 21), Housing Alexandria has launched a homeownership screening form for its Seminary Road Project, opening doors for potential first-time homebuyers interested in the development.

What else you need to know

🎤 Mayor Alyia Gaskins identified economic development as the critical path to potential future tax relief for Alexandria residents, emphasizing that significant commercial growth is necessary to balance the city’s predominantly residential tax base.

“If we are looking to one day get to a state where we’re able to reduce taxes, then that is directly tied to our big swings around economic development,” Gaskins said during a one-on-one Ask The Mayor conversation with ALXnow on Wednesday (May 21). Read More/Watch Conversation

❌ On Wednesday, the Commonwealth Transportation Board agreed to suspend any action on Alexandria’s FY 2025 Locality Sustained Performance Program (LSPP). The project, Duke St and Route 1 Intersection Improvements, submitted by the City of Alexandria for $6.6 million, was unfunded because the “applicant’s performance has not improved.” ALXnow reached out to the city on Wednesday for comment and reaction.

🛬 Alexandria’s Transportation and Environmental Services (TES) is hosting a virtual community meeting on the South of the Airport Noise Mitigation Project tonight from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. According to event details, the community meeting will allow residents to understand the recommendations developed during this study and their impacts on the Alexandria community.

🗳️ Reminder: Alexandria voters will have the opportunity to vote for Democratic nominees for lieutenant governor and Attorney General in a primary election on June 17. The deadline to register to vote in the Primary Election is Tuesday (May 27). Early voting is available through June 14.

👉 We’ll have a full rundown of all that’s happening this Memorial Day Weekend in Alexandria up on alxnow.com by noon today.

📈 Wednesday’s most read

The following are the most-read ALXnow articles for May 21, 2025.

  1. Notes: Seminary Road Project to offer 31 affordable townhomes, with screening form now available for interested applicants (1232 views)
  2. Developer wants extension to build seven-story apartment building across from the Braddock Road Metro station (863 views)

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About the Author

  • This is the staff byline for ALXnow, used by editors and other full-time staff. Launched in October 2019, ALXnow is the place for the latest news, views and things to do around Alexandria, Virginia.