(Updated at 2:25 p.m.) Alexandria is hoping to buy an apartment complex in the West End to maintain it as affordable housing.
The City Council is scheduled to consider a $8 million loan to the Alexandria Housing Development Corporation (AHDC), an affordable housing non-profit established by the city in 2004, at a meeting tonight (Tuesday).
The city is hoping to bring new affordable housing to the Eisenhower Valley, but some on the Planning Commission said the city is shooting itself in the foot with snobby development guidelines.
The plans to reshape Eisenhower — a topic that came up several times this week — went to the Planning Commission on Tuesday, Dec. 3. While the commission mostly praised the vision presented in the plans, Commissioner Mindy Lyle pointed out that efforts to create more affordable housing in the area are inadvertently hamstrung by the city’s own zoning and design practices.
Fox 5: No Additional Delays on Seminary — Alexandria’s Seminary Road controversy has taken another turn in the local TV news spotlight. This time, Fox 5 looked at the lane reduction issue and concluded that the brief periods of gridlock on the road during peak times are not, in fact, worse than it was when the Seminary was two lanes in both directions. [Fox 5, Twitter]
Population, Housing Continue to Grow — “Alexandria’s housing inventory is barely keeping up with its population growth. That’s a key takeaway from Alexandria’s recently released fiscal 2019 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report… The city added an estimated 2,300 residents in the last year, climbing to 156,800, and roughly 2,900 total residential units, ending fiscal 2019 with 82,310.” [Washington Business Journal]
Alexandria’s Office of Housing has announced the 2020 Housing Summit to examine the current status of affordable housing in the city.
The event is scheduled for Jan. 11 at the Lee Center (1108 Jefferson Street) from 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. The main goal of the event is to review the progress of the 2013 Housing Master Plan.
As part of Alexandria’s program to help first-time homebuyers who live or work in Alexandria, two properties near Landmark Mall are now on the market for around $200,000.
One of the homes is a two-bedroom, one-bathroom unit at 14 Canterbury Square, part of the Canterbury Square Condominiums. The home is being offered through the Alexandria Neighborhood Stabilization Program, which acquires and fully renovates distressed properties then sells them to income-eligible, first-time homebuyers. The unit is priced at $197,877.
The Ramsey Homes affordable housing project will loaned an additional $1.4 million thanks to a vote by the Alexandria City Council.
Council members voted to grant the additional funding to the redevelopment last night (Tuesday), bringing the total amount Alexandria has loaned to $5 million.
The Alexandria City Council reaffirmed longstanding rent increase guidelines after debating the value of the unenforceable rules.
Last night (Tuesday), City Council members voted in favor of keeping guidelines capping rent increases at 5%, but not before arguing over the point of the “symbolic” guidelines, with one member jokingly offering to lower the cap to 1%.
The redevelopment of the Ramsey Homes public housing project in the Braddock area is underway, but the housing agency developing the project has extended the timeline and is requesting further funding from the city.
The Ramsey Homes project, at the corner of N. Patrick and Wythe streets, consists of 52 affordable units financed with low-income housing tax credits, city loans, and public housing funds. Of those units, 37 are planned to be affordable to households making up to 60% of the area median income, while 15 will be classified as deeply affordable — available to households at 30% of the area median income.
In a rare joint meeting of top Alexandria and Arlington officials, the two communities laid the foundation for a closer collaboration on affordable housing.
Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson and the City Council met with the Arlington County Board last night (Tuesday) at Arlington’s Gunston Community Center after Wilson’s proposal to meet on a flotilla of lashed-together kayaks in Four Mile Run was shot down. There was very little set in stone at the meeting, but the gathering allowed both organizations to set priorities for policy goals as they prepare for Amazon’s HQ2, the new Virginia Tech Innovation Campus, and a new George Mason University School of Computing.
