Alexandria’s public housing authority is struggling to put together its budget in the wake of the recent government shutdown.
The Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority has a goal of submitting its budget to its Board of Commissioners next month, ARHA’s Chief Financial Officer Sheila White told the board on Monday night.
Mayor Alyia Gaskins shared possible initiatives to preserve Alexandria’s dwindling affordable housing supply during a conversation with an editor at The Atlantic last night (Monday).
Gaskins and Yoni Appelbaum, author of “Stuck“, met at The Lyceum to discuss affordable housing, the history of zoning laws and how Alexandria should approach ongoing efforts to update its Housing Master Plan.
The Planning Commission has given its approval to plans to redevelop an Old Town apartment building with more affordable housing.
The commission gave its blessing last night (Tuesday) to Alfred Street Baptist Church’s proposal to construct a four-story, 145-unit affordable housing complex on the grounds of the 1970s-era Old Towne West building. The current parcels at 901 Wolfe Street and 598 and 601 S. Alfred Street have 77 units, including 34 affordable units and two offices.
Mayor Alyia Gaskins and an editor at The Atlantic are scheduled to participate in a public discussion on affordable housing expansion and policies next week.
The discussion with Gaskins and the magazine’s Deputy Executive Editor, Yoni Appelbaum, will offer “timely insight into the policy choices and historical decisions that have shaped today’s [housing] crisis — and what leaders can do differently moving forward,” according to a release.
In the wake of the restructuring of Alexandria’s public housing authority and its board of commissioners, the organization has temporarily halted eviction proceedings against its tenants.
Mark Jinks, the new chair of the Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority‘s board of commissioners, made the announcement at the board’s monthly meeting in Old Town last night (Monday). Jinks and five other board members were installed last month by City Council to reverse a “system failure,” as described by Mayor Alyia Gaskins.
City staff laid out numerous possible policies for preserving affordable housing in Alexandria and preventing tenant displacement at a meeting yesterday (Monday).
The city is seeking to update its 12-year-old Housing Master Plan with solutions to address needs over the next 15 years. In a virtual seminar on the Housing 2040 Master Plan, Housing Program Manager Tamara Jovovic and other staff members discussed dozens of possibilities based on input from stakeholders, literature reviews, public meetings and a survey of roughly 1,200 residents.
A nonprofit affordable housing provider in Alexandria has distributed Thanksgiving meals to 300 families in need, following its annual holiday food drive.
The drive organized by Housing Alexandria surpassed its collection efforts in 2024 by 15%, according to a release. Each meal provides enough food to feed a family of four, totaling more than 1,000 servings of food.
Past and present residents at Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority (ARHA) properties are continuing to speak out against years of neglect and unsafe living conditions at their homes.
Chronic mold and cockroach infestations, ignored maintenance tickets and denied rehousing requests are just some of the many grievances ARHA tenants described in conversations to ALXnow this month and during a protest last Wednesday.
City and public housing leaders joined developers today (Wednesday) to break ground on the Samuel Madden Homes affordable housing apartment complex in Old Town.
The project will replace the former 66-unit public housing apartment complex with 532 new affordable homes across two phases. The first phase, costing $120 million, will redevelop the site into 207 units of affordable and mixed-income housing, with an estimated completion date of fall 2027.
The Alfred Street Baptist Church is asking for the city’s permission to construct a four-story, 145-unit affordable apartment complex at an existing Old Town apartment.
The church is proposing to demolish a 1.2-acre portion of the Olde Towne West apartment complex and redevelop it to “expand the number of affordable housing units” in the neighborhood, according to a proposal. The plan is slated for review by the Planning Commission at its Dec. 2 meeting.
Housing Alexandria is hosting a “laid-back gala” next month with music, games and food.
This year, the annual fundraising event will be held Thursday, Oct. 9, from 4 to 8 p.m. at The Garden Alexandria (5380 Eisenhower Avenue) and will celebrate the nonprofit’s completion of the Cardinal Path Homes project. The project provides 36 townhomes and condos to first-time homebuyers, available via lottery.
