Steven Peterson is like no other Democrat running for office in Alexandria, and he wants to be the mayor.
From his opinions on racial undertones killing the Potomac Yard arena deal to wanting to reverse a slew of zoning reforms approved last year by City Council, one thing is crystal clear: Peterson is unfiltered.
It was standing-room-only at a City Council budget hearing yesterday (Monday) and most of the speakers had one of two things on their mind: affordable housing and fully funding Alexandria City Public Schools.
The push for more funding to the city’s affordable housing programs came from a mix of housing nonprofit leaders and residents from neighborhoods like Arlandria/Chirilagua staring down the barrel at gentrification.
Anyone living or working in Alexandria and making less than a six-figure salary could qualify for an affordable unit in a new Old Town development, provided they’re first-time homebuyers.
New luxury condo development Aidan Old Town is opening at 701 N. Henry Street in Old Town with a limited selection of homes set aside as affordable to first-time, income-eligible homebuyers.
The City of Alexandria has been awarded $14.3 million by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) for three affordable housing projects across the city.
The projects cover a range of incomes based on the area median income (AMI), which is $105,500 for a one person household. The projects range from 40% of AMI — $42,200 for one person — up to 80% of AMI — $84,400 for one person.
Alexandria is getting $3.5 million in federal funds to pay for public safety, transit, affordable housing and flooding infrastructure projects, Northern Virginia Congressman Don Beyer (D-8th) announced today.
“Even in the minority amid a divided and chaotic Congress, I am laser focused on helping my constituents and benefitting Northern Virginia,” Beyer said in a statement.
ALXnow will be running a series of City Council candidate interviews through the local election filing deadline on April 4.
Alexandria City Council candidate Charlotte Scherer is running to be Alexandria’s first transgender City Councilor and is one of the few candidates firmly against the Potomac Yard arena deal.
Del Ray’s Jesse O’Connell has thrown his hat into the City Council race.
O’Connell launched a campaign website this morning and announced his intention to run in an email.
Two longtime affordable housing advocacy nonprofits have announced that, as of Jan. 1, the groups have officially merged.
The Northern Virginia Affordable Housing Alliance (NVAHA) and the Alliance for Housing Solutions (AHS) announced in a release that they’d be consolidating into one organization.
(Updated 3:15 p.m.) As temperatures drop below freezing, the Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority is warning its low-income families that they will be arrested if caught wearing ski masks.
In a Nov. 14 notification to approximately 1,500 low-income households under its watch, ARHA said that the Alexandria Police Department notified them that they will start “enforcing the prohibition against wearing face coverings that hide an individual’s face now that the COVID pandemic is over.”
Single-family-only zoning is no more in Alexandria.
Alexandria’s City Council voted unanimously at around 1 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 29, to approve the Zoning for Housing/Housing for All initiative.
Few speakers at a six-hour City Council meeting last night seemed fully satisfied with the Zoning for Housing/Housing for All initiative, but the public comment was divided between those who saw the proposal as a good first step and those who thought it threatened the city’s character.
While nearly all speakers at a six-hour public hearing last night said they supported affordable housing, opinions on the city’s Zoning for Housing/Housing for All initiative varied widely.
