Planners have undertaken the task of protecting market-rate affordable housing in Arlington County. The need for action was made clear in an Affordable Housing Study recently released to inform the preparation of a new Affordable Housing Master Plan.
"In five years, there could be virtually no market-rate affordable apartments left in Arlington," reports Ethan Rothstein.
"In 2000, 19,740 apartments owned by for-profit property owners in the county were affordable for someone making up to 60 percent of the region’s area median income, according to findings from the county’s three-year Affordable Housing Study. In 2013, there were 3,437 'MARKs,' as they’re called."
And if that quick decline continues, whatever MARKS remain by 2020 will be negligible.
The study was completed to inform a planning process underway by the Arlington County Board, which is hoping to complete an Affordable Housing Master Plan by July. So far, the "affordable housing study has completed its research and staff, along with the Affordable Housing Study Working Group, released findings and recommendations last month in a draft master plan [pdf]."
The article goes on to make the case for protecting housing stock in Arlington that is affordable to teachers, police officers, and fire fighters as well as providing more evidence of the rising cost of housing in the county.
FULL STORY: Market-Rate Affordable Housing in Arlington May Disappear by 2020
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Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
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