New Report Looks at Best Practices for Increasing the Availability of Affordable Housing
Homes for Working Families/Center for Housing Policy Study Takes National Look at Innovative Solutions; Fairfax County Cited as Example
At the April 23, 2007 meeting of the Board of Supervisors Housing Committee, Mason District Supervisor Penny Gross asked for examples of what other communities across the country are doing to promote affordable housing. In response, Affordable Housing Advisory Committee Co-Chairman Conrad Egan discussed a recent study released by the Homes for Working Families, and prepared by the Center for Housing Policy, titled “Increasing the Availability of Affordable Homes: A Handbook of High-impact State and Local Solutions”. (Mr. Egan is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Housing Conference (NHC); the Center for Housing Policy is the research affiliate of NHC.)
The study identifies six strategies for increasing the availability of affordable housing:
- Expand the availability of sites for the development of affordable housing;
- Reduce regulatory barriers to affordable housing;
- Leverage affordable housing in strong housing markets;
- Generate additional funds for affordable housing;
- Preserve and recycle resources for affordable housing; and
- Increase successful homeownership through homebuyer education and counseling.
The study also recommends 22 “high-impact” solutions to implement these strategies, drawn from communities across the United States. Among the solutions cited was expanding the supply of homes through rezonings. The recent approval of the MetroWest development in Fairfax County’s Providence District is cited as a best practice. As part of this rezoning action, the county negotiated a promise from the developer that five percent of the approximately 2,250 homes on the site will be affordable.
The study may be found on-line at: http://www.nhc.org/pdf/pub_hwf_solutions_01_07.pdf.