Giving up on North Arligton... Is South Arlington going to improve?
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Anonymous
| ^^schools not school's |
Anonymous
| 22:43 so, then the affordable housing in arlington is not doing the job you say it can. If that were true, s arlington schools would have the scores equal to north arlington. |
Anonymous
There is not enough committed affordable housing. In talking about APAH and AHC communities. Many of the kids who live in those communities have access to programs like the Greenbruer Learning Center. If you look at Greenbrier's materials you will see that their kids jump 2-3 reading levels in a year. They may not be on grade level but they're doing a heck of a lot better than they were in the beginning of the year. Also, test scores do not show growth and if you've ever seen an SOL you'll see how the language easily trips up ELL students. The SOL scores alone are not what you should go off of. |
Anonymous
Dumb |
Anonymous
Are you really that obtuse? |
Anonymous
But the affordable housing we are talking about (the "committed" affordable housing provided by the county/private partnerships) is not concentrated in South Arlington. An economist in our neighborhood studied this recently and found that the number of affordable housing units in north and south Arlington are almost exactly the same. These units do, for the most part, have one thing in common, but it's not a South Arlington location. If you plot the affordable housing units on a county map, you will see that they are clustered on or near major thoroughfares and bus routes. Columbia Pike is just one example. So, it's not affordable housing that is making South Arlington poorer. It's the fact that the market rate affordable housing (a very different thing) is clustered in South Arlington. The market - not the county - has dictated that. |
Anonymous
The market units seem to be slowly vanishing though, with the exception of the vast Barcroft Apts. I doubt that's going away anytime soon. |
Anonymous
Dundree Knolls still exists, it's the 3800 block of South 9th Road. It's on the north side of the Pike between Oakland and Quincy. I drove through the area 2-3 years ago to show my DD where we used to live. They'd put up tan siding to replace the pastels that were there in the 80s and some Googling reveals they did more renovations in 2010. Not sure why you say "it doesn't exist anymore." Now some of the other stuff I've talked about has gone away, but not the THs on the north side of the Pike between Quincy and Oakland. |
Anonymous
I thought the move was away from putting up projects except in Alexandria |
Anonymous
Yeah, what I wrote wasn't clear. I wasn't referring to where you lived- more the places along the Pike. it seems very different now, compared to when you lived here. Which is pretty amazing considering you haven't been gone that long. |
Anonymous
Alexandria is not putting up "more projects" It is replacing the old units that were in the section of upper Old Town, and distributing them throughout the city. When new developers come in, Alexandria encourages them to set aside a percentage of units for affordable, but that ends up being a rather small amount. Alexandria is similar in many ways to South Arlington. As PPs have noted, its not really about the officially designated units of affordable housing, its the "market rate affordable housing". This is housing that is affordable not because it's mandated by any regulation, but because the landlords are choosing to maintain cheap housing. As in South Arlington, the economic forces are shifting (perhaps more slowly than some would like, but shifting.) The owners of the old garden-style apartments that line Beauregard Ave in Alexandria have decided that is makes more economic sense for them to tear down those units and replace with more expensive housing. Yes, they agreed to set aside a small number of units and make them designated affordable housing, but the rest will be a market rate, and that market rate with be significantly higher, and therefore most of the families that are currently living there will have to move. This is a huge project that will take years to fully roll out, but it should have a significant impact on the west end of Alexandria. We bought in Alexandria 10 years ago on the west end of town. We are one of the brave souls that is regularly abused and ridiculed on DCUM because we send our kids to Alexandria City Public Schools (the same kind of vitriol I often hear about South Arlington schools.) I'm content with our current situation, and do not need to anxiously hold my breath for some huge rapid change, but do I think Alexandria (and South Arlington) is going to improve? Yes. These market rate affordable units are under no government regulation to stay "affordable." The market forces will continue to encourage landlords of cheaper apartments to upscale. The progressive in me will be sad to lose some of the diversity that currently surrounds me. The taxpayer in me recognizes that it will be easier if this higher need population is dispersed more widely throughout the DC Metro region, and not so highly concentrated in pockets such as Alexandria and South Arlington. |
Anonymous
Actually it is Alexandria that is doing away with "projects" and moving toward scattered site affordable housing. The Berg in the heart of Old Town is slowly being replaced with expensive townhouses as is the stretch of public housing between Washington St and Rt 1. Arlington has moved to concentrating affordable units in individual buildings, such as the new built as Glebe and Carlin Springs and the newer building at Columbia Pike and Four Mile Run. Arlington tried scattered site housing by making builders set aside units in new buildings as affordable. Unfortunately Arlington did not consider the cost of condo fees that had to be paid by those who bought the affordable units. The fees were too high, so the units had to be sold at market rate. Proceeds were used for the affordable housing fund to which new housing builds must also contribute To the person who mentioned that a good deal of committed affordable housing is in North Arlington, much of that is concentrated in units for the elderly at Culpeper Gardens, Hunter Park and the Carlin. A bank robber was recently apprehended at the Carlin when he visited his grandmother. Other than The Claridge in Crystal City, most of the South Arlington committed housing is occupied by younger people who contribute more to the school and social problems |
Anonymous
I'd love to see the study your neighborhood did. I find all of this fascinating. I had brought up market rate affordable earlier in the thread. You are correct. Most of the affordable units along Colimbia Pike are market rate. The county counts them among their affordable housing, but these buildings can be renovated/ torn down and become high end rentals or condos. That was my point earlier that the county has waited too long to strategize how they are going to keep affordable housing in the county. There is a lot of talk about the importance of it, and they have a couple of projects coming up, but they can't hold onto the number they've got now. I wish I could remember the number of units lost over the last decade. It's not slowing. The gentrification of South Arlington is real. Interesting what was said about children thriving in commited affordable housing and are stressed in market rate affordable. That makes sense, but I hadn't considered that before. There are some very nice and well maintained garden apartments along the Pike. I'd actually hate to see them all go. The complexes ( Quebec and Westmont apts) near my neighborhood are full of very nice neighbors. They are older buildings, but I find them charming and safe. I'm glad people who earn less have good options for housing and good schools for their kids. Now Barcroft... That place can't be torn down soon enough. It's shameful. |
Anonymous
Yes and no. This is actually a self perpetuating problem in the west end on the Pike. Land is cheaper- so AHC comes in and builds "the shell", which is entirely affordable units. The value of the land stagnates because of exisiting affordable housing, so AHC developes the lot next to it because it's cheaper, and creates another building entirely of affordable housing. It keeps the cycle going and concentrates the poverty over a couple of blocks on the western end of the Pike. Thus creating a bit of a project. This is what I don't want to see continue. If this is the plan, I think we need a new one. |
Anonymous
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We all know that the number of designated affordable housing units in N/S is about equal. But, citizens do not allow and the county do not build large low income housing buildings (versus set aside units in new buildings) in the north. Only in the south. That coupled with the concentration of market rate yet cheap housing around the western end of the Pike is the problem both for economic development in that area and more importantly for the schools. However you categorize it - market rate, affordable, what ever, does not matter anymore for the western Pike. It is a very poor area and many of the commercial establishments nearby prey on those very people. The schools that serve that area do not have the seats for the kids and they are underperforming - and they are title I schools. So, South Arlington should not be scattering the affordable units across new developments in the county, not concentrating them into pockets of poverty.
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