Reply to City of Alexandria rolls out timeline for massive housing reform project

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

But in the City of Alexandria, right now, where is the crisis?  Where are the droves of Residents (the Council's constituency) that are  in "a time of intense difficulty, trouble, or danger" over housing?  Unfortunately financial inequities exist, and they always will even in countries purporting to be socialist / communist (look at the immigrant populations in Sweden and France).  Alexandria need not destroy itself so DINKs can buy Del Ray townhouses or the Hill staffer can rent an apartment in Potomac Yard.  Weirdly, there are plenty of apartments available in the West End - [b]there are 46 units available right now at The Sherwood at Southern Towers[/b], so they are at 89% occupancy.   Right --- that developer who will make a cool million knocking down that perfectly good SFH to build three townhouses doesn't get a dime if we just encourage occupancy of the existing housing stock.  So it is a crisis of not getting the house one wants or thinks they deserve - what if one wants a SFH, do they not deserve that?[/quote]

The idea here seems to be that there is no housing crisis if vacant units are available. But there are always going to be vacant rental units available, just like there are always going to be units available for sale. People move in, people move out, people die, people combine households, people separate households...

Also, let's look at those units at The Sherwood at Southern Towers.

391 sf studio, 7 available, starting from $1498/month
514 sf studio, 10 available, starting from $1499/month
653 sf 1 BR/1 BA, 1 available, starting from $1690/month
721 sf 1 BR/1 BA, 8 available, starting from $1678/month
725 sf 1 BR/1 BA, 10 available, starting from $1755/month
884 sf 2 BR/1 BA, 2 available, starting from $2238/month
928 sf 2 BR/1 BA, 4 available, starting from $2290/month
1450 sf 2 BR/2 BA, 2 available, starting from $3013/month
1250 sf 3 BR/2 BA, 1 available, starting from $3002/month
[/quote]

So I guess you are trying to say these rents are outrageous and unaffordable ?

In reality, these rents aren’t too far off from the affordable housing rents offered by the City. Btw the City updates the list monthly.

https://www.alexandriava.gov/sites/default/files/2023-08/AUGUST%202023%20CAU%20Monthly%20Report%2008-03-2023.FINALTOUSE.pdf

[b]And from your other example  income of $57k is achievable if there are 2 working full time adults in the household. What then happens is they will often take in other relatives to help with the rent and no they don’t add them to the lease. [/b] [/quote]

How many working full time adults should live in a 595 sf 1 BR/1 BA apartment? [/quote]

I own a 605 sq ft condo in Arlington that I rent to a couple with one child. The child has the bedroom and they sleep  in the living room. They have been there for 8 years and want to stay until the child finishes high school.  They are both employed but send most of their money to their families in Eastern Europe.   I rarely raise their rent because they are good tenants and it is currently $1,500 a month.  
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