Reply to What to do about Affordable Housing in Arlington?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]FTR not all housing being discussed by the County as "affordable" is "subsidized."   Making developers allocated a certain number of units as "below market" is not the same thing as subsidizing.  
 [/quote]

The bulk of affordable housing in Arlington is in fact subsidized.  What you are talking about is a handful of units in otherwise market rate complexes.  And also, let's be honest here - the County still pays for this, just indirectly.  It is standard practice to ask developers for contributions indirectly to the County purse in exchange for development, i.e. develop or build a nearby park, sponsor public art, etc.  These developers aren't losing money on AH just for fun, and the County isn't getting a free lunch by nicely asking for AH set asides.

Again, more distortion.  Affordable Housing in Arlington is in fact subsidized housing.  The money doesn't come out of the goodness of developer's hearts.

[quote]This idea that everyone can just pick up and move is ludicrous to me. Look at all of the research showing that low income families spend 70% of their income on rent. A single missed paycheck equals a massive crisis. If you've never lived like this or known anyone who does then you are fortunate. I am fortunate and I am happy to share what I have with others who are less so.[/quote]

The plan is to make almost 20% of Arlington's housing stock be subsidized by 2040.  This is a tremendous up front cost.  On top of that, that is an indefinite expense with the County on the hook for supporting 1 in 5 households that will require a disproportionate share of County resources.

My preference would be to substantially cut our spending on subsidizing housing, from ~10% of total non-school expenditures to a more reasonable, single figure amount.  But I would still be fine with spending that same amount on CURRENT AH residents, instead of continually bringing in more people to then have to spend even more money on.  It would be far better if we could use these expenditures to better help those AH residents who are already in Arlington, instead of spending more and more money on bringing in new people to subsidize.[/quote]

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