It has been a big year for affordable housing in Arlington, from the county initiative “Housing Arlington,” to zoning changes, to new studies.
Heading into the new year, with Amazon’s HQ2 taking shape, two local advocacy groups plan on continuing to push officials on the issue. But one believes more density is the solution, while the other claims increasing the housing supply would wreck community character and the environment.
Peter Rousselot, Arlingtonians for Our Sustainable Future (ASF)
In April, Peter Rousselot — a board member of the Together Virginia PAC and ARLnow columnist — founded Arlingtonians for Our Sustainable Future, a group working to advocate against zoning changes and accelerated density in Arlington. Rousselot previously formed a similar group, Arlingtonians for Sensible Transit, to oppose plans for a streetcar along Columbia Pike.
In recent months, flyers spotted across Arlington from ASF argue that “Arlington County has plans to eliminate single-family home zoning and change other regulations” — changes that “would cause a county-wide population surge, escalating taxes, destructive flooding and environmental degradation.”
The flyer cites damage caused by July 8’s historical flooding as evidence that increased development has caused environmental damage.
“Don’t let Arlington become the next Houston,” the flyer says.
“We believe there shouldn’t be any significant further changes in zoning until we have the right planning tools,” Rousselot told ARLnow.
While ASF does not have a website, a copy of its platform provided to ARLnow argues that the county needs the following before implementing zoning changes:
- A flooding and land use plan utilizing an accepted floodplain management tool
- A ten-year projected county operating budget for different population and revenue scenarios
- Community planning tools to assess costs and benefits of different development scenarios
Per the ASF platform, eliminating single-family zoning and adding more density would “transform Arlington from an urban village to a paved metropolis — [affecting] our schools, environment, trees, infrastructure, flooding, taxes, housing affordability, and county budget.”
“Our approach to housing affordability is that we don’t want to see this approach [where the county] accelerates the development of hundreds of new market-rate units in order to create a small number of affordable units,” said Rousselot.
“What we would like to do is redirect county taxpayer money to enable people to afford to live here,” said Rousselot. “That we decide as a community to help them to get the money directly in their hands though things like rental vouchers and housing grants.”
According to Rousselot, there are now more than 100 members in ASF.
Michelle Winters, Arlington for Everyone/Alliance for Housing Solutions
Founded in 2003, Arlington for Everyone is a public education campaign from the non-profit organization Alliance for Housing Solutions (AHS).
The mission of the group is to “make Arlington a place where people from all walks of life are welcome and can afford to live,” per the organization’s website.
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