Coraggio Consulting
Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Housing Committee, Tuesday, May 12, 2026

Date: Tuesday, May 12, 2026
Place: Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, Virginia
Length: 1h 32m (video)
Official meeting video (Fairfax County): https://video.fairfaxcounty.gov/player/clip/4145
Official Board of Supervisors page (Fairfax County): https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/boardofsupervisors/

Machine transcript (speech-to-text) produced by Coraggio Consulting. Not an official county record. Names and numbers may be misspelled; check the video at the timestamp before quoting.
Speech-to-text: whisper.cpp, model large-v3-turbo. Produced 2026-10-27. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:06] think we're going to go ahead and get started. Thank you. Before we get started, I'd just like to take a minute without objection to approve the minutes from the previous meeting. Without objection, I'll approve the minutes from the previous meeting. Thank you, everybody, for joining us for our housing committee meeting today.

[00:00:22] I'm very excited to see the communications plan that resulted from the board matter from January of this year to go along with our housing initiatives, work at housing communications, strategic communications. We're also going to hear an update on our affordable housing initiatives, as well as talk again about our housing needs and look at our housing needs assessments.

[00:00:42] So with that, I'll turn it over to Tom Fleetwood to get started or to Jen. So thank you, Jen Miller, Deputy County Executive. And we are borrowing the first half an hour, I think-ish, of this meeting to talk about and actually what's a carryover from what you've heard in the prior two sessions about the economic imperative of housing that leads to our economic competitiveness.

[00:01:07] And so as part of that, as you mentioned, Supervisor Sizemore-Heiser was the board matter asking us to really look at how we communicate this message to the county. And it ties into one of the comments that several of you made in the last land use planning committee meeting where you said that you want us to get over the culture of no.

[00:01:25] And so when we talk about the culture, there's a few elements of that. One, as you've all discussed at length, is the need for the board to approve things that are challenging. And the list of, I think it's seven items that we have coming to you that won't always be politically popular or it's hard sometimes for constituents to accept additional development, as we've discussed before.

[00:01:45] I fear that a lot of people would be happy if we did not have additional housing. A lot of what you'll hear next is the explanation that we've really tried to work on the why we need housing so we can carry forward the messaging and the work that we have done and that we will asking you to do as almost a footnote or a reference document.

[00:02:02] There was also reference to the Planning Commission, and Phil Najewski-Eichner is here, I know, and he's been attending all of these meetings. We've kept him in the loop on the initiatives that we're doing as well, fully supportive. And one of the things that I love that the chairman said is the word crisis. You'll see that on here.

[00:02:18] It's part of a national crisis, but we are in a housing crisis across the continuum of housing. So one of the ways that we need to address that is the staff came together and said, what can we do? We've heard from the board we're in a housing crisis. The Planning Commission has heard that from us.

[00:02:34] We've checked in with them twice and have another meeting in June. They've heard that from you all. So I think staff, the Planning Commission, and then you all have the messaging. So now the final element of the culture and trying to get over the culture of no is how do we best communicate this to the public?

[00:02:49] And so I appreciate the opportunity. And Tony and the public affairs team working with the housing and community development team has put together this presentation. So thanks. Over to you, Tony. Thank you, Jen. Good afternoon, committee chair. Seismore Heiser, Chairman McKay, and members of the Board of Supervisors. I'm Tony Castrilli, Director of Public Affairs, and you get the rare communication strategy doubleheader today.

[00:03:11] Following the discussion at the board meeting back in February, as Jen referenced, one thing was clear. Housing is a complex issue that requires a thoughtful and coordinated communication approach. Earlier today, you heard from Ben and the Housing Task Force about the work underway to address housing challenges in Fairfax County. And following my presentation, you will hear from Housing and Community Development Director Tom Fleetwood and his team on the Affordable Housing Initiatives Program. We're wedged in between. But first, I'll provide a brief overview of the communication strategy designed to help build understanding,

[00:03:48] elevate awareness, and support ongoing engagement around this work. We know that solving a challenge of this scale requires a common message supported by many voices. With this strategy, we'll address that. At its core, this effort is about people, not buildings. Housing affects young families, older adults, workers, small businesses, employers, and long-time residents alike. The framework communicates the fact that housing issues impact everyone in our

[00:04:24] community and the solutions will require a county-wide effort. The proposed tagline, Housing solutions for every neighbor across Fairfax County is intended to reinforce three ideas. First, that housing solutions will require innovation, creativity, and a range of tools and approaches. Second, that housing needs vary across households and stages of life. And third, that this is a county-wide issue affecting every community member in Fairfax County. The secondary message, breaking down barriers and building homes to keep our local economy strong and growing,

[00:05:03] reflects the broader work underway. Breaking down barriers speaks to the efficiencies and process improvements necessary to reach our goal. Building homes recognize the need to increase housing supply and address a housing production shortfall. And as you heard earlier today, housing and economic development are interconnected, which is why we are also emphasizing the broader economic benefits of this work. Under this messaging strategy, we have four focus areas. Each highlights a different aspect of the work underway to make Fairfax County a place where everyone can live,

[00:05:42] work, and thrive. First, production. Fairfax County must produce more housing to keep pace with the needs of our growing and diverse workforce. Second, solutions. Developing housing solutions is a priority for the Board of Supervisors, as highlighted earlier today by Ben in the task force report. Third, affordability. Housing pressures affect many residents, but those at the lower end of the spectrum are often impacted the most.

[00:06:10] As you know, even households earning a solid income can face housing affordability challenges. Finally, the benefits. Developing housing solutions uplifts the entire community, taxpayers, homeowners, small businesses, and families alike.

[00:06:26] These messages are intended to be flexible and adapted depending on the audience, platform, or story. For example, within your individual districts, some messaging may resonate more with young families, while others may be more relevant to retirees or older adults.

[00:06:43] the intent is to provide a common framework that can be adapted to fit the needs of your district or your community. So how do we bring all these messages to life? We engage and connect the community. We have created a digital hub for the Fairfax Housing Solutions web, similar to the Economic Opportunities Hub we discussed earlier today. It features the core messaging, highlights what's at stake, outlines potential solutions, and provides news and resources. We are also developing a communications toolkit that will include a shareable content page, social media

[00:07:23] assets, video, and other materials to help reinforce common messaging. From there, we can distribute this content across county platforms and partner channels to reach key audiences. The hub is designed to make information accessible and easy to understand for a broad audience, while also providing opportunities to explore topics in greater depth. Common messaging will occur across owned and earned media. We will use the full power of Fairfax County owned media. Video, both short form and long form content. We already have a strong foundation of content from LDS and affordable

[00:08:02] housing efforts that can be repurposed. Podcasts, audio, social media, news center and news releases, printed and shareable material, including several handouts that we've shared with you today, which can be used in your offices and other county facilities to help reinforce common messages.

[00:08:18] and these will be available in multiple languages. We will also pursue earned media, highlighting our milestones and progress related to these housing initiatives and more as they occur. Additionally, we'll seek opportunities to connect with our business and industry partners to extend the reach of our information through newsletters and other communication channels.

[00:08:43] So now that we've discussed the overall approach, what does the messaging actually look like? We are intentionally framing housing as something that affects everyone in our community, as you can see here. As I mentioned earlier, this effort is about people. Each of these examples is designed as a social media shareable, tailored to a specific audience.

[00:09:05] These messages emphasize the practical benefits of housing for different audiences, whether that's local business owners, property owners, young adults, taxpayers, or aging adults. The images feature scenes from right here in Fairfax County, a local bakery, the Boreo, a new bike path near I-66.

[00:09:22] a senior center, and more. Additional versions will be developed for other key audiences that highlight how Fairfax Housing Solutions benefit our community. Communications about Fairfax Housing Solutions will continue to evolve as the effort evolves itself. Utilizing a mix of proven strategies while incorporating new approaches will help us better connect with key audiences and broaden the understanding of the challenges we face. We know that the effort will require a shift in how we talk about housing, recognizing it is an issue that affects our workforce, economy, families,

[00:10:00] and our quality of life. Success will require consistent messaging and engagement across all agencies, board offices, and community partners. We'll continue to provide the tools and resources that support that work, but ultimately this effort will be strongest when, as we said at the beginning, many voices are telling our story. As I conclude, I want to leave you with just three examples of this messaging is already taking shape. First, we're going to have Leslie pull up the screen of the new Fairfax Housing Solutions webpage, which Ben referenced earlier and is now live. Earlier, we shared with you printed copies of the core messages that you can take back to your offices,

[00:10:39] and we'll provide more as we move forward. And there's a poster in the corner that provides the examples of the audience-focused social media messaging built from that same framework. And all All of those tools will have QR codes that link back to the Housing Solutions webpage.

[00:10:55] With that, I conclude the communication strategy overview and look forward to your input and discussion. Thank you. MS. Thank you. Well, thank you for that great work and for pulling all this together. Before I turn it over to the Chairman and my colleagues, I just wanted to say that, you know, as we heard this morning, this communications plan is a seminal pillar in the work around our zoning, our land use, and our housing initiatives in general.

[00:11:17] If we cannot bring our community along with us on the work we're doing, it's going to be harder for us to take the bold action that we need to take as a board and much harder for us to be able to have the housing solutions, the diverse and varied housing solutions we need so folks can live here, raise a family here, age in place here.

[00:11:33] And so I really appreciate the hard work you've all put into this. This housing initiative, the communications plan, the piece of it is one of the most consequential initiatives we've undertaken, I think, in recent memory. I really thank the chairman for his board matter that kicked this off and the board for voting for it.

[00:11:50] A great program, though, means nothing without public understanding and public support. So I really encourage in your housing solutions website that there's a right on the front, there's a housing, you know, what's the issue? What's the solution? Right. So people know what the problem is as well. And as we've said, it's not just an inconvenience.

[00:12:07] This is an economic threat to the viability and future of Fairfax County. When a family can't afford to leave a home here, they leave, as we're seeing in the numbers. When a young professional weighs their options, they go where they can actually afford to live. When a business is deciding where to put down roots, they follow their workforce.

[00:12:24] And right now, we're struggling in that competition because of our housing. You know, one number I wanted to lift up is that to afford the median home here in Fairfax County, you have to have an average income around $230,000 a year. $230,000 a year to afford the median home, right?

[00:12:42] So our teachers, our nurses, our firefighters, our police officers, and many, many others Our young people starting out in their careers who keep our community running are being priced out. Our home ownership rate is getting older and older, which means the burden of our taxes, because we're limited in our tax, is falling on an aging population disproportionately.

[00:13:05] So we need people to understand at all spectrums of life, at all areas of life, that we can't sustain a healthy community. And this communication plan today that you discussed has to carry that weight. It has to give us the tools to communicate with our community, but it also has to make it easy for the community, not just to see the good things we're doing, the solutions that we have, but the reason why and how it impacts their life and their future. So I really appreciate this work. I think looking at the production solution affordability and benefits and targeting your communication towards different populations, people do things if they think it makes their life better or they support something. So we have to help them understand how this is going to make

[00:13:44] their life better. So thank you for that. I'll turn to the chairman for remarks and then the colleagues for questions. Yeah, I'll just be very brief. I agree with everything you just said. I think it's really important, and we've been saying this, you know, for a while consistently, and the messaging does this, is to share with the community why this is in their interest. Because unfortunately, the only time people think about affordable housing are, you know, one, if they're buying a home and realize they can't, or they need help from somebody to buy a home, or when there's a development application pending, and all they see is traffic and trailers, school trailers.

[00:14:18] I mean, literally, that's what people's thought is. They don't ever see, you know, the benefits necessarily, and so we need to get this messaging out there absent a particular pending application so that people understand it, and I think, you know, the messenger has become really important, so I agree with the idea of, you know, making sure we're reaching out to parts of the community that may not be used to this type of messaging and making sure that we hear from them. I mentioned earlier the silent majority.

[00:14:48] This problem comes up in conversation just about everywhere I go, but then the exact opposite happens when there's a specific application pending that helps address that issue. And so we need to figure out how to embrace that intersection a little bit better. And I think, you know, cementing this in the minds of some of our stakeholder groups to be participants in our development process as well.

[00:15:15] So this isn't just a message, you embrace it and then you go on with your life, but what can you do to help? And I think one of the things I would challenge our staff and the board to think about is what are we asking them to do with this information? Because if I saw this, I would be like, this is all good, now what do I do about it?

[00:15:35] And so I know that's a little bit harder because what people can do will depend on their exact situation and the level of embrace they have for the messaging. But usually, you know, the messaging is driving towards some goal that we have to do something or accomplish something.

[00:15:53] And if the goal here is to educate our community on why housing is important, I think they know it's important. I just think they think about it in an arena where there's no threat to them going on.

[00:16:09] And the no threat is, well, we didn't mean on this street or, you know, we didn't mean that type of housing. And so I do think we have to think about how we can empower people to be involved in this conversation and not just when it's happening near them, but to understand how if it's happening down the street from them, they still have a role to play to be involved in this. And especially, you know, if they understand the macro issues here that we're trying to solve.

[00:16:36] And so I would just challenge you, you know, to think about that a little bit as we move forward. But I really like what I see. I think this is an important thing to message. I think this is the economic issue of our time. We hear it everywhere we go, and it's important to address that.

[00:16:52] The last thing I'll say is the messaging is very specific to Fairfax County, and I get that. I mean, I think it's really important that we focus this locally. But I also think we need to acknowledge at some point in time the backdrop that we've talked about earlier today, which is this is a nationwide crisis.

[00:17:10] It's not one of Fairfax's making. It's not one that Fairfax is going to solve alone. But this is what we're doing to address a nationwide crisis. And we're doing our part type of messaging, I think, is going to be really important. Because I wouldn't want anyone looking at this thinking that, well, because Fairfax isn't doing much on affordable housing, that's why we have a problem.

[00:17:32] And the reality is the country is not doing enough on affordable housing, and that's why we have a problem. So I would just leave with those thoughts, but I really like what I see. Thank you. We'll start with Supervisor Palachuk and Supervisor Smith.

[00:17:46] Thank you, Madam Chair. I love having you lead this, and thank you to the team. I think you're speaking to my heart, and this is the one area where I feel that we take for granted, right? We take for granted that those who want to communicate know where to communicate, that by sending things out, we are communicating and reaching people, and that if we know, because we're going around, we have a pulse on the community, that means that that's being shared, right, in the community level.

[00:18:16] So there are a couple of things I'm really excited about. And number one is the toolkit, something I think is critical. What I hope will be included in there when it comes out is not just stories to push out, right, but a toolkit making it easier for our partners, whether they're in the public sector or the private sector, community members, to be able to share why it's important to them.

[00:18:41] So I think that's the piece where, where there is a lack, a void of communication, it gets filled very easily by those who it's easier to rally around no, right, than it is to rally around yes. And to show that political will, we're kind of, we should be the tail end of the political will, right?

[00:19:00] It really, we hear it when we go to the community. But an example, I'll give back to when I first joined the board and we were working on ZMOD. I heard from several groups I was working with, oh, yeah, we support it. What do we do, right? So my staff and I actually had to train some people into how to provide testimony.

[00:19:23] It didn't take a lot of people. I think about 10 people ended up speaking in favor and about 10 people opposed, right? And there were a million people in the community. So I think my question will be as we look at metrics, I don't want us to focus on what we push out and the number of pieces we push out, right?

[00:19:41] How are we going to measure sentiment? How are we going to measure other people sharing stories and being online? Because, I mean, at some point, as my daughter says, we're kind of boring, right? How do we ensure that the more exciting people who really care about this, whether it's the MVIRs or the, you know, just community groups, private sectors, small businesses, that they're sharing it out to.

[00:20:07] to me, until we really see that conversation happening more, right, virtually without us even being involved, then we know we've really provided that catalyst, right, for that more thoughtful conversation. So it's not up to every single project to have that conversation. I know we've had this over and over again. So that's my question. And before I move on, congratulations to Mark. I believe you just, did you just win something or finish something online? Am I making that up no okay sorry i thought i read that you got some awards so well congratulations anyway

[00:20:41] on the work maybe it was another mark when we said who was it oh it was david sorry and it was someone in housing my apologies um so yeah uh just i i think this is exciting but i you know i feel like i've definitely been talking about it for six years i think many of us have and that's the area where we need to do more so thank you for this and I guess I want to ensure that the toolkit will be sort of an interactive empowering kind of toolkit versus a I call it

[00:21:16] disempowering where we just tell people what to say and think yes okay thank you thank you Ms. Miller did you want to respond oh I was just going to respond to the one piece on the echo chamber and I know we have Envar here I saw yep there you go and we've already been collaborating on like where can we work on sharing messaging and they do have some availability to reach audience obviously that we don't. So I agree that this is a starting point of sharing messages to the other point on when do we use this and not just in a particular matter. This is also a starting point. You know, this is we'd come to you and said we're going to have the problem and then the solutions on one side. Why should all the community care and then affordable housing specific? If you are hearing

[00:21:52] back from your constituents that certain messaging is landing or not landing, please share so we can share with others. And we absolutely want this to be echoed through other agencies, not just in the time of a specific application, but generally. So thank you for that. Thank you. Supervisor Smith, followed by Supervisor Beerman.

[00:22:10] Thank you. You know, the piece to me that I think we've had so much trouble explaining is the affordability piece, right? And so I read on this slide that it says people at lower incomes are feeling the pinch. So when I read that, I'm thinking, oh, people making $50,000.

[00:22:29] But we know when we have the data that's on this other sheet of paper for the family of four and how much they're making, there's the real number. So people that have been around the block for a while, they don't understand why does somebody at 100% of AMI, what is AMI, why do they need help?

[00:22:49] Why does somebody at 150% of AMI, why can't they afford a house? To me, and maybe nobody else thinks this, that's part of the education piece for people to understand what we're focusing on. And it's a broad range of employees that are starting businesses that need that financial help.

[00:23:09] And so if we could tell some stories or pictures about that, that gives us tools to use when we're facing a community that doesn't want more housing. Thank you. Thank you. Supervisor Bierman followed by Supervisor Lusk. Can someone finish the sentence for me?

[00:23:27] you can't solve a housing crisis without more. Thank you. We got to focus on supply and I appreciate that we talk about affordable and new affordable homes. And I appreciate the investments we're doing in affordable housing. But to build on the very point that Vice Chair Smith just made, it's all housing. It's all types of housing. I was at one of those meetings last night where somebody was complaining about potential housing that was a half mile down the road and was going to screw up their intersection uh it was very funny because the housing that had been approved

[00:24:06] and i said i i approved that or as a part of the entitlement along with by the way a unanimous board i wish i'd pointed that out as well it wasn't just me and it was actually in supervisor palchik's district but it was unanimous you know the second that we we went through that and then at the end the person goes well if it's not affordable it won't help with housing affordability which was kind of funny because by the way if we had gone and tried to do an all affordable housing development there they would have complained just in a slightly different way but the point is we need more supply of all kinds of housing supply supply it's a supply and demand

[00:24:40] problem anybody's taken you know your basic economics classes know that and i think that has to be a very important component of the messaging smarter density and enables additional supply we also we need to make that connection for people beyond just the question of quote unquote, affordable only? Thank you. I don't think we properly pointed out. So just to go through, the one is just here's our housing supply problem. The backside of that is here are our current solutions. The third document is affordable specific because we realized one bullet on our

[00:25:18] housing supply wasn't going to address that. So Allison pulled that up. And then the fourth document, so there are four separate, is how does housing impact everyone? Not just residents, not just but like why should I care if I'm a business and so one of these is particular to affordable housing the other three are particular to all the continuum of housing sorry we didn't point that out thank you supervisor Lusk followed by supervisor Stork thank you very much I'll just say I appreciate these nice flyers and again I did pick up that there were the two different versions so that's really helpful the thing I'll note is when I was over at Wegmans just about an hour ago

[00:25:58] lunch with Walter we walk in as a woman walks up to me in her 60s and she's basically screaming my rent has gone up $400 in the last couple of years and I can't afford to stay in Fairfax County what are you doing about it so I just heard that just less than an hour ago so this is pretty significant and clearly something that we have to continue to work on and again Tony thank you for your presentation. Thank you for the elements here. Under the taxpayers one, I just wanted to maybe drill down a little bit here. And I appreciate identifying that housing helps us with

[00:26:36] infrastructure. But I'm wondering, is there some other point that we could make? And I think about multifamily as it's a commercially taxed property. Do we want to talk about that? Helping people understand that when we're building multifamily it actually helps reduce the tax burden on those that are residential property owners so a lot of people complain I don't like apartments there's lots of people living there lots of traffic but I think if we can show that there's some other benefits that can clearly be accretive and helpful and I think that's something that might be

[00:27:13] valuable if we're able to do as well thank you we're here today to take your input and so we appreciate all your all your comments and the rest of the boards as well. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Supervisor Stork followed by Supervisor Alcorn. Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you all very much for this presentation. It is, in my mind, a housing for all issue. And that's the language I'm using now. I don't talk about affordable housing, even though it's a key part of housing for all, because it doesn't have people feel included. While the other part of that challenge is that there's not a clear understanding

[00:27:51] of this abundance mentality versus a scarcity mentality. And the scarcity mindset is particularly what I encounter when I'm interacting with folks who deeply and strongly support a housing that's more affordable. And I am all in. I'm very supportive of that. But how do you get through that initial mindset of when you build these things, you're somehow gentrifying the community.

[00:28:24] And as a result of that, you're pushing people out of the community that have been here forever. And again, I know I've been talking about that for more than a decade. And leaving no one behind has been part of the mantra that I have anytime I talk about this. But it's, I've found it, particularly I was in three different meetings in the last week, and I presented that.

[00:28:47] I know Supervisor Lusk and I were in a similar kind of meeting like this. And this particularly involved some advocates of housing, but there isn't the basic, I'll call it the basic understanding of the economics of this because their passion is we just need to make sure that people aren't pushed out of housing.

[00:29:08] And if you build something, even though the admission wasn't no, what you've done so far in the last 10 years on Richmond Highway Corridor has not displaced, you know, any folks, what you're going to be doing is going to do that. And so we need, I need help with that.

[00:29:25] I'm going to meet with one of these groups within, I think it's this Thursday. I need help with that. Part of it would be helpful to have this in Spanish

[00:29:34] Because that's, thank you, I figured that was coming, but I just, this is excellent, by the way, I very much appreciate having these, but that's what I need probably the most help, and I realize part of that is, it's a long term, it's a, some of it's a philosophical approach, maybe some of it's a political approach, but I think the core of it is, we, I need help educating the community, particularly the advocacy community, to have them not only making sure that they're there to advocate for housing that's affordable, but also there to advocate for just building new

[00:30:11] housing, period, because we all recognize when you build new housing, particularly if you're building a larger portion of that housing, that X percent of that is going to include either workforce or affordable units in it. So I don't know what else you all can do, but that's the number one issue I'm having, at least with the advocacy community. And then the other part of it, which we all very much know, is kind of the NIMBY folks, which is, you know, I love my single family home, and, you know, how can you, how do you dare let somebody put, you know, accessory dwelling unit or whatever name, you know, fill in the blank kind of thing for that.

[00:30:48] Supervisor Sturck, all this work, the main objective is to help us gain control of the narrative, right? We talk a lot about the narrative. Yeah, very much. So these tools will hopefully collectively get there together. As you know, I said at the very, the first word I used was complex. So, getting the narrative in front of you is our main objective, but we know it's complicated.

[00:31:08] Thank you. Great. Thank you. Excuse me. Supervisor Alcorn. Thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, I appreciate this effort. Just one thing kind of struck me as a little funny when I read it. On slide three, under the solutions, the last end of that, part of that bullet, allowing additional density to drive down the cost per unit.

[00:31:32] Well, in Hunter Middle District a few weeks ago, there was a condo that sold for $10.25 million, shattering the Virginia record for condo. And that's on the 25th floor of a new building there.

[00:31:47] So, you know, when we go through this process, we have to understand, you know, there are sometimes some nuances. And I think that raises the issue I wanted to bring up. and dan you mentioned political i i think it's really up to us as elected officials who get thrown in the deep end um to figure out messaging that we present ourselves i mean obviously this is the county messaging um but we each have different ways of dealing with this um you know whether you know when i was on the planning commission doing tyson's replanning you know

[00:32:25] got elected in a growth revolt in 2019 in Reston. You know, we all have to deal with, I guess, our community issues. And sometimes they may vary a little bit from what's on a document like this.

[00:32:41] But I'm not disparaging any of this at all. But I think, you know, some of us may deal with it in different ways. One, actually I have two small suggestions for future communications that I think could also help.

[00:32:57] I mentioned one earlier, transit ready. I think as we're talking about additional densities, I think it's important to start to talk about a corner that we've turned in Fairfax County with the recent adoption of our policy plan updates.

[00:33:16] And talking about suburban village centers and transit-ready communities, you know, up to this point, we've done some things in various parts of the county, but our primary focus of focusing growth around existing transit stations, that's pretty much been the focus of where we're putting most of our new density.

[00:33:40] With this new approach, suburban village centers, transit-ready communities, this is a new page. This is a new page for us in Fairfax County. And I think it also resonates with me very much for folks, and I know the chairman was very much involved in DMV moves.

[00:34:01] One of the outcomes or outputs of that was recommendations on bus priority. And one of the key elements of that is dedicated bus lanes. And I think what we can all appreciate is how much easier it is to have dedicated bus lanes when you build up a community as opposed to trying to retrofit a community that already is using that pavement as regular travel lanes.

[00:34:27] You know, we're seeing pushback in a lot of different corners of the DMV. So by going with this approach, transit-ready, suburban villages, we're looking at, you know, 40-plus new places. That's a pretty big deal, and that's much too much information to include on this, but I think that's actually one thing I'd love to see us talking about because it really is a new day for us in Fairfax County.

[00:34:57] And then the second piece, which could be dropped in documents like this, is community. Because I think what really we need is more housing, frankly, in communities.

[00:35:13] I mean, housing as communities. I mean, that's something that's, I think, more appealing to a lot of folks. And the idea of community carries with it a lot of positive connotations. So we're not just talking about, you know, approving housing any which where.

[00:35:31] And there's already some good language in here about creative solutions and smarter density. So I think it's getting to that same thing. So I think wherever we can talk about new housing in the context of building community and communities, I think that will also be well-received.

[00:35:51] So thank you. Thank you. I think that was – did you want to speak? All we – Ms. Peltik? Yeah, the one thing I want to add in listening to that, you know, I think it's part of the narrative is that I think not just the data, but the stories and specific examples, right?

[00:36:11] So we may have heard one example of one condo selling for $10 million. I just looked at the list of the most expensive homes sold in Fairfax last year, and they're pretty much all single-family homes in McLean, right? And so I, and great, well, you know, and I think, right, Reston's getting up there.

[00:36:29] So as our, certain parts of the community get more attractive, we will, we do see more expensive homes. But I know for, at least in Tysons, whenever we have a senior, very nice development built, I'm like, great, that means they're going to sell their single family home and a family will be able to move in there.

[00:36:46] So I just want to be really cautious when we talk about housing for all and there's the percent that will be built by the private sector with very little input from us other than making it a little bit more streamlined. And then there's the, when we talk about the affordable piece that we do hear from our community, that is the piece that we need to work with partners and financial solutions to help address that. So it is all of it, but I think the more, again, we capture more of those stories because that's what sticks with people and they're going to hear one, and that's going to be their example for a million people in the county. So I just hope we

[00:37:24] continue to grab those stories that can help illustrate what we're saying. Just to follow up on that real quick, I do think what Supervisor Alcorn said is true in terms of how we tell this story in our individual communities, but I go back to something for those people who've been around here long enough might remember Mernie Fitzgerald when she was sitting in Tony's chair, and she used to always reiterate common message many voices and that is what this needs and so we can describe it differently but we have to have a very simple convincing common message

[00:38:01] and the very simple convincing common message is we don't have enough housing we certainly don't have enough affordable housing and it is affecting you and our economy and our ability to grow jobs And we need to start with that. And this is pretty simple.

[00:38:19] Instead of jumping to every conclusion in the world of how to solve that, I think the first step of this is convincing people there's a problem to begin with. And I think if the county can convince people there's a problem to begin with, certainly among us within our own community, we can help describe what role we are playing towards solving that problem based on the conditions that we're faced.

[00:38:41] But we've all got to agree at the top what the common problem is and then let the many voices help describe the ways that we can solve that. We know some ways we can solve it, but Jimmy said it best. I mean, the best solution to this is more housing. And so let's establish why that's important.

[00:38:57] And then we can get into the details of transit or parks or how this helps communities or whether it should be multifamily and what the density is. And all those things, I think, are much more subjective down at the subjective level. but let's stay high up on the here's what the problem is general county message and then let the many voices help solve how you fix that it would just be my recommendation yeah i actually very much agree with this i think one of the ideas that we talked about when we did this board matter was helping our constituents and our community understand the depth of the problem right because

[00:39:33] if they're if they're not going to support innovative and radical solutions if they don't understand the depth of the problem and how that problem is personal to them, right? Like, you know, when we talk about older adults, I want to say the benefit-driven messaging, like it's not just choices to live, but hey, do you want your family here to support you as you get older? Do you want to see your grandkids live? Like really personal messaging, you know, to them, hey, why do we want adult, you know, young adults to afford housing? Because it gives us a stable workforce. It's harder to move out of the area if you own a house than if you're renting a house, right? So I think really personal driven messaging. And the only last thing I would say is that I think we need

[00:40:09] messaging that speaks to housing countywide. If we say, well, we only want housing here or there or near transit or near this, then it's a countywide problem. We need countywide messaging around the solution. And it may be that we have different pieces that we look at in different parts of the county, right? Like we have transit, different development. In certain places, we have suburban villages and others. But I think the messaging has to be, to your point, it's a nationwide problem including a county-wide problem we have a multitude of county-wide solutions but here's why it's a county-wide problem here why you personally are going to have a lesser quality of life because of this so i appreciate all the hard work here and i think i'll

[00:40:46] move on to the next section where we're looking at the affordable housing and also just our housing needs assessment as well so i'll turn over to tom fleet with this part thank you for the great comments from the colleagues i think we've got some great suggestions here madam chairman good afternoon. Tom Fleetwood with the Department of Housing and Community Development. We wanted to start out today with just a review of what's going to be in our presentation here. We're going to talk a little bit about the housing needs assessment that was distributed to the board late last month, the launch of our home ownership pilot program, our development work, and our

[00:41:20] pipeline, as well as our inclusionary housing programs. I want to say a few words about the housing needs assessment that as really a bookend to the comments that Mr. Aiken made this morning focused very much on the end of the spectrum, the end of the housing spectrum that are most often served by the Department of Housing and Community Development. The issue of affordable home ownership is absolutely critical. And I wanted to note the chairman mentioned that you

[00:41:55] need an income of $230,000 a year to afford the median priced for sale house. The median renter earns about $100,000 a year. And we think that's a pretty good proxy for younger professionals who want to be able to move into homeownership. And the gap between what they can afford and what's available in the market is huge. And our ability to respond to it depends largely on, yes, supply

[00:42:30] and the programs and policies that we put in place. With respect to the rental market, rents have risen over the last decade by about 5% per year, while wages have only risen by about 2% per year, and that increasing delta has exacerbated the challenge of affordability, particularly for lower-income wage earners. For people, for families earning below 60% of the area median income right now, we have a gap of close to 14,000 units that are needed

[00:43:06] in Fairfax County. That's for the people who are here who cannot afford the housing that they have. Looking forward, we understand that there will be at least 40,000 new units that are needed by 2035, thousands of which will need to serve this income range.

[00:43:26] So it's important to recognize that coupled with the abundance attitude, the abundance perspective, that serving this part of the income range will not happen at the scale, in the locations, and with the quality that are needed without the continued work that we're doing together on housing affordability.

[00:43:51] And I want to thank you for that continued investment. We're going to talk going forward about the progress that we're making. First, I wanted to note that our new first-time homebuyer loan pilot has launched. Again, it provides up to $50,000 in down payment closing cost assistance, serves 80% of the area median income below, and provides for down payments and closing costs.

[00:44:18] We will provide a more fulsome report out on this at our October meeting in terms of how it's going, the use of it, et cetera. But we did want to let you know that it is operating and we're promoting it, and we're very excited about this as a way forward in terms of really elevating our game on homeownership.

[00:44:42] In terms of affordable housing development, this slide is, I think, probably the most important one because it shows you that when you put together our inclusionary housing and the FCRHA-financed projects, as well as the properties that are under construction, that we are at about 40% of our goal. And with our pipeline projects, we have the potential to be over 50% with where we are right now, and we're real, real proud of that. Going forward, this is just a breakdown

[00:45:20] of what's been delivered, and I'll just note for everybody that we did want to include the up to 80% ADUs and WDUs to make sure that we captured the work that we're doing, particularly in home ownership. Going forward, the projects that are under construction, We've got nearly 1,500 units that are under construction right now, and about close to 900 of them will deliver this calendar year.

[00:45:53] And so the steps forward that we're taking are making a real difference here in the community. Go ahead. In terms of our pre-development pipeline, we have a lot going on, and we're so appreciative of all the support we've received from board members as we prepare to move forward with developments in your communities. I will just note that when you put all of this together, for example, we will have three large affordable housing development communities at three of the

[00:46:30] four metro stations in the Tysons Urban Center. And that is a really, really important step forward for delivering geographically smart, affordable housing where the jobs are. I'm going to turn it over from here to Anna Shapiro, who's going to talk about our work on our pipeline and the factors that are important to consider as we move forward, again, as a companion to this morning's presentations.

[00:47:00] Thank you, Tom. Anna Shapiro with the Department of Housing and Community Development. I wanted to, you know, usually we have another slide that says what our conceptual pipeline is, but we've actually been working very hard to take that conceptual pipeline and really stretch it out to 2034, 2035 to really see what opportunities there are and where the gaps are so we can start really planning ahead.

[00:47:22] You see here that the process is very complicated. We start with a lot of analysis, assessment of the properties, and a lot of engagement, both on internally to make sure that there is a path to development. And then we go out to the board and communities as well. And so before I show you the conceptual pipeline, I want to kind of take you through our process a little bit so you're clear. And then at the end, I'm going to talk a little bit about the different challenges we face and how projects can sometimes, you know, succeed or fail based on various factors that impact them. I'm going to start with how robust we have created a community engagement

[00:47:59] process. Taking the inclusive engagement framework of the county, we've used that and really created an opportunity for communities to engage early before we engage a development partner. And we have used a couple of new properties that we're working on.

[00:48:15] We have partnered with the board offices to really create a partnership to go out to those communities. And when we get that first question of is this a done deal, is this decided, we can answer no. We can say no, we are here to get your ideas. And we have had some very successful opportunities in East County as well as in the Centerville Library to have these conversations.

[00:48:36] And we're working through a process that allows multiple engagement points early to be able to thread through to the RFP, then have that expectation set for developers so that they know what to deliver. And then we can thread that through the land use process. So there's also that expectation of what the community had expected.

[00:48:52] We know people will still come out of the woodwork. Maybe they haven't heard. We're doing our best to conduct very extensive outreach. But we want to make sure to keep that thread alive because we want to engage as many people on the front end to be able to explain why we made the decisions we made along the way. Another important point that connects to our discussion this morning and something that we're also building up with our partners at DPD and LDS is really trying to make sure that we are looking at the requirements and expectations on each property early and understanding what they could be throughout the land use process.

[00:49:25] We are going to try to institute a new process where we're able to talk to all of the reviewing agencies earlier before we put out an RFP to create better predictability and better expectations for our development community so they can price things out and then they can have a better outcome going into the land use process with those initial reviews and those initial conversations, at least setting the framework.

[00:49:46] We know, of course, those conversations will be complicated, but we hope that having that good initial start will help at least manage expectations and will help create a better outcome and better ability to have touchstones in the process, both with the community as well as with our internal partners.

[00:50:05] Also, as you can see, if you kind of add up the timelines, you can see that on a good day, a project will take five years to complete. So it's very important for us to think now about what we can deliver by the end of this term of our goal. And a lot of times, projects take a lot longer.

[00:50:21] So really five to eight years is a typical expectation, and anything can go wrong or anything can change during that timeline. So it's really important that we kind of keep things moving through these processes and that we continually work with you all and your communities to move that along. So to talk through a little bit about conceptual pipeline, what we did was map out the opportunities that we could see having potential in various districts.

[00:50:47] Now, of course, there are a number of things that will impact these. These are not set in stone. There are a lot of ways that these will shift or maybe not move forward at all, but we wanted to say there is a path, there are opportunities, and we wanted to be very clear that we have a lot of ideas as to how to get there. Of course, you'll also notice on the bottom line that we also have a need to acquire properties, and there's going to be a need to figure out additional properties because we don't own all the land that we need to make this goal happen.

[00:51:17] So that's something we're going to be really looking at closely and finding opportunities, especially in down markets like this, where we can get better priced properties to support the affordability goals. And I'd also like to point you to the color-coded little homes in the top right corner.

[00:51:33] There are different ways that we're doing this pipeline. And so we are not only looking at what opportunities there are in terms of the county properties that we've already been working on. Also, the RHA portfolio, and as we think about the future of the RHA portfolio, there is a lot of capacity for new development, and especially as we need to really make sure that we're keeping that portfolio maintained for the very long term.

[00:51:56] Of course, we know that that portfolio really does serve the lowest incomes, and that's very critical for us to continue that momentum. And finally, we have embarked on some very new projects that are going to be really exciting in terms of co-location. We have a few in the Sully District that we're working on.

[00:52:13] We're exploring opportunities with partnerships with libraries and find that those have been done in other jurisdictions with great success in really partnering those two uses and having a very vibrant community space and community amenities combined with the housing. So now for the challenging news.

[00:52:31] Of course, there's a lot of pitfalls along the way and a lot of ways these projects can go off track. We were bringing you back to the graphic you saw this morning. I won't go in depth, but just to remind you that not everything is in our control. as hard as we will try, and I know with your support, we'll move forward a lot on the projects that we can. It is important to remember that we have a market that is tumultuous. We have a lot of changes happening. Of course, we know since COVID, the construction costs, interest rates, and various economic factors have been a huge impact on our ability to develop and have really impacted the properties that can get out of the ground. But we have a lot that we can impact,

[00:53:09] and we feel like given the initiatives this morning, we really feel hopeful that a lot of that will help speed up and really keep the momentum going on this pipeline. And of course, the costs and the potential impacts to costs along the way are very challenging. It's something that we follow very closely, but we can never predict things like tariffs. Every project has contingencies, but as you add these things up and as the expectations grow and grow, our timelines grow, there's always risks to a project. And as these arrows get higher, sometimes they fall out. So we wanted to just be really clear that there are so many different pieces to it, and a lot of times

[00:53:47] projects can absorb cost increases, can absorb time extensions, but they may not be able to absorb everything. So just like the market rate developments struggle with the same challenges, we struggle with the exact same type of, you know, building a building is building a building. And now to pivot a little bit, and of course I'm also joined by Mark Buena Vista, who is our Division Director for Capital Planning and Development, who can help me answer some questions on that. I'm also joined by Summer Cross, our Associate Director for Inclusionary Housing, and Megan Van Dam, the Division Director for Inclusionary Housing and Planning.

[00:54:20] And I wanted to talk a little bit about the contributions of the Inclusionary Housing Program. A lot of the development work we do takes county investment, both in land and in financing. And the Inclusionary Housing work is really a program that we can set in motion and work with the development industry to create affordable housing out of the developments that are already coming out of the ground. There's contributions to the Housing Trust Fund that we've been able to leverage in new developments.

[00:54:44] And there's also a huge contribution to the moderate-income households in particular. And as you can see, about a third of the units delivered are for sale, and then two-thirds, approximately, are rental.

[00:54:59] And wanted to just make sure you understand what that means in terms of AMI. I know we've talked about this a couple of times. Recently, the AMI actually did not go up very much. And that's really important to note, because we've really struggled with an AMI you know, going up very quickly, especially since COVID, it's flattened out a little bit. So the new AMI, which was just published by HUD, is $166,100. And just to sort of tether that to some of our goals, when you look at an 80% AMI unit for a family of four, that's $132,800. And for

[00:55:31] a family of four at 60% AMI, that's $99,600. So that income cannot go very far in the rental market that we have. And so also to build on the comments you heard during the initiatives discussion this morning from our planning director, Tracy Strunk, she talked about the way we're looking at the ADU and WDU programs. And jointly, we're going to be assessing these two programs to really understand how can we move into the future. One thing we wanted to share was

[00:56:05] that these programs are really market-based. And so when we talk about delivering units and delivering units for all we are able to eat out some affordability there but it really just depends on what is being built and how we can get things out of the ground so of course those initiatives are going to be really important for housing production generally and for affordability in addition and you can also see that the the types of units that have been delivered since the founding of the program the ADU program came first and then in 2007 the WDU program started and there was really a shift in what was being delivered and the types of projects that were being permitted. And you can see that there's

[00:56:45] a lot more WDUs that are being delivered now. There are a few challenges that we have, and especially as we look at updating the ADU program. A lot of that we have learned and were, well, we also knew, but have also learned through engagements with developers, and particularly home builders. We conducted an engagement during the Housing Initiative Task Force to ask home builders and smaller-scale developers, what can we do to incentivize moderate-range homeownership opportunities? We wanted to know kind of how do you get something smaller, something a little bit cheaper. We weren't sort of saying high density. We weren't saying anything about the density. We

[00:57:23] said approximately $500,000 as a price point, just to sort of see what the barriers are. We had an in-person discussion with, I can't recall how many developers, but we had a room full of people at tables to talk about these things. And a lot of what came out of it actually informed the initiatives that you heard this morning. So there were a lot of things about the development process, the comp plan, and different elements there. And we had our partners at planning there as well and LDS to hear that out. And a lot of that was consistent with what we were finding. We had one table specifically dedicated to the ADU program and understanding the challenges that developers are facing. And a lot of that grows out of the way the ADU program

[00:58:01] is tied directly to construction costs in the way it is written today. The WDU program is not. it's tied to affordability. And the ADU, and because costs have gone up so high, especially since COVID, the ADU program has gotten out of balance. And one thing we're looking at as a driver of this is really recalibrating both the pricing as well as the process. Because what we also heard was it was very confusing. It was very hard to tell what exactly the requirements are. The ADU process had some confusion around the requirements. The WDU process has a very sort of challenging negotiation process that can take a lot of time. We really want to create

[00:58:37] predictability. We want to create consistency. And more than anything, we want developers to know when you buy land, when you get into a project, what you need to invest to get to the end. And I think that's the big sort of takeaway that we'd like to, you know, make sure we're carrying forth and that there's a good understanding of that. And that will help with general production. We also think it'll help a lot with affordable housing production in the end. We are planning to work with DPD closely to really come out with recommendations for you all and plan to provide a white paper to the board to make recommendations on updating the program and how the ADU and WDU programs will look in the future.

[00:59:13] And hopefully, it will be a lot more streamlined and work a lot better both for the development community and for staff administering them. And now we're happy to take questions. Thank you. Thank you very much. And I appreciate the update and just all the hard work and really naming the challenges, right, between challenges that are out of our, especially challenges that are out of our control.

[00:59:33] So I think that's an important piece when we talk to our housing advocates as well of like, look, here's what we can control and are working on, and here's what we can't control. And part of what we can't control is, frankly, what's happening at the federal level, right, and the cost of a run that that impacts. And also, I think it's good to ask the community, right, because if there is challenges with the WDU process and the ADU process, whether it's permitting or confusion, That's another thing we can look at of how do we streamline that and how do we, you know, help our developers get through the process, not just faster, but better understand it.

[01:00:06] So I think this is great. It shows a huge need as well, especially the new AMI numbers, right? Like to have $166,000 be 100% of AMI and realize that you still don't have enough to afford a medium-price home in Fairfax County, I think that's a really powerful number.

[01:00:21] So I think the more we lift this up, the more we work on this. I would encourage you to look at really creative places for land for affordable housing, you know, working with our faith-based communities, looking more at co-location, really outreach to some of these owners of commercial property that is underutilized, you know, working with everyone in the different districts as to locations, because I think we have to be creative, just like, you know, my predecessor was and Sharon McKay and others were on this board of having housing located here at the government center.

[01:00:51] We've got to look creatively at the spaces for the housing and that I think is a part of our biggest challenge So I appreciate the work here and without turn to chairman McKay and then to my colleagues. Yeah Thank you very much. I it's good to see I there's two things in here that make me really happy First is the new program that we're piloting for homeownership and down payment assistance because we talked before about You know the need for support within the homeownership realm - so I'm very glad to see that I'm also really glad to see I guess it's slide 10, which shows us a potential path towards achieving the 10,000 goal.

[01:01:28] And this is the first time we've seen a path towards success. We've talked about how we know we can get there. We're making progress. We know if you count everything in now, the pipeline that we know it, that's at pre-development, that we can, you know, we're at in around 50%.

[01:01:46] But this shows us a path towards achieving the 10,000. I would just say, you know, there's a lot of disruptors in this, and some of those disruptors can be very good things, which is an opportunity that comes out of nowhere that disrupts potentially something on this chart or increases dramatically the number of units that we've projected.

[01:02:06] And so I'm completely cognizant of this being a hypothetical, but at least it shows this is within the realm of very doable. I mean, there's nine magisterial districts if over the period of time since we initiated this goal, if everybody could deliver their portion of what it's going to take to get to 10,000, you know what that number is.

[01:02:26] But this actually shows, I think, a pretty good and achievable timeline. I guess the only question that I have is when I look at slide 10, there's two things I want to make sure I understand. One is when I look at slide six, we have ADUs, WDUs at 80% AMI and below since 2020 at 1,073 delivered.

[01:02:48] And then later we have a different number for that same subject on slide 13, which is in a total 1,603 new ADU and WDU units have been delivered since 2020.

[01:03:04] So those numbers are not the same, and I know we've pulled out the for sale units. I'm not sure we should pull out the for sale units when we're trying to count towards what our overall goal is. And so I guess my question is on slide 10, when we're charting out these numbers, do these numbers include what our forecasted future WDU-ADU production pipeline is?

[01:03:30] Because I don't see it singled out in here. And then secondly, does this slide on page 10, to follow up on the Chair's comment, does this anticipate any opportunities, if you want to see them that way, out of the legislation that was passed in Richmond?

[01:03:46] For example, have we included in these numbers potential projects, projects that are being worked on outside of the realm of Fairfax County that we know about, maybe in our faith communities or other places with their new entitlements? Thank you for the question. So to start, I will say the number in the chart matches the blue box on slide 12, which is just that it's going to the goal.

[01:04:10] And so those are the units that are at or below 80% AMI. The 1,600 units includes the 100% and 120% AMI. So just to clarify that. But they do include the for sale in the 80% and, you know, 80% and below. So those are both rental and for sale.

[01:04:26] And so I guess that gets to one of the points I'm making here is that when we're calculating affordable housing, to me, we probably need to give some more thought to what we're counting towards the 10,000-unit goal. Because I know some people want to focus a lot of their attention on 60% and below, and I get that.

[01:04:46] It doesn't pencil out everywhere. In some cases, people get angry that you need to get to 120% and that's still affordable. We just heard a presentation earlier today about the incomes needed to be able to support families and housing. So that's not inconceivable. That is reality.

[01:05:02] And so, you know, as we move forward, we might want to think about maybe changing the definitions that are used to determine the unit count towards the 10,000 goal. Because to me, regardless of where you are on that AMI spectrum, we now know based on the evidence that within that spectrum, these are people who have serious housing constraints without these programs.

[01:05:30] Mr. Chairman, if I may, just really briefly, I very much appreciate that because there are certainly, especially in the realm of homeownership, there are real challenges there. And we recognize, you know, that we want to figure out a way to most accurately capture those.

[01:05:49] I think the board's budget guidance was very helpful and instructive in the sense that, You know, it made a clear line of demarcation between where we invest our dollars and land resources as compared to where we have our investing policy and incentive-type efforts.

[01:06:10] And that alone that the board provided with us as part of this budget cycle has been very helpful. But we will certainly take a step back and consider what we might recommend. Yeah, I think making sure we're capturing everything in its totality.

[01:06:26] not, you know, selling short the efforts that we're making towards achieving affordable housing and seeing it kind of all in one place towards that 10,000 goal, because most folks in the community, and I know the board, wants to achieve that goal, and to me, if it's an affordable unit, as defined within our definition of affordable, it should be captured in this number, and I don't know what that number would be on slide 10.

[01:06:53] Is it not included? Are the WADU-ADU potential growth numbers not included anywhere on slide 10, or are they embedded in the counts per district? Thank you for that question. So in slide 10, we do not include the pipeline of inclusionary housing, and mainly because it is unpredictable.

[01:07:12] We do track developments, and we have a lot of work on the front end in the planning phase, so we have a tracker that says what they could be. So you could theoretically extrapolate that, but because it's so up to the market when those developments get going, we have not factored that in. So, of course, that's going to be additive.

[01:07:28] And, of course, things could subtract from this, so it sort of helps give some flexibility. The other question you asked was about faith communities and other kind of projects we may finance but aren't necessarily our land, and I wanted to address that as well. Those are not included either, and so the opportunities, unless they're already in development, we have not included those.

[01:07:48] So there could be the ones that come in, too. Those are the disruptors I was mentioning that could come online here. And I would just say, in closing, if we know in the past, since 2020, we've gotten somewhere between 1,000 and nearly 1,700 WDUs and ADUs, we should be able to extrapolate and put a placeholder number in here on the ones we think we're going to achieve between 2026 and 2034, based on past history just as a placeholder to give the board an understanding of if we keep up that trajectory. Again, the importance of building housing we just talked about earlier, if we don't

[01:08:25] build any market rate housing, we're not going to be getting the WDUs that we anticipate that are on this chart too. So they're kind of working hand in glove in my mind. Great, thank you. I'll start with Supervisor Palachuk, Father Supervisor Lusk, and Supervisor Herity. Thank you. Thank you so much for this work. It gets better every presentation, so I appreciate that. I think a little bit tied to what the chairman was talking to, I keep thinking about housing is housing for all, right? I understand the county only has, or the housing office only has to stay in a part of it, right?

[01:08:58] And that's where we have the 10,000 goal. But then in the needs assessment, right, very clearly, we have a 41,000 to 95,000 new homes needed by 2035 at market rate, right, in order to keep up with the demand. So even though it's kind of like no one outside really cares how the sausage is made, and so I think if we could maybe do a better job of communicating the work that's being done and the goals county-wide that we're meeting and also the needs. So I was looking through the needs assessment, and I know we've had some conversations about our affordable or workforce units that were

[01:09:37] for, I believe, 62 plus, 55 plus, and I've heard in my small roundtables from some of our affordable housing developers that we don't have a clear sense, maybe, of what the actual need is, who is out there at those age brackets and income levels, and maybe who's not, in order to fill those.

[01:10:01] So I guess that's my question to your team is, do we have a needs assessment? And I would add by area of the county, maybe by region, I don't know, the county, do we have a sense of the needs in our community when it comes to our senior affordable housing?

[01:10:21] Supervisor Palachuk, in our original housing strategic plan from 2019, we had identified senior households as being one of the top two needs with respect to affordable housing. That said, I think we do have an opportunity to potentially drill down in some of this work to come up with perhaps an even more granular idea relative to senior housing, potentially intergenerational housing, that sort of thing.

[01:10:51] So we would certainly be open to doing that work. And I appreciate that, because I think we've seen intergenerational, I think, being the key word, right, is we need it everywhere. As was mentioned, we need probably higher density where we have transit, but we really need people who want to stay in their communities.

[01:11:09] From what I've seen in the new senior developments, whether they're market rate or affordable, people tend to want to stay close to their community that they know, right? So I think it's really, for me, the next step would be that geographically and when we talk about housing for all, what access is there for affordable senior, you know, middle-income senior sort of in that vicinity, that map.

[01:11:36] I don't know if you're already looking at that or if there's a good way to really, for the next step, break it down a little bit more. Thank you. Thank you. Supervisor Lusk followed by Supervisor Herity. Okay, thank you very much, Madam Chairman. Let me just ask a couple of questions on slide 13.

[01:11:55] So I appreciate the discussion about trying to increase the inventory of for-sale units. I think that's kind of really important. But looking at the ratio that you have for the ADU versus WDU, and it's roughly 38% ownership versus 62% rental, if we look at the entire inventory of ADUs and WDU, ADUs, what is that relationship between ownership and rental?

[01:12:33] Yes, Supervisor Lestis, Megan Van Dam with the Department of Housing and Community Development. The total delivery is about 6,000 units, and it's actually about the same. We have about 4,000 units in rental and the remainder in for sale.

[01:12:50] So we do actually, it's actually very similar to the average production since 2020. Okay, and then what is our goal as it relates to ownership? Do we have a goal as a percentage for ownership currently? I mean, the goals would be based on the policies and the requirements of the ADU and the WDU program, and that is variable in certain areas, but we do have the goal of trying for the ADU program that 12.5% of almost all new development as ADU requirements.

[01:13:29] And then generally within the county for the WDUs, the 8% for rental and 12% for for sale. And of course, those numbers can be higher depending on where you are. I guess what I'm getting to is acknowledging that we need more for sale units.

[01:13:45] Is there something we can do to try to maybe establish a number as a target for us to get to the actual four-cell component? I think we can always look at that.

[01:14:01] I will say, you know, a lot of that is because these programs are highly dependent on the market. It is hard to predict what that number will be. That said, thinking about all of the different work with the first-time homebuyer program that we have, down payment assistance, and now this new down payment loan program, looking at other different types of supports that we have, and we've talked about some of the Virginia housing supports as well, these are all contributing to how do we look at home ownership.

[01:14:31] And I'll turn it over to Tom to add to that. Sure. Just to add on to Megan's comments, I just kind of wanted to note, you know, especially for the public, that with respect to the ADU and WDU programs, that we have very little control in terms of what tenure type actually gets delivered.

[01:14:52] And often we don't know what that's going to be until very, very late in the process. So it really is very, very market dependent. Again, acknowledging that, but still thinking that we could have a goal for that.

[01:15:08] And then last, if I could get a little help in the three different funds that we have established for the Housing Trust Fund, if you could speak to those again, the CCF and the Tyson's Fund and the distribution of those in terms of how they were established and their percentages for each.

[01:15:32] Supervisor Lusk, the county-wide component of the Housing Trust Fund can serve, you know, the entirety of the county. The Continuing Care Facilities, or CCF, fund we are able to use in order to fund senior projects.

[01:15:51] And then the Tyson's Fund, of course, may only be used in the Tyson's Urban Center. And I'll just note with the Tyson's Fund that we did utilize a very substantial portion of it to capitalize the Indigo project in the Providence District at the McLean Metro.

[01:16:12] And then just in terms of the allocation to each of those, how that was set? So with respect to the countywide fund, general proffers, et cetera, go into the countywide fund. And the Continuing Care Fund was established in partnership with the Health Care Advisory Board, et cetera, who have a role in the regulatory process for the continuing care communities.

[01:16:41] And I believe that is set at $3 per square foot. But I know for a fact the Tyson's fund is set at $3 per square foot of non-residential exclusive of ground floor retail.

[01:16:58] Thank you very much, Madam Chairman. Thank you. Supervisor Herity followed by Supervisor Beerman. Let me start with two points. I'm happy to see we're kind of expanding how we're going to get to our 10,000 units.

[01:17:16] You know, a couple of meetings ago, I asked about the vacancy rate in our government subsidized units, and I got that answer. So thank you. But I think the chairman asked if there was a wait list. And did we ever get the wait list answer on any of those?

[01:17:32] And I know we've got a wait list for vouchers, but for those units? So Supervisor Herity, we can evaluate whether or not we can get that information. It will almost certainly depend by unit size, by property, et cetera.

[01:17:48] Yeah. So we were in a meeting a little while ago, and this kind of opened my eyes to two different things. And the developer said, to fill these units, we're looking for a needle in a haystack. These are 60% units. Our policemen, firemen, teachers don't qualify for those units. Most of the people on the bottom end of the scale under 60 AMI can't afford to pay the rent because they're trying to get the rent to make the project pencil.

[01:18:20] And, again, the other thing I learned in that meeting is cost per unit is really being driven by the incentives. So they're expensive costs per unit. We're addressing a very narrow spectrum. So the more we can expand how we get to those 10,000 units, I think the better, because we're addressing such a very narrow spectrum when we go build those government-subsidized units.

[01:18:47] Happy to see that we're moving to 80%. We need more housing at all levels, not just that narrow sliver. I am ecstatic that we're doing a homeownership program. I am very, very happy we're finally expanding our homeownership.

[01:19:04] It's been a long time coming. A little disappointed that we're not putting some of the money we're putting into housing into that. This is a state grant, as I understand. Homeownership, generational wealth, people take care of it. They choose where they live.

[01:19:20] If they put down roots, are those units, and to me, if we're getting somebody in an affordable unit, those should count towards the $10,000 as well. Would we be counting those towards the $10,000 if we get people into a unit through the home ownership program?

[01:19:39] Generally not because it's not creating new stock. So people are generally buying existing stock. So that wouldn't count, but we count preserved units? Not towards the $10,000. $10,000, okay.

[01:19:56] I'm hoping at some point we can look at taking some of our housing money and putting it towards those homeownership because, again, I think it solves so many of our problems and especially keeping our young people here. So with that, I'll end my comments.

[01:20:13] Thank you very much. Supervisor Beerman followed by Supervisor Alcorn and Supervisor Smith. Thank you. You said earlier, Anna, that it takes five and a half years on a good day. How do we have more good days than bad days? I think the initiatives from this morning will help really make progress to that effect.

[01:20:36] A lot of times the delays come, and also a lot of the delays might come from the front end of the process not matching the back end. So I think understanding and having that predictability prior to an RFP and really being able to enter a land use process with really good expectations.

[01:20:51] And we've engaged our development regulatory partners in the development reviews. We've engaged them in the decision-making for some of our solicitations. So we really are trying to get that feedback very early, and we hope that with these initiatives we're going to continue that progress and really start to make that shorter.

[01:21:10] Okay. I just think from now on, across everything we're doing in the county, we get timelines three to six years to build a sidewalk. Well, we should always build in three. Five and a half to eight and a quarter to build affordable housing.

[01:21:29] That's kind of the range on page nine. We should always beat five and a half. And frankly, we should do it in four. That should be our goal. We're Fairfax County. We have a lot of good days here. That's my theory. Thanks. Thank you.

[01:21:45] I like that. We have a lot of good days here. That should be our tagline for Fairfax County. Supervisor Alcor and followed by Supervisor Smith. Two quick questions. First of all, how are we seeing developers come in under the updated WDU rules voluntarily?

[01:22:04] So in other words, they were approved under the old rules. Are we seeing that happen coming in lower AMIs? Oh, Megan, yeah. I think the short answer is sometimes.

[01:22:21] Sometimes, okay. I think there are advantages because the new rules especially have fewer WDs in it. So it was a balance between lower AMIs and fewer units. The for sale, I think, we are able to negotiate for that depending on the scale of what maybe a change might be if they're coming in for a proper condition amendment.

[01:22:45] But typically, we're not seeing those opt-ins for the for sale. Okay, good to know. And then second question, on slide 14, I believe, very excellent slide on historical unit production.

[01:23:02] I'm sure we're tracking this. Are we seeing a lot of units ending the control period? Because I know there was a period of time, particularly during the 90s and early 2000s, where it was a short control period. Yes, for the ADU program, yes.

[01:23:20] We are seeing the end of the control period for the 15 years. However, when there's a resale, that resale typically, they're coming in, reselling. If we're purchasing the unit, we will establish a new control period and look at potentially a 30-year control period.

[01:23:38] For the WDUs, we haven't outreached the end of the control period for those because the program has been established. Okay. At some other meeting, maybe get a little bit more detail, but that's very helpful. So thank you. Thank you. We'll take a look at that for maybe another housing committee meeting to talk more of the WDUs.

[01:23:57] Supervisor Smith, Boba, Supervisor Stork. I appreciated the chairman's comments about the level of AMI. I am concerned that if the focus is just 60% and below, we're not meeting need that we need for our economic success in keeping people that are starting in jobs, and I think it's something we need to have further discussions about.

[01:24:20] Thank you. Thank you. Supervisor Stork. Thank you, Madam Chair. Absolutely. I think home ownership is the core and the key to our county continuing to be one, a place that people can thrive and hopefully build the equity that allows their kids to stay here and also thrive.

[01:24:41] So I'm all in looking for ways to support that. And was just curious about the state program, if there's any restrictions as to the type of person who can do that. do they have to be a citizen or do they have to be exclusively in a family of people who are legal residents or can there be other parties that are part of that process and i don't have to have any answer here but if you have it i'll take it otherwise i would like to get something online we're happy to follow up with you on that and also provide you with links to be able to share with your communities as well to get the word out about the program all right thank you

[01:25:14] it's also deeply satisfying and because I know and I think the chairman probably would be also the chairman of the board be equally satisfied as well to see that the county really is doing something that for the previous I think 20 years but I'll definitely say for the last 10 years we've been urging be done which is to diversify the availability of our affordable housing units Even now, in terms of market and probably close to subsidized affordable Mount Vernon

[01:25:50] District and I would say the Richmond Highway Corridor in general is still where a greater percentage of those housing units are versus other parts of the county. But particularly slide 10, I realize these are projections and maybe the devil ultimately is in the detail of achieving these.

[01:26:08] But I think this alone, just seeing this on a piece of paper and having people understand what I have been saying that this board is committed to gives me an opportunity to further say to others that this isn't just about Mount Vernon District getting additional affordable housing units.

[01:26:28] It's about the county overall looking at that as our overall priority. And I couldn't be happier about that. I'm also deeply cautious about it because it's back-end loaded, and those are always how we kind of do these things, is we haven't quite figured out up front we're going to back in because somehow or other we're going to get there.

[01:26:51] I appreciate that focus because we've got to believe that, and we've now got to make it happen. Are there the dollars needed to make that happen? Because I realize it's not just Fairfax County, but we're looking on others. Where do we stand with the amount of dollars, and does the board understand what the county commitment with dollars needs to be to achieve this?

[01:27:18] Supervisor Stork, thank you for the question. A lot has to go right to get to $10,000, and I think that's really important. A lot has to go right in the market. A lot has to go right for the county from a budgetary standpoint. You know, there are so many variables that could impact this.

[01:27:37] I think as the board has continued to make real essential progress relative to what we'd identified as being the need for the two pennies, that we do feel like we are headed very much in the right direction.

[01:27:54] So I think the most important things that we continue to do here is to continue making progress, continue along the path that we're on. I think certainly the discussion that we're having, the ongoing discussion we're having about the incomes we're serving and the units that get delivered at different incomes is also a really important factor.

[01:28:18] For example, the vast majority of the financing that we use for the projects that we do requires us to have a focus at an average of 60% of the median income. That said, so many of the board's policies and the incentives that you've already put in place, the ADU program, the WDU program, allows us to serve a somewhat higher income as well.

[01:28:43] And if we're looking at including that in how we're looking at our goals, that is also very helpful towards making the progress that we need. I know low-income tax credits are essential, and I don't know how under – I'm concerned about what that might mean and the federal government support and et cetera for that.

[01:29:05] I know that I want to see – we've got this, which is fantastic, but I want to see the translation of this into dollars that the board may need to explicitly put up with or the board may need to put in its legislative priorities, what we need from the state to make that happen.

[01:29:23] And then what we're counting on from the federal government, and I'd like to see a plan that's similarly aggressive and gets to the bottom line, but also has a little bit of leeway to make sure that we do get there.

[01:29:40] Because I know the dollar amounts, we really don't understand the millions of dollars that it's going to take to get there. And I want to understand that because I want to educate others, and I also want to recognize what those tradeoffs might be. So I'm not sure, can I get a commitment as to when we might be able to get something like that?

[01:30:04] Supervisor Stork, let us take a step back and consider that one. There are, as I said, there are a lot of factors that go into this, a lot of factors that, you know, would go into providing, you know, any kind of, you know, accurate picture. So, again, let us take a step back and we'll respond.

[01:30:22] Can you give me some idea when you might be able to respond? We will certainly do our best to respond around the end of the summer. Okay, so no later than August? I'm sorry, I like dates, either not a specific date, but I like the end of a month or something.

[01:30:44] And even if it has to change, then you can communicate that. But at least I have some sense of expectation, and the community members have that as well. Supervisor Stork, I will say this. Let me huddle with Tom and Chris, and I will come back to you with a date. Excellent. Because you – yes, sir.

[01:31:02] Thank you, Mr. Hill. That's an answer I'm comfortable with. Thank you. I appreciate that. Well, with that, we will eagerly await the date and hope for lots of good days here in Fairfax County. And I just want to say – I just want to mention the hard work.

[01:31:18] This is the first time I think I've seen, at least, and I know I'm fairly new, a path to achieving the goal. There's lots that can go wrong. There's a lot of – It can go right. It can go right, right. But I think that's something we should celebrate and communicate, right? We set a goal, and we have a path to get there.

[01:31:35] And so this board is doing what we can under our control. And the work you're doing around the streamlining, the work we're doing around looking at some of our regulations and regulatory impacts, that's all part of it. But I think we should celebrate that, and I think we should talk about it.

[01:31:52] We should let people know we take this seriously. So when we talk about affordability, when this board talked about affordability a long time ago, they put their money where their mouth is. So I think I want to end on that note, and this is great that we have a path, and hopefully the path will be straight and smooth.

[01:32:09] With that, this meeting is adjourned.

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