ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The future of housing in Alexandria changed in a major way overnight after council members unanimously approved a major rezoning reform.
The plan called Zoning for Housing/Housing for All recommended several ordinance changes to make housing more accessible in the city, which includes the controversial decision to end single-family-only zoning. Instead of areas in the city made exclusively for single-family homes, developers can add up to four units per lot.
The mayor, other leaders and community supporters say the plan will improve prices and address equity issues.
“This is going to be a powerful tool to build more committed affordable housing in Alexandria,” Marsha Rhea, of Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement, said. “If you're a family making about $50,000 a year here, you can't afford the apartments and you certainly can't look at buying a home. About 70% of the city are renters. We have to think about what is going to be the housing for them so that we can have the essential workers that we need right here living with us.”
The initiative also calls for changing height requirements so developers can add more affordable units and build on industrial areas.
Despite the approval, Rhea said supporters are going to push for the city to appropriately fund the projects.
During the meeting, which ended around 1 a.m. on Wednesday, Vice Mayor Amy Jackson wanted to defer the changes to single-family zoning, although the motion failed.
Opponents including Coalition for a Livable Alexandria questioned the speed of passing the zoning changes. Chairman Roy Byrd said city officials need more time to analyze the recommendations and determine the impact on density, infrastructure and overall character of the historic city. He questioned if the plan would truly benefit residents in a city where the median home sale price was over $600,000 in October.
“Developers will come in and buy some of these smaller homes to convert into something much more expensive,” Byrd said. “Nothing against developers, but we believe they're going to try to make a profit. They're not in the business to make affordable housing.”
Byrd said although the vote was not in their favor, the group will continue to monitor the progress of the plan and make sure what the city promised will come to fruition.
His organization has no plans to take legal action against the plan, but residents could still file a lawsuit.
Arlington County is facing a ‘missing middle’ lawsuit from homeowners over similar proposed changes.