As voters headed to the polls for last month’s primary, the future of city housing was hot on their minds. In recent years, density has been one of Alexandria’s most contentious debates. Last year, discourse reached its climax when the city council approved the controversial Zoning for Housing plan, allowing for multi-family housing throughout the city. Now, a $3.5 million federal grant to Alexandria and its neighboring districts will help expand city efforts to bolster access to affordable housing. 

As part of a newly created Department of Housing and Urban Development program dubbed PRO Housing (Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing), regions across the nation had the opportunity to apply for grants. 

“HUD was looking for communities that were already doing the hard work to identify what was getting in the way of making more affordable homes,” said Marion McFadden, HUD principal deputy assistant secretary. 

“For the first time, most of the jurisdictions in this region have realized that if we're going to make housing more accessible and affordable, we have to create more housing.” 

— Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson

Out of dozens of applicants from 47 different states, the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) – which includes Alexandria – was one of 21 regions chosen for the grant.

“I think it’s amazing that the COG was able to get an award,” said Jill Norcross, executive director of the Northern Virginia Affordable Housing Alliance. “I know it was a very competitive process.”

“What made the application stand out was the deep regional work happening,” McFadden said. “Over many years now, governments across D.C., Maryland and Virginia have been coordinating. They understand that to address our affordable housing shortage, they need to approach things at a regional level.”

“I think the award speaks to the creativity in the region in how we accelerate affordable housing and are able to work together on these issues,” Norcross said. 

Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson noted that recent strategy breakthroughs may help with further collaboration.

“For the first time, most of the jurisdictions in this region have realized that if we're going to make housing more accessible and affordable, we have to create more housing,” Wilson said. "For most people that sounds rather obvious, but that is actually a big revelation.”

While funds from the federal level usually aim to combat the housing crisis by launching new initiatives, this program is unique. The purpose of the grants is to expand housing supply and lower housing costs, to identify and remove barriers to affordable housing production and preservation.

“This isn’t just about ‘What are we building and how are we building it?’” McFadden said. “It’s taking a step back and saying ‘What's getting in the way when we're trying to use the dollars that we receive?’” 

Alexandria has already taken some action promoting affordable housing. In December of last year, the city council approved Zoning for Housing, eliminating single-family zoning regulations and allowing for construction of higher-capacity buildings, with the notion that these buildings could contain more affordable units. Nearly three years earlier, in January 2021, the council passed an accessory dwelling unit ordinance allowing single-family homeowners to build additional housing units on their properties. The previous year, Alexandria was one of several regional governments to create affordable housing production targets. With the new grant, Wilson said the city can prioritize these efforts even more.

“Those are the types of things that we've already attacked,” Wilson said. “What this grant is going to fund is the next phase of that kind of work.”

“One of the things we'll look at is finding out how to make accessory dwelling units easier and cheaper for people to build,” Wilson said. “We're also going to look at the next phase of Zoning for Housing, and how we can continue to go through our zoning code and identify those areas that are barriers to people accessing housing.”

Wilson also said the city may further explore pairing affordable housing developments with current city facilities, what he called an opportunity to make better use of the space.

These efforts will be coordinated with seven other Washington COG municipalities, including Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William counties in Virginia, and Montgomery and Prince George’s counties in Maryland, and Washington D.C. 

“Conceptually, the jurisdictions are all rowing in the same direction,” said McFadden. “This is an extraordinary example of collaboration.”

However, implementation may vary depending on density.

“It's a regional problem, but there are very locally specific solutions,” Norcross said. “Each of the local governments will be able to request funding to help with what would be most meaningful in their communities.”

Although the COG was granted slightly more than half of the roughly $7 million they originally requested, it should not take long before Alexandria and the rest of the DC metro area get to work.

“We're going to have to redo the budgets and figure out how much we're going to allocate to each thing,” Wilson said. “Then we’ll kick off very soon, probably next year.”

“Of course, having the full funding would have been better,” said Norcross. “But adapting speaks to the region’s ability to cooperate.”

“Truly this is continuing the work that the COG has been doing,” said McFadden. “I think they're in good shape to hit the ground running with these dollars … We're excited to see the results.”