Fairfax County has revised its workforce housing program in the hopes of making for-sale units viable in more locations.
The Board of Supervisors voted 9-0 on Tuesday (July 16) to change its workforce dwelling units (WDU) policy, which aims to incentivize affordable housing in mixed-use centers such as Tysons by awarding additional density to developers who participate.
Now, any areas that are planned and zoned for at least eight dwelling units per acre will also be able to offer for-sale housing under the newly approved guidelines.
The amendment also makes eligible WDUs available to buyers in a lower range of incomes, shifting the eligibility range down to between 70% and 100% of the area median income (AMI) in Fairfax County, instead of between 80% and 120%.
The county’s current AMI ranges from $106,450 for an individual to $200,750 for an eight-person household, according to the Department of Housing and Community Development.
“Analysis of the sales conducted by staff and their consultants found that for-sale WDUs at the higher AMIs are often priced close to market-rate units of similar size; remain on the market for significantly longer periods than market properties; and often require price reductions and/or other incentives to sell,” a county staff report said.
The county will also now expect developers to include a “proportional bedroom mix” in both for-sale and for-rent workforce dwelling units.
“Under the current policy, developments may disproportionally provide smaller WDUs with fewer bedrooms than the market-rate units within the same development, reducing opportunities for creating family-sized WDUs,” said the staff report, which defines family-sized units as those with at least three bedrooms.
No firm requirement will apply to developments with mostly larger family-sized units because of adverse effects found in a feasibility analysis.
The policy changes were based on recommendations from a WDU For-Sale Task Force convened last year by the Board of Supervisors, which endorsed the group’s findings on Dec. 5, 2023. After getting community input, county staff took their recommendations to the Fairfax County Planning Commission on June 12, when the group gave its support with a 10-0 vote.
At the Board of Supervisors hearing this week, two speakers provided comments, including Mary Paden, housing committee chair of the Fairfax County NAACP.
“We support any changes that will increase the number of homes affordable to Black residents that’s helping them build generational wealth,” she said. “The proposal to amend the workforce development unit policy is a good small step in that direction.”
Springfield District Supervisor Pat Herrity abstained from the vote, saying the policy would drive up housing costs without helping the neediest county residents.
“Home ownership and addressing generational wealth are important issues, and this policy is a move in the right direction, but in my opinion it still doesn’t meet the mark of helping those most in need of housing, and it does so at the expense of raising the cost of housing for everyone else,” he said.
The county will also make some corresponding updates to the rental portion of the affordable housing policy to ensure consistency.
Chairman Jeff McKay called the policy “an additional tool in our vast toolbox of things available to us to address affordable housing.”
“I don’t want anyone thinking this is the county’s affordable housing policy, because this is one tiny thread of a much larger affordable housing strategy that we have in Fairfax County,” McKay said.
