Affordable Teacher Units Extended For 10 Years In Falls Church

FALLS CHURCH, VA — Nine units at the Read Building in the City of Falls Church will continue to be affordable as teacher workforce units for at least 10 more years. Falls Church City Council approved the extension of restrictive covenants for the Read Building at 402 West Broad Street on Monday.

The restrictive covenants are an agreement between City of Falls Church government and property owner Jefferson 402 to maintain affordability of nine units. The Read Building is a 26-unit apartment building with nine units made affordable to people with moderate income through a 2006 agreement. The restrictive covenant extension to people with 60 to 80 percent of the Area Median Income through the end of 2032. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's definition of 80 percent Area Median Income is up to $63,000 for one person.

The affordability is funded through $350,000 from a Virginia Housing grant awarded to the city. The $350,000 in the agreement is based on the subsidy needed to make nine units affordable to 60 to 80 percent of the Area Median Income over 10 years. That equates to a $3,889 subsidy per year, or $324 per month, for each unit.

Brenden Woodley, a housing development specialist for the city, told City Council the units can be sought by school staff or city staff. School staff at 60 percent of the Area Median Income, then 80 percent, get first priority, but eligibility would open up to the general population meeting income requirements if school staff cannot be found for the unit. While the initial agreement with the developer sought teachers as the priority, the units are being utilized by teachers and support staff.

"I will say that this particular building has a hard time staying vacant in any way," said Woodley. "It's very well received in the community and the units are very affordable. So people are always trying to find units at this particular property."

Councilmember Phil Duncan urged the city to find ways to consider city staff as a priority.

"I would just encourage us to always consider city staff too as well as school staff, and our affordable housing efforts, maybe in the future units that are coming online, particularly Founders Row 2 where we have a richer mix of affordable units than in some of the buildings that we've done," said Duncan.

Vice Mayor Letty Hardi expressed support for the extension while noting other restrictive covenants for affordable housing will expire in the coming years. For example, Pearson Square will have 15 affordable units that would expire in 2027, and the Fields of Falls Church will have 96 units expiring around 2027-2028.

"I do want to make sure that while even though we've got our hands full with [NHP Foundation's affordable homeownership program] and [Wesley Housing, Virginia Village owner] that we don't lose sight of all the buildings that we've built and expirations, because only starting with Founders Row 1 that we have affordable units that never expire."

"And so we've inherited a great portfolio of affordable housing units, but they're all going to expire off the books, and we are still losing them faster than we can build them," Hardi continued. "And so where we have opportunities to pursue additional grant dollars, I think we should absolutely consider kind of a similar model to deploying those buildings so we don't lose them and extend the affordability where possible."

Mayor P. David Tarter said that preserving existing affordable housing may be a more efficient use of funds than pursuing new affordable housing construction.

"I think the city ought to be looking at this model on a number of older units throughout the city, because it's a great way to provide affordable housing that appears to be substantially cheaper than new build," said Tarter.