AHS Letter to the County Board
3/14/2023
Arlington County Board
Ellen M. Bozman Government Center
2100 Clarendon Blvd.
Arlington, VA 22201
Dear Chair Dorsey and Board Members,
Alliance for Housing Solutions (AHS) thanks the County Board and County Staff for the thorough research and careful consideration of Missing Middle Housing (MMH) types for Arlington.
Further, AHS appreciates the resulting draft proposal for Expanded Housing Option (EHO) development in Arlington’s Zoning Ordinance.
Alliance for Housing Solutions is an Arlington nonprofit with 20 years of experience in housing policy, advocacy, and public education. AHS has served as a Community Partner of the County's Missing Middle Housing Study since 2020 and submits the following recommendations for your consideration.
AHS urges you to vote for the broadest version of the Expanded Housing Options, with as few restrictions as possible on the future construction of Missing Middle Housing across Arlington.
In light of the Affordable Housing Master Plan goals for supply and homeownership, the broadest version of MMH/EHO will best address Arlington’s changing housing needs for its growing population and goals of environmentally sustainable development. Equally important, more expansive MMH/EHO options will further Arlington’s Equity Resolution and Racial Equity Action Plan efforts to, “advance racial equity as a countywide priority to eliminate, reduce, and prevent disparities in our policies.”
Expanding zoning options will give owners more choices, make more efficient use of limited residential areas, open previously closed neighborhoods to a greater diversity of residents, promote environmentally sustainable development, and increase access to more affordable housing at all income levels and stages of life.
Arlington is facing a housing crisis at all income levels. The County’s population is forecast to increase by more than 60,000 in the coming two decades. In addition, Arlington is experiencing a growing trend whereby smaller (formerly starter) homes are demolished and replaced by massive single-family homes. These lavish houses are far out of the financial reach of most Arlingtonians and add no new supply to meet Arlington’s growing housing demand.
The County’s housing supply is further hampered by its history of divided neighborhoods that were purposely segregated and made exclusive by the Single-Family Housing (SFH) only zoning established nearly a century ago. With over 75% of Arlington residential land zoned for SFH-only, the county has become a series of segregated communities, where people of color have been zoned out and priced out.
AHS encourages you to support the more expansive MMH/EHO options provided by County staff as a means to begin the process of addressing Arlington’s economic and racial divide.
Today’s housing supply does not meet the needs of our current or future residents. It fails to offer adequate purchase and rental opportunities for essential workers, public employees, and those aging in place. It does not offer entry-level homeownership opportunities to any but the wealthiest residents, over 80% of whom are Caucasian.
Arlington’s current housing stock is limited to detached single-family homes or high-rise apartments. This does not meet the needs of the County’s changing demographics and evolving household types. Arlington’s population is growing most quickly in the 1-, 2- and 3-person households, among middle- and lower-income earners, and in our senior population that is expected to nearly double in the coming decades.
The principles of good urban planning show that Arlington must allow more homes and more efficient use of the limited land within its residential districts.
Proposed zoning language allowing for Expanded Housing Option development is a great example of transit-oriented, climate-sensitive, and inclusive planning that will allow for increased—yet gentle—density in established neighborhoods and throughout Arlington. An added benefit of EHO development is that it will achieve gentle density while also addressing the need for accessible, smaller, and less expensive housing in high opportunity neighborhoods.
We need diverse housing across our neighborhoods to meet all ages and stages of life and to maintain our economic viability as the housing cost burden continues to rise in Arlington.
Past leaders in Arlington rose to the occasion with bold planning policies to help develop the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor with the arrival of the Metro. You and your fellow County Board members now have the historic opportunity to allow a wider variety of housing types for Arlington’s increasingly diverse population.
Alliance for Housing Solutions ask the County Board to support the future of a more equitable Arlington by voting in favor of these more expansive MMH/EHO options supported by AHS:
1A – Missing Middle Housing should include up to 6 units across all of Arlington. Larger numbers of units per structure allows the most affordable units to be built for both rental and homeownership opportunities.
2A – Allowing up to 6 Missing Middle Housing units on any feasible lot in Arlington is the ONLY way to truly address the segregationist zoning that effectively walled off ¾ of Arlington for everyone but those in the highest income-earning households. Missing Middle Housing types will follow the same limits of the current SFH setback / footprint / envelope requirements that currently guide housing development. Option 2A is a necessary step forward to resolving this segregationist legacy, while 2B and 2E contribute to it.
3A –To be in parity with the by-right development of SFH development, MMH/EHO development should also be by-right on one-acre and larger lots. If a special use permit process is adopted, it should be as straightforward as possible, so as not to further disadvantage EHO development.
4B – Arlington lacks housing supply and supply of smaller units in more residential neighborhoods. It is good policy to re-allocate the 5% extra lot coverage normally allowed for a stand-alone garage toward the house itself. This extra square footage could incentivize more middle housing types to be built.
5C/E – Arlington has a HOUSING crisis and not a parking crisis. Housing and planning policy should incentivize housing people and keeping land green. According to Arlington’s recent parking study, 80% of Arlington streets are under-parked. The remainder use parking permits or metered parking to manage usage. Therefore, in most areas, there is no need for mandated on-site parking. Individual landowners will create the off-street parking needed for their specific lot. Not requiring a parking minimum means more green space will remain unpaved and more trees undisturbed.
6 – Trees are essential to well-being and AHS applauds their inclusion on all residential lots.
7B – In the face of a housing shortage, Expanded Housing Option development should not have an annual cap. Arlington needs as much diverse and financially-attainable housing as possible. MMH/EHO development provides gentle density that will develop slowly over time. An annual cap could stifle permits and disincentivize the very housing the County is trying to re-introduce into neighborhoods. To not impede the progress of MMH/EHO development, if a cap is imposed, it should be as high as possible and with the soonest of sunset dates.
8A – In accordance with the staff recommendation, a use permit should not be required for nonconforming lots to be converted to condos or co-ops. Arlington needs as few barriers as possible to promote the re-integration of this housing type and to support ownership opportunities whenever possible.
9B – In accordance with the staff recommendation, duplexes should be allowed to have two front doors because the least restrictive regulations promote housing production and renovation.
10B – To incentivize MMH/EHO development throughout the County, Expanded Housing Options should be permitted in all zones to promote equitable access, regardless of location. Areas furthest from Metro and high-transit areas are the least socio-economically integrated and hold the largest lots on which MMH would be most feasible. Transit is a nimble tool Arlington can use to promote mobility from any neighborhood to nearby arterials and public transportation.
11B – In support of maximum parity between MMH/EHO and SFH development with regard to gross floor area (GFA), Option 11B is the least restrictive option by imposing square footage limits only on duplexes and townhomes. It should be noted that SFH development does not have such a GFA limit, but addresses the building envelope through setbacks, lot coverage, and other similar means. Any tighter restrictions than in Option 11B could also discourage interior renovations of existing homes into reconfigured MMH/EHO housing units.
12B – Accessory Dwellings should be permitted on lots with Missing Middle Housing. Arlington already has setbacks and other guardrails in place to regulate lot coverage. To promote additional housing, an accessory dwelling should be allowed where it can be accommodated within existing regulations.
GLUP Amendments – AHS recommends that the County Board adopt the amendments to the GLUP Booklet Amendment and Map – Missing Middle Housing Study.
Tracking and Reporting – AHS is supportive of a robust tracking and reporting program with a focus on educating the community about MMH/EHO program progress and opportunities.
It is time to broaden Arlington’s zoning ordinance so that the County’s own policies are no longer a barrier to its vision of a “diverse and inclusive world-class urban community.”
In your final analysis of the appropriate action to take, the Alliance for Housing Solutions encourages you to remember that the current single-family only residential zoning produces inequitable access to schools, home ownership and the kinds of suburban neighborhoods that are imbedded in the “American Dream.”
The proposed GLUP and zoning ordinance changes for Expanded Housing Options have been well researched, widely debated across the community, and refined to adequately address three of the most important aspects of responsible residential zoning: Housing Supply, Housing Diversity, and Housing Equity.
Now is the time to say, “Yes,” to all three.
Thank you for your consideration,
David Leibson
Chair, Board of Directors Executive Director
Charles A. McCullough, II
Alliance for Housing Solutions Alliance for Housing Solutions