Affordable Housing

A home is “affordable” when you can pay the rent and have money left over to pay for other needs. Housing costs should generally be about one-third of a household’s income. In Fairfax County, 44% of renters pay more than 30% of their income each month on housing. The current average rent for an apartment in the Herndon-Reston area is around $2,450 per month.

Seniors, growing in number faster than the regular population, are especially impacted by the lack of affordable housing as well as important members of our community: teachers, health care workers, police, fire and emergency personnel, etc.  

Affordable housing stabilizes family units, allows people to live where they work, contributes to the local economy, and provides opportunities for individuals and families of all income levels. Fairfax County could not thrive as a community without a housing market able to accommodate the diverse income range of all its workers. Affordable housing is not just an issue for the lower-income and underserved populations -- it is a vital resource which benefits everyone.

We are working with Fairfax County to discover if some of our under-utilized property can be leveraged to help people in the county afford to live in a decent home. These homes would be affordable for households earning incomes up to 60% of the Area’s Median Income (AMI), which is currently $108,300 for an individual, $123,750 for a couple, and $157,400 for a family of four. These homes would not be subsidized housing but something offered to qualified individuals at about 20% less than the current rental market rate.

We have spent over a year discerning new ways to grow and sustain our mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. We wish to better connect and serve our congregation and greater world. We are working to demonstrate God’s love in tangible ways by meeting key needs as identified by community members over the last year: food insecurity, after-school childcare, affordable housing, and meaningful connection with God and one another.  

“Love cannot remain by itself—it has no meaning. Love has to be put into action and that action is service.” – Mother Teresa  

Our plans are still in the conceptual stage and no financial partner or builder has been identified and no rezoning application has been filed. Last fall, a Feasibility Study with a potential design and financial plan was conducted by a graduate student at Georgetown University. After a period of discernment, we made the decision to move forward to engage with the larger community to discuss and hear concerns. At the same time that decision was made, we discovered Fairfax County had a biennial deadline of February 13th to submit paperwork to be considered in amending the comprehensive land-use plan, a prerequisite before any property rezoning can be considered. Not wanting to wait an additional two years to start the initiative, we submitted the paperwork around the same time we reached out to the community board to begin community engagement.

We have reached out to the Franklin Farm Board and begun meeting with residents of the Franklin Farm community to better understand their concerns. We initiated conversation with the Board of Supervisors Sully District representative, Kathy Smith, to see if there are ways the County can help mitigate some of these concerns. This will be an ongoing process and there will be well-publicized community meetings in the following months to ensure everyone’s voice is heard and, if the project moves forward, mitigations put in place by the builder.

At this point, Fairfax County has not yet agreed to accept the proposal into a Work Program to conduct studies for possible inclusion into their Comprehensive Plan. More information can be found on the Fairfax County website but, in summary, the county has just entered what is referred to as the Screening Phase. The SSPA nominations accepted by the Board on March 4th were reviewed by their staff and a community meeting for the Sully District proposals was held on March 24. The comments at the meetings were summarized by staff and provided to the Fairfax County Planning Commission who will hold public meetings on all nominations in May, during which staff and nominators will provide brief presentations, and the public may provide comments. If the county chooses to accept the nomination for consideration into a Work Program, there will be a lengthy period of time in which they will study the area, conduct impact analyses, etc. These studies can take one or more years to complete.  

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