Housing Is Issue In County Board Race
Greens’ Reeder Challenges Favola

By Michael Laris
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 30, 2008; VA01

Barbara A. Favola and John G. Reeder agree on the problem: It’s tough to find an affordable apartment in Arlington County. Since 2000, thousands of residences have dropped from the affordable category, they say, squeezing out many lower- and middle-income families.

Reeder, a retired foreign trade economist, has built his bid for a spot on Arlington’s County Board around this theme. “The number of affordable rental units in Arlington fell by about 13,000 between 2000 and 2008,” Reeder wrote on his campaign blog.

Government efforts to try to keep rents within reach for some — by setting aside below-market units — have fallen short of county goals, Reeder, a Green Party member, said in an interview.

“He’s right, and I concede that,” said Favola, a Democrat who joined the board in 1998. “It is a struggle to create the number of affordable units that this community really wants, because we value our diversity so much. We’d like a much more even mix of affordable housing than we have.”

In 2000, about half of Arlington rentals were affordable, as measured by federal standards, Favola said. “In 2008, it’s slightly less than 25 percent,” she said.

But although Reeder and Favola share a view of the challenge, they part ways on the solution. Reeder said he wants voters to approve a referendum proposal on the Nov. 4 ballot to create a housing authority. Favola said such a body isn’t the right fix.

The authority would be an independent government entity with a board appointed by the County Board. Today, the county’s affordable housing initiatives are run through Arlington’s Housing Division, which works with nonprofit and for-profit developers and others, Arlington officials said. Funding comes from county taxes, state and federal grants, and developers.

“There’s no guarantee that a housing authority would do any better because they are under the same constraints we are: They are facing high land costs. They’ll have to come up with the money to buy the land,” Favola said.

Moreover, the authority would not be able to offer the kinds of incentives the county does, such as allowing additional apartments when a developer commits to renting some units below the market rate, she said: “They won’t have as many tools as the county currently has.”

But Reeder, citing the example of Fairfax County, which has a housing authority, said such an entity would bring much-needed focus and efficiency to the task.

“They do larger projects. They raise more money,” Reeder said.

Favola said Arlington has created more units per capita.

An Arlington authority could also operate and manage rental units itself, something county officials cannot do. “They can’t own and operate housing for public employees, like teachers and police,” Reeder said.

A key part of Reeder’s critique comes down to cost. He argued that officials move too slowly in acquiring properties and overpay for the units they decide to get, citing Buckingham Village as an example. Reeder said the county lost a chance to save more than 450 affordable apartments, which he said would have been possible if the county had declared Buckingham Village a historic property or threatened to use eminent domain to take it over.

Instead, the county has agreed to spend more than $50 million on the project, Reeder said. That’s more than the property was appraised for in recent years, he said, and it saves only some of the units. In all, the project will build or preserve 300 affordable units.

“If the county had had a housing authority, for less money, they could have bought the whole complex,” Reeder said.

But Favola said her opponent does not understand how such transactions work.

“We negotiated as good a deal as we could negotiate,” she said. “The issue is the value of land in Arlington is high. You either have to pay it or it goes out on the market. This is an amazing thing; we’re in a free market here.”

“We’re the most sophisticated buyer you’re going to find in the county,” she added. But that “doesn’t mean we’re going to get the land at . . . a significant discount.”

Reeder has sought to hit Favola where it hurts in liberal-leaning Arlington, from the left. He said the county doesn’t do enough to promote recycling and is doing too much to promote “smart growth.” He dismissed the idea of advocating building around Metro stops as “stupid growth,” saying environmental consequences to such construction include diminished green space and increased runoff.

“The Green Party, a lot of us really appreciate having open green space,” he said. “The County Board is basically wedded to this idea that we have to have more and more density.”

More broadly, he said, the five Democrats on the County Board need some ideological diversity.

“Essentially, you have people voting the same way who listen to each other. It’s one-party rule,” Reeder said.

Favola said she and her colleagues disagree, but not on many fundamentals.

“New blood is only good if you really want the direction this person is talking about. To me, his ideas are not thoroughly thought out,” Favola said.

If reelected, she said, she will continue to work to improve the quality of life in Arlington.

“My first priority is to continue to make Arlington a pedestrian-friendly community,” she said. That means more crosswalks, more time to cross and more sidewalks, she said.

She is also pushing for “single-stream” recycling, which allows plastic, paper and other recyclables to get pitched into the same bin. And she has worked for years to increase services for seniors, she said.

“I think I’ve delivered on good, progressive government. I have been a compassionate leader,” Favola said. “I have focused on the things that are important to our heart and soul.”

Letter to Editor, the Washington Post Oct. 29, 2008

Out of Touch in Arlington
The Post’s endorsement of Barbara Favola for County Board (see below) and its rejection of the housing authority referendum demonstrate the degree to which it is out of touch with Arlington County realities.

Which of the Board’s vanity projects for developers are examples of Favola “pursuing worthy initiatives while keeping costs low”? Is it her support for the $160 million Columbia Pike trolley which will cost 3-4 times as much as rapid bus transit without moving more people more quickly? Is it her advocacy for the $150 million-plus North Tract aquatics center, situated on land which needs environmental remediation, a project that the Post dubbed a “yuppie sports complex”?

Unfortunately, the Post chooses to parrot mistruths on the housing authority without mentioning any of its attributes such as the County’s ability to own and operate affordable housing in perpetuity and set aside units for employees who are currently priced out of Arlington. How is this an example of a “flawed proposal” or “wasteful government bureaucracy”? How can the Post opine that Arlington does “an adequate job of securing affordable housing” when its stock of market-rate affordable units has decreased by approximately 2/3 since 2000 and the County fails yearly to build its stated goal of 400 committed affordable housing units?

If the Post can’t get right basic facts about Arlington, then it should not give voters such a skewed and biased opinion.

Josh Ruebner
2006-2007 Green Party Candidate for Arlington County Board

Washington Post Editorial: Oct. 29, 2008
Arlington County County Board: Arlington is weathering the current fiscal crunch better than most Washington area jurisdictions, in part because the county is buttressed by a high number of recession-proof government jobs. But its five-member County Board also deserves credit for guiding it through financial dangers and pursuing worthy initiatives while keeping costs low.

A mainstay of the all-Democratic board, Barbara A. Favola, is up for reelection and clearly deserves another term. Ms. Favola, a leading voice for affordable housing, has sought to reduce the county’s carbon footprint and increase school funding. Her membership on key regional committees, including the Virginia State Health Board, gives her an unusually prominent pulpit from which to advocate for the county. Her well-earned reputation as the County Board’s most business-friendly member — she was the only one to oppose a tax increase on commercial real estate, for example — provides the body with a welcome perspective.

Ms. Favola’s opponent, Green Party candidate John G. Reeder, is a retired economist with an admirable record of community service. But the centerpiece of his campaign is his support for a flawed proposal to create affordable housing by establishing a housing authority. Ms. Favola would do a superior job of securing such housing without the needless bureaucracy. There is no Republican candidate in the race.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/28/AR2008102802971.html

Arlington Sun Gazette:
Housing Advocates Make Last Push for Referendum Support
by SCOTT McCAFFREY, Staff Writer
(Created: Sunday, October 19, 2008 9:37 AM EDT)

A group supporting the proposal to create a county-run public-housing authority rallied outside the county government headquarters on Oct. 18. (Photo by Scott McCaffrey)

With the odds stacked against them and time ticking away, advocates for a county housing authority on Oct. 18 made what could be their last big pitch to voters.

“I don’t feel like I’m wanted here in Arlington County,” said Pricilla Haskins, a retired nurse who is living on a monthly Social Security payment of less than $1,000.

“When will you help the poor here in Arlington County with housing?” Haskins asked County Board members. “It’s another form of discrimination.”

Haskins was one of about 20 local residents who showed up at the County Board meeting to voice support for the housing authority, which is on the ballot on Nov. 4. A dozen supporters braved an early-autumn chill to stage a rally on Courthouse Plaza prior to the board meeting.

Those dozen or so will need to swell to 50,000 by Election Day, if the referendum stands a chance of passage.

The proposal has some formidable opposition: both the Arlington County Democratic Committee and Arlington County Republican Committee have come out against the referendum. Only the county’s fledgling Green Party is backing the proposal to create a public-housing authority.

“We witness daily the loss - a cycle of destruction and gentrification,” said Don Rouse, who supports creating a housing authority. “Yet nothing is done to address it.”

Parts of Arlington are becoming “Disneyland East” while hard-working residents are being forced out, Rouse said.

“We need to do better than this,” he said.

County Board Vice Chairman Barbara Favola, who is seeking re-election in November, took time during the board meeting to urge residents to reject the referendum.

“Arlington has done a very good job leveraging [housing] dollars,” Favola said. “I don’t think a public-housing authority is going to do any better.”

But Favola’s comments seemed to unnerve County Board Chairman Walter Tejada, who previously was able to hold board members to strict neutrality on the issue while they are up on the dais.

“The board has not taken an official position on this matter,” Tejada hastened to add - twice - after Favola concluded. “The people will decide.”

County staff used the public forum to defend their own actions, saying a question-and-answer sheet on the referendum, authored by County Manager Ron Carlee, was non-partisan and meets the requirements of state law in not taking sides.

“What has been prepared is within the bounds of what we can do,” County Attorney Stephen MacIsaac said of the information sheet. “It doesn’t cross the line - I don’t have any concerns about it.”

County Board members earlier had directed Carlee to write such a synopsis.

Josh Ruebner, a two-time Green Party County Board candidate and backer of the referendum, said he felt Carlee’s action violated both the letter and the spirit of state law.

Ruebner said the Q&A sheet contradicted itself in places, was too long and at times read like the Democratic Committee’s resolution opposing the referendum.

“Why is the county manager putting out this propaganda?” Ruebner asked. “Put some impartial information before the voters.”

Voters in the late 1950s and early 1980s turned down similar referendums that sought to activate a public-housing authority.

http://www.sungazette.net/articles/2008/10/20/arlington/news/nw886.txt

Arlington’s current housing program is wasteful, expensive and inefficient

Democratic County Board members praise “Arlington’s innovative private-public partnership” in which the county supplies funds to private organizations, some of which are “non-profit” and some of which are for-profit.  In fact, an examination of this “innovative partnership” finds  that the private organizations and developers receive most of the benefits while the public pays the tab and renters receive very little for the large sums of money spent.

The Arlington Department of Community Planning, Housing and Development employed 90 employees at a cost of $8.4 million in salaries in fy2009.  The county staff may produce 400 CAF (committed affordable units) in that year at a cost of $21,000 in staff salary per unit.

In addition, the county sends millions of federal dollars and local dollars directly to the housing providers, the largest of which is AHC, Inc.  In FY2005, AHC received $1.6 million  in direct public support (most of this through Arlington County Government). 

AHC paid its president a salary of $202,143 in fy2005, another director $153,000; and its senior employee $190,000, according to public data from the U.S. IRS.  In essence, AHC acts as Arlington’s housing authority and its top executive is paid over  $200,000.  AHC’s gross income was $8.4 million; and in addition made a profit of over $1 million in 2005, all of which it retained.  How does a “nonprofit” make a million dollar profit?

The Fairfax County Housing Authority is run by a largely volunteer citizen board of directors who are paid no more  than $300 in compensation annually as set out in Virginia law.  The president (or chairman) of the Fairfax Housing Authority thus earned $300 a year for  running Fairfax’s housing operations.  The Fairfax Housing Authority grossed an income of about $20 million in 2007.

Is Arlington merely subsidizing the life style of “nonprofit” employees who make $200,000 incomes while Fairfax relies upon voluntary citizens paid $300 a year to operate a program three times larger than AHC?

Arlington spends far more than necessary on affordable apartments.  The two most recent large projects of preserving affordable apartment units occurred in Buckingham and in the Arlington Mill project on Columbia Pike.  At Buckingham, the county will spend a projected  $51 million to keep 140 units or a cost of $364,000 per apartment (many of which are one-bedroom  units).  At the Arlington Mill project, the county will spend $26 million to create 61 new units at a cost of $426,000 each.

Two years ago, the county board could have designated  the three Buckingham Villages as historic property (as is all of the rest of the entire 1,700 Buckingham apartments), and could have purchased roughly 460 units for its assessed tax value of about $44 million. 

The county would have owned the land–over 20 acres–outright–including the open space and trees.  These 560 apartments would have cost less than $100,000 each.  More importnatly, the land would have been public land keep as a land trust for open space or if needed, for future schools or recreational areas.

How can the county spend $400,000 for an apartment and succeed in keeping these as affordable without enormus rent subsidies?  Moreover, there are entire apartment complexes that could be bought at prices far less than these.

At these inflated capital costs, it is no wonder  why Arlington has been unable to stem the loss of 1,700 affordable market  rate units each year and has been unable to meet even the rather modest goal of adding 400 new CAF units annually.

The Arlington public-private partnership for affordable housing  is yet another example of lemon socialism–profits for private companies, and large government outlays for little if any housing units.

High salaries and profits for developers and the bill for taxpayers with Arlington tenants getting very little  if anything of value.

Favola record on “aggressive affordable housing policies” shows a dismal result

Despite the County Board’s goals set in the 1990s—no net loss of existing affordable units and the addition of 400 new committed affordable units (CAFs) each year—the number of affordable rental units in Arlington fell by about 13,000 between 2000 and 2008, from 20,000 in 2000 to 10,000 in 2004, and to fewer than 7,000 in 2007 and 2008, a 1,600 loss annually. Ms. Favola became a Board member in 1997.

In 2006-07, the County Board refused to save all 560 apartments in Buckingham Villages 1-3 along with its trees and greenspace.  The Buckingham Apartments were in great condition and housed over 1,500 people. 

About two-thirds of the 560 apartments were or will shortly be razed, and luxury townhouses and condominiums built in their place.  However, many of the luxury townhouses are still unsold and empty and the developer (as of September 2008) has halted construction of the luxury townhouses:

During the past four years, the county reached only 74 percent of its goal of adding  400 CAF units annually. During fy 2004 to 2007, the county added an average 298 CAFs annually (139 CAFs in 2004, 284 in 2005, 295 in 2006, and 472 CAFs in 2007).  Moreover in2007, 185 existing CAFs were re-counted as CAFs, so the net increase in the actual supply of CAFs was 287. Then about 240 of these 287 units were existing Buckingham Apartments already modest cost market rentals.

Using their own goal of 400 CAFs,  a teacher would give a “grade of 74%” to  Ms. Favola and her Democratic Board colleagues, probably a “C-” or a  D.    But when one considers the loss of 1,600 market rate apartments annually during the past  8 years that clearly did not meet the Board’s own goal, the grade must be further lowered to an “F.”

At the September 2  debate before the Arlington Civic Federation, Ms. Favola claimed that, “Arlington has created more affordable units per 1,000 people than any other jurisdiction (in the Washington area).” (Source: David Schultz, “Reeder Criticizes Favola’s Priorities,” Arlington Connection, Sept. 9, 2008).  This assertion is unsupported by data.

Neighoring jurisdictions have done as much or more than Arlington. The District of Columbia built or rehabilitated 2,000 affordable units in fy2008, according to the DC Department of Housing and Community Development director Victor Selman (testimony before the DC City Council, April 20, 2007).  With a population of 582,000, this amounts to 343 units per 100,000.  Arlington financed 472 units in fy2007 with a population of 208,000 or a ratio of 230 units per 100,000.

During the 4 years of 2004-07, Arlington averged 298 units annually, a ratio of 146 units per 100,000 population.  Fairfax County Public Housing authority in fy 2007 financed 1,412 units or about 141 units per 100,000 population (Source: Fairfax County Housing Authority, “Fund 319 The Penny for Affordable Housing Fund,” FY2009 Advertised Budget Plan (Vol. 2)-685.).  Thus, Arlington and Fairfax are currently about even in effort per 100,000 population even though Arlington has a much greater need for multi-family housing (two-thirds of Arlingtonians live in apartments).

From 2004 to 2007, the number of homeless people in Arlington (counted each January) rose 13 percent from 408 to 462; 42 percent of the homeless in January 2007 were living out in the open in Arlington (“unsheltered” according to government terminology). In December 2007, the Arlington County government cut all funding for ASPAN, the Arlington nonprofit organization then operating the county’s winter homeless shelter. This action was taken after its director complained about the dilapidated, unsafe and overcrowded conditions of this county-owned building slated to be demolished. Favola promised in February 2008 that the county would replace the aging structure for the homeless, “down the line” (Sun Gazette, Feb. 5, 2008). But no new shelter has been built.

The affordable housing crisis is particularly acute for mentally ill and disabled Arlingtonians. There are only 42 affordable apartments county-wide that are dedicated for this population, and several hundred people are languishing on a waiting list. In 2006, County Board members, including Ms. Favola, failed to restore $6 million in funds that were slated to establish group homes for 400 mentally and physically impaired individuals.

Is this best we can do in Arlington? I believe we can do better. And I support the housing authority referendum in November because it will enable the county to establish a permanent affordable housing stock (rather than sinking millions of dollars into units that are “affordable” only on a temporary basis). A housing authority, overseen by citizen volunteers, would to improve transparency and encourage a more efficient use of limited housing dollars.

The Arlington Connection quoted me on my statement about the Democratic opposition to the referendum.

“The opposition of the [Democrats] to the Housing Authority reveals clearly which political party cares about increasing affordable housing,” Green Party activist John Reeder said in a statement.

Read the full article.