A Penny Goes A Long Way

A panel of planning and housing officials has proposed a new funding stream worth $17.5 million to help preserve 1,000 existing affordable housing units in Fairfax County, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C. The money would come from an existing real estate tax and would be equivalent to one cent of the $1.13 per $100 of assessed value tax. As the Washington region continues to suffer from an affordable housing crisis, Fairfax County's plan is an example of efforts to keep workers living close to their jobs. "The more we force people who work for this county and who serve us to move further and further out . . . the more we are going to be all living in the type of congestion that we all say we need to avoid," said County Board Chairman Gerald E. Connolly. Local housing advocates applaud the plan but point out that the funding only preserves existing affordable unit and does not produce new units.