Condos for Humanity

Other housing groups are also getting into the condo market.

"Madison Ridge is the second condo project for Habitat for Humanity of Northern Virginia; its first, Westbrook Forest, is a 12-unit building next door that was completed in 2007. There's a third planned for southern Arlington County.

'If we had our choice, we would be building single-family [houses] on infill lots,' said Karen Cleveland, executive director of the Northern Virginia group. It's simpler, she said. Condos are more difficult to construct and manage, but the group can't afford single-family houses, she said.

Habitat chapters in other high-cost areas including San Francisco, Boston and San Diego have also built condos."