Arlington County program attempts to make home ownership more affordable

Virginia Business
August 2006

Most employees would love to live close to where they work — but it’s pretty tough for those who work in Arlington County, where the median price of a condominium is $400,000 and the median price of a single-family home is $700,000.

Arlington County officials hope to alleviate the problem a bit with its new Workforce Housing Initiative. In joining the program, local employers can give employees access to discounts and rebates offered by initiative partners. These partners now include McLean-based Freddie Mac and several real estate companies, developers, lending institutions and retail outlets.

“What we recognized — and what other employers have also found — is that the lack of affordable housing options can have a major impact on the recruitment and retention of qualified employees,” says Doug Myrick, coordinator of the Arlington County Homeownership Program.

Already, seven employers with a total of 11,000 workers have signed up. They include AHC Inc., Ethiopian Community Development Council Inc., George Mason University, Marymount University, Virginia Hospital Center, Arlington County and Arlington County Schools.

Typical home ownership programs focus on help for lower-income households. The Arlington project, however, enables any employee of a participating organization, regardless of his or her income, to qualify for the program’s opportunities. For example, if employees use a partner real estate broker in buying a home, they’ll get a $1,000 discount on the sales commission.

The county also is working with area developers to offer homes at a discount. Myrick says the program recently offered a two-bedroom condo in North Arlington, valued at $355,000, for $340,000. “In the past year, we’ve sold 70 home ownership opportunities at a discount to qualified employees, and that has included firefighters, teachers, nurses, librarians and university employees,” he says.

The program wants to add two or three new employers each year. Myrick says that for local employers to qualify for participation, they must agree to sponsor a minimum of one Virginia Housing Development Authority course on-site per year for employees.

“Long-term, we want to not only have employers participate, but we want to utilize our partnership to show them that if they put a small focus on affordable housing issues, it could reap them big bottom-line benefits to their company, as well as for their employees,” says Myrick.