Real Estate


and that’s all great news, but the bad news is our lower-wage workers are not finding housing there as easily anymore,” says Nina Janopaul. She’s the CEO of the nonprofit Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing, which helps provide apartments to low-income families in Northern Virginia.


Disappearing housing stock In recent local studies, Arlington


Nina Janopaul, CEO of the Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing, says the migration of more people to downtown areas has reduced the amount of affordable housing options for low-income residents.


in the same developments. Other options may include governments relaxing off-street parking require- ments in recognition that millen- nials are less likely to own as many cars as previous generations. Addi- tionally, developers may consider “communal” housing designs aimed at millennial roommates. These arrangements would offer indi- vidual bedrooms and bathrooms but shared common areas.


Seniors aren’t selling Another problem contributing


to the lack of available workforce- priced housing is that some senior citizens aren’t selling their homes, says Richmond Association of Real- tors CEO Laura Lafayette. That’s because what could be a next option for them isn’t affordable. According to a recent study


commissioned by Lafayette’s associ- ation, about 70 percent of seniors in the Richmond area owning homes valued at less than $200,000 aren’t moving because the age-restricted


56 FEBRUARY 2018


housing communities in the area start at more than $300,000. That’s keeping an estimated 9,000 starter homes off the local market. When these homes do go on sale, Lafayette says, they’re often under contract within a day because demand is so high.


Without available affordable


rental or sale options, “millennials will pick up and move” to another market, she adds, creating a problem for corporations that want to retain talent. Millennials “are much more courageous than their parents in that regard. They will go where they want to live, and then they’ll figure out the job.”


One unexpected side effect of


the downtown migration is that, with millennials and baby boomers vacuuming up available affordable housing, people who make less than the area median income are left with even fewer options in cities. With millennials and baby


boomers moving back in, “our cities have gotten safer and more vibrant,


County and Alexandria determined that more than 85 percent of their areas’ naturally occurring afford- able housing stock has disappeared during the past 15 years. Investors have bought up older and distressed properties and remodeled them to appeal to millennials with amenities such as fitness centers and granite countertops, Janopaul says. “New developments are always


going to be geared toward the high- est payers, and the folks that are often the most desirable demograph- ics. And millennials usually tick that box because they can pay higher rents and want to live downtown,” says Washington, D.C.-based developer Jeff Wainwright of West End Capital Group, which has rede- veloped aging apartment complexes in Richmond and Hampton Roads. However, with rents rising, “people are getting priced out of downtown. Not everybody can afford it,” he says. Affordable housing advocates


are relieved that the country’s recently passed tax reform bill retained tax credits for low income housing. However, there is concern that the the reduced corporate tax rate, from 35 to 21 percent, could decrease the value of the housing credit for investors. With a recent study showing


that seven affordable housing units are needed for every unit built, it’s an issue that’s not going away, notes Rob- ert Sheppard, managing director of CBRE’s Affordable Housing Group. “Cities are proactively and aggres-


sively trying to come up with solu- tions to this problem,” he says.


Photo by Stephen Gosling


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