NHC member AHC Inc. broke ground on its first affordable housing development in Alexandria, Va., in February. The 78-unit apartment complex, Jackson Crossing, will feature two- and three-bedroom units and cater to low- to moderate-income families. The project is co-sponsored by Virginia Housing Development Authority and NHC members Hudson Housing Capital, Low Income Investment Fund and NeighborWorks America®.
The development was approved by the Alexandria City Council in January 2013 after AHC bought a parcel of land from the city to add to its six privately own parcels, where the new development will sit. Alexandria also provided ACH with a multi-million dollar loan to make the project happen.
“We are thrilled to break ground on our first affordable housing community in Alexandria,” AHC president Walter D. Webdale said in a press release. “Building on nearly 40 years in our home base of Arlington, we hope to develop more projects with our Alexandria neighbors to address the ongoing challenge of affordable housing in Northern Virginia.”
In addition to amenities like underground parking, a rooftop patio and community space, Jackson Crossing will feature educational programming for residents, made possible by AHC’s coordination with a local Alexandria service provider. Conveniently, Jackson Crossing is also located on Alexandria’s bus line, with additional transit service being planned for the corridor.
The efforts of AHC Inc. to provide affordable housing in Northern Virginia meet a significant need in that community. Even with overall economic improvement, the housing cost burden continues to be a challenge that many families are struggling to overcome. In February we published Housing Landscape 2014, which revealed that, of the 940,227 working households in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria metropolitan area, nearly 200,000, or 19.9 percent, experience severe housing cost burdens. Nationally, 22.1 percent of the 45,177,413 U.S. working households experience severe housing cost burden. While national housing cost burden fell from 22.8 in 2009 to 22.1 in 2012, the report shows that housing development efforts like those of AHC Inc.’s are vital to ensuring that affordable housing is available to all.