Guy Cardwell
Editor
On March 20, 2023, Alexandria held the first meeting in its plan to overhaul zoning in Alexandria with the aim of combating social, economic, and racial inequality. Titled, “Zoning for Housing,” the event aimed to “explore and understand the extent of past discriminatory housing policies and their continued impact, especially on people of color and/or low-income.
The first day of the event consisted of the Director of Alexandria’s Office of Housing Helen McIlvaine, the City’s Race and Social Equity Officer Jaqueline N. Tucker, the former Virginia Secretary of Education James W. Dyke, Jr., Assistant Director for the Department of Planning and Zoning Nancy J. Williams, and Mary Washington professor of History and American studies Dr. Krystyn Moon.
One of the primary issues facing Alexandria is the prohibitive cost of homes. McIlvaine said, “The average cost of a single-family home is around $940,000 and within our condo stock, the average assessed value is over $400,000.” This has led to many Alexandrians being “housing-cost burdened” meaning larger than 30% of their income is solely going to housing costs. For those renters households, 82% are housing-cost burdened, and for owner households 64% are housing-cost burdened.
The kickoff focused on connecting issues of housing access to a history of racial oppression. Regarding the wealth gap between white and black Americans Dyke Jr. said, “This did not happen overnight. It is the result of a legacy of oppressive, racially motivated, governmental policies at the federal, state, and local level. There are two pillars of building wealth: education and homeownership. Virginia’s record in both, denying black access, is morally reprehensible.”
Zoning laws were a tool for preventing black homeownership, whether that be directly through preventing black Americans from moving to historically white areas, or indirectly through keeping costs high and prohibiting low-income.
Alexandria plans on working to address both the historical racial disparities and the prohibitive housing costs simultaneously by promoting higher density, mixed land use, and negotiating with developers to include dedicated affordable housing units on new construction. Already, through the construction of “accessory dwelling units” (a term for spaces within or attached to homes that can be rented out), Alexandria has made progress towards affordable housing and equity.
Dyker Jr. said, “You are not to blame and point fingers… What we are focused on\, is what we can do to address the vestiges of that discrimination and change it.”
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