Residents of Fairfax County, Virginia, haven’t been able to get on the waitlist for public housing in the area in 10 years due to high demand for affordable housing, but that’s about to change.
Fairfax County officials announced recently that the county’s housing authority will soon be opening up the Rental Assistance Demonstration Waitlist for the first time since 2007.
Between July 10, 2018 and July 23, 2018, residents of Fairfax County will be able to apply for the Rental Assistance Demonstration Waitlist. According to the county, approximately 2,000 households will be selected from those that apply for inclusion on the waitlist.
According to details provided by the county, the Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority owns and operates 1,060 zero to four bedroom affordable apartments and townhouses in the area.
The properties were built or acquired using federal funding. According to details from the county, tenants in public housing will pay 30% of their income for rent.
The county states that the average income of tenant households is about $21,694 per year.
According to demographic data posted by the county, there are approximately 29,480 households with incomes of less than $25,000.
The county estimates that the 2,000 households added to the waitlist will be a two- to three-year supply of potential participants in the public housing program.
Overall, there are 1.14 million people that live in the Fairfax County area, broken up into 405,837 households. There are 415,690 total housing units in the area.
“With the cost of living and rental prices steadily increasing, many families in and around Fairfax County are unable to find affordable places to live,” said Robert Schwaninger, chairman of the Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority. “We are grateful that after more than 10 years, we are able to reopen the waitlist under this program and help more families have an affordable place to call home.”
