To the Fairfax County Community,
Access to housing is a human right, but it's also an opportunity. We all do better when we all have access to housing. Housing is important for one's personal finances, the success of the economy at large, and it is also better for businesses and transportation. During the pandemic access to housing also became a public health issue. We were told we were safer at home, which meant people needed and continue to need access to affordable housing.
In Fairfax County we believe people deserve a safe and affordable place to live. Before the pandemic, we were well positioned to prioritize our housing needs by setting aside a penny in our tax rate. Because of the impact of COVID-19, we were not able to do that in the FY21 budget.
We remained optimistic. The pandemic forced us to think more creatively about housing and making systemic changes to make it easier to increase our affordable housing stock in the years to come. Thanks to the great work of our housing team we currently have over 1,700 units of affordable rental housing in the pipeline.
Those changes and our other successes in affordable housing are detailed in the videos and text below.