Comments At Arlington County Board Meeting, June 13, 2026.
At the May 16, 2026 Arlington County Board meeting, Jay Hamilton, an opponent of Missing Middle a/k/a EHO housing, urged the Board to read its latest report, “The Reality of EHO in Arlington County”. He also urged Board Members to participate in a tour organized by Neighbors for Neighborhoods “so you can see how EHO is actually fitting into the neighborhoods.”
Evidently irked by Mr. Hamilton’s remarks, Takis Karantonis rebuked him, saying:
“Market rate affordable housing. 80% of that stock was lost and there was nobody here from Neighbors for Neighborhoods, etc. to actually point that out. . . They weren’t here in 2005. They were not here in 2015 when the Affordable Housing Master Plan (AHMP) was approved.”
Takis stands to be corrected. First, I myself spoke out against the AHMP before this Board in 2015, arguing that “[n]o elected official in his/her right mind would increase real estate taxes to build CAFs.” My 2015 prediction was actually wrong, since the latest CIP proposes to pay for more affordable housing through bonds whose “debt service would have to be funded – most likely through a tax rate increase (CIP, Manager’s Message, Housing Policy Proposal – Capital Investments In Housing, 3. Exploring Funding Options).”
Also wrong is the assumption that subsidized housing is more affordable than market rate, according to a newly released Propublica report entitled “A Low-Income Housing Program Is Pouring Billions Into Housing Many People Can’t Afford.” Finally it’s wrong for Takis to assume that EHO will produce more affordable housing. According to the Neighbors for Neighborhoods report “EHO is not affordable to moderate-income households, but only to very high-income households (p. 31).”