Kincora & Housing, Part 4: Home Plate

While the concerns may hold true, they are also generalities. Even broke, doing business with Loudoun is mixed with roadblocks, red tape, and a skewed sense of power, possibly from homegrown traditionalists, a sense of elitism, or too many cooks in the kitchen. Unending challenges for those seeking to build have been met with a new strategy: appeal to everyone, leave nothing to chance, and damn the applicant’s cost.

Many of the benefactors to this new philosophy, whatever the motives, have been non-profits. The Windy Hill Foundation, the only non-profit organization dedicated to building affordable workforce multi-family housing in Loudoun, will build, own and manage the affordable workforce housing component of Kincora. In this way, Windy Hill will confront one of the greatest injustices in the county—those that work here, and serve here, often can’t afford to live here.

In 31 counties similar to Loudoun, an average of 6 percent of teachers, local government staff, and safety workers commuted into a different county for work. In Loudoun, a housing market that was once one of the more expensive in the United States, that number skyrockets to 45 percent.

Windy Hill currently houses 18 percent of all residents calling Middleburg home. Residents claim incomes below 60 percent of the area median income, with most falling below 30 percent. The foundation’s most recent project, the Levis Hill House, is the first certified “green” apartment in the county, the first to receive an Energy Star Award from HUD and DOE, and was given the “Signatures of Loudoun” design award.

No single family homes or townhomes are proposed for the Kincora project, with all 1400 residential units built as apartments or condominiums. Although the County Zoning Ordinance requires only 6.25 percent of the units to be affordable/workforce housing, more than 16 percent will be dedicated as ADU’s (Affordable Dwelling Units) by the developer.

At the recent Loudoun County Planning Commission meeting, the reasons were noted by Windy Hill’s president, Kim Hart, for the foundation’s partnership with Kincora. According to Hart, Kincora is not only compliant with existing revised housing policies of the Comprehensive Plan, but, as a mixed used project, it is  the most effective way to address the shortage of affordable housing in Loudoun.

As of 2009, according to Hart, Loudoun is suffering from a severe shortage of ADU’s—approximately 17,000 are needed Playing catch-up would be near impossible under current conditions, requiring 500-900 units to be built every year through 2030. With only one major program working to build these units—the Affordable Dwelling Unit ordinance—this appears to be an unreachable goal without a significant and implemented game plan going forward.

With Kincora scheduled to build 228 units of affordable workforce housing, all as multi-family units, this development will be equal to the previous 15-year output of the ADU program.

A recent study, prepared by the Urban Land Institute, a non-profit research and education organization focused on the use of land to enhance the environment, the American Institute of Architects, the National Multi Housing Council and the Sierra Club, reports mixed-use as a smart growth strategy. The report notes mixed-use development requires fewer school resources, creates less traffic, and has less impact on the area real estate market. Mixed-use is also less environmentally destructive, according to the report, creating less paved areas and encouraging public transit. Lastly, it reports that mixed-use is desirable and financially responsible.

No new schools are projected to be built as a result of the Kincora project.

According to loudounchamber.org, the Loudoun County Chamber “believes the lack of housing options for all ranges of household income is an impediment to sustaining a sound economy.” The site notes that, on a local level, the Chamber supports the use of creative solutions that will make available affordable housing alternatives for Loudoun’s workforce, particularly to those in the healthcare, public safety, government and service industries.

The Brookings Institution reports that the average annual cost to service a new family of four (police, fire, highway, schools and sewer) in a compact environment like Kincora is $88.27. That same family, in a sprawling environment, costs $1,222.39.

Efforts to support and build future workforce housing is not only the right thing to do, it is critical to the health and well being of our local economy and environment. There are few options for twenty-somethings in Loudoun’s expensive real estate market, and it is unclear what our children will face in the future.