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Great New Books on Organizing:

“A household in Fairfax County must earn approximately $48,000 per year to afford the fair market rent of a two-bedroom apartment at $1,187 per month.” — Northern Virginia Affordable Housing Alliance, March 2005

Rising Hope United Methodist Church exists “to reach out to the least, the lost, the lonely, and the left out with the love of Christ” along the Route 1 corridor of Fairfax County, a place where homelessness and poverty stand out starkly in one of the wealthiest counties in the U.S.

The Tenants’ and Workers’ Support Committee/Comité de Apoyo de Inquilinos y Trabajodores (TWSC/ CAIT) is “a democratically-controlled, grassroots organization committed to winning social and economic justice and power for the people of Northern Virginia – Latinos/as, African-Americans, tenants, immigrants, workers, women, youth and low-income people.” TWSC/CAIT has fought successfully for affordable housing, health care, a living wage and more for the people who do the hard work of Northern Virginia.

Both groups are outside the prosperous suburban mainstream of the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. But as Fairfax County approached a critical decision recently, these two groups were leaders — and were also partners with civic associations and congregations representing the prosperous mainstream of Fairfax County.

In 1988, Fairfax County took one step towards meeting the housing needs of its lower-income residents, by establishing a Housing Trust Fund. However, like many such funds around the nation, the Fairfax County Fund did not have its own guaranteed source of funds. Every year, the Board of Supervisors had to debate how much to put into the fund. While the Fund has helped to produce more than 1,000 units of affordable housing, its own funding was in question from year to year, and averaged about $1 million each year.

On April 25, 2005, the Board of Supervisors established a permanent source of revenue for the fund — one cent out of each dollar paid for the real estate transfer tax. This is expected to provide more than $18 million per year for affordable housing.

Fairfax County went through a two year process of coming to this decision, and the Board of Supervisors and the Department of Housing and Community Development played an active role in the process, including sponsoring several forums on housing needs and solutions. In addition, Fairfax County sponsored and staffed a 35 member Affordable Housing Preservation Action Committee to develop recommendations for housing programs. That Committee included representatives of a wide spectrum of groups, from Habitat for Humanity and Reston Interfaith to McGuire Woods LLP and Freddie Mac, as well as the locally powerful Fairfax County Federation of Citizens Associations.

In August 2004, non-profit organizations, affordable housing developers, human service providers, faith communities, financial institutions and others formed the Northern Virginia Affordable Housing Alliance. The Alliance pressed Fairfax County to move forward on the issue, and also held meetings with congregations and community groups to train them on how to advocate with county officials.

The Affordable Housing Preservation Action Committee reported to the Board in January 2005, and its top recommendation was the “one cent for housing” from the real estate transfer tax.

But recommendations, particularly those that come from government-sponsored committees, don’t always become reality. At the suggestion of the Washington Regional Network for Livable Communities, TWSC/CAIT got involved in 2004.

The voices and faces of people who would personally benefit from housing programs, speaking for themselves and their communities, made a critical difference. Members of TWSC/CAIT’s Route 1 Chapter and members of the Rising Hope Congregation spoke at hearings, and met with Supervisors one on one. The 20 years of experience in grassroots leadership that had led to the TWSC/CAIT and the seven years of worship and commitment at Rising Hope enabled working people — the people who are usually ignored as they do the chores of Northern Virginia — to make themselves heard. They made clear the “one cent for housing” was not just an idea or a program, but a means to make a difference in the lives of real people.

On July 29, Fairfax County held the Penny for Housing Kick Off, and got down to serious discussion of how to best use the $18 million available this year. The event, though, was also a celebration — a celebration of a process in which the highest officials and the wealthiest neighborhoods of Fairfax County were joined by the working people and tenants who struggle to survive there, and through which all of them together came to a decision that will make Fairfax a little more fair.

Thanks to the Housing Trust Fund Project of the Center for Community Change for key information in this article.

For additional information, please contact the following organizations: