Candidates Answer Affordable Housing Questions
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Potomac Local News is informing the community about candidates vying for one of three open seats on the Manassas City Council and the mayor’s seat. You can sign up for Potomac Local News' newsletter here.
To help voters make an informed decision, they are launching a new feature series, “One-Question Manassas City Council Candidate Survey.” This series will run throughout the campaign season, offering insights into each candidate’s stand on key issues affecting our city.
Here are Manassas Republican candidates answers to affordable housing questions:
Xiao-Yin “Tang” Byrom (Candidate for Mayor)
As an immigrant to America, I fell in love with the opportunity to be able to work as much as I wanted to achieve goals like buying a home. I want to bring this dream to all Manassas citizens, whether 1st generation or 10th-generation. We all know housing costs are controlled by old-fashioned supply and demand, but as your Mayor, I will help bring this dream alive. As your next Mayor I will fight, I promise to help you with the following.
1. Make sure zoning allows for the development of small apartments and condos in designated areas. Affordable units can start at 400 square feet, making them affordable for starter homes.
2. Streamline permit processes to not hinder growth with red tape. Right now, a large part of home development costs are not bricks, mortar, wood and nails but overburdensome regulations. We need to make sure the government keeps our residents safe without adding unnecessary expenses to the project which leads to higher cost burden for our citizens.
3. Keep Real estate taxes as low as possible for homeowners. When home values go up, we need to cut tax rates to keep the tax burden to you in line. Home value increase should be a benefit to you, the taxpayer, and not the taxpayer.
Lynn Forkell Greene (Candidate for Council)
As a candidate for Manassas City Council, my priority is ensuring affordability for our community. I’ll tackle rising property values and market-driven costs by eliminating policies that lead to higher taxes and excessive spending. Additionally, I’ll champion public-private partnerships, inclusionary zoning policies, and the development of accessory dwelling units (ADUs).
Stephen Kent (Candidate for Council)
The primary goal of housing development needs to be getting demand for housing back in line with supply. “Affordable housing” has long been a buzzword that brings out some very tribal elements in every community dealing with the issue of housing affordability. When cities build “market rate” housing, what housing experts and urban planners tend to see is a healthy churn of residents currently living in cheaper housing that doesn’t meet their needs. In Manassas, you have a lot of higher-income residents living in single-family starter homes and townhouses who would actually prefer to expand their square footage and upgrade, but there are not many options for them. When you build market-rate housing, those people move up and out, creating that space for residents with lower budgets. Everyone gets the housing they can afford. There are always valid concerns over preserving the historic character of different communities and keeping Manassas’ signature charm, but nothing harms a community more than homelessness and rising costs of living due to a lack of housing development. Everyone in Manassas is better off when the free market is allowed to work, and when builders are building both homes and apartments that meet the diverse needs of a growing city.
Robyn Williams (Candidate for Council)
I attended a Spring Housing Forum on April 11, 2024 hosted by VCU Kornblau Industry Talks. Among the panelist were Alana Gonzalez with the Better Housing Coalition and Monique Johnson with Virginia Housing. Balancing the need for affordable housing while addressing concerns about the community impact and development is a real challenge.
The City of Manassas has focused on housing for over a decade. The city’s initiatives are well laid out in the 2040 Comprehensive Plan passed by the City Council in 2020. The Housing affordability and quality section centers around the City’s Community Development Block Grant program, providing funds to assist low income households, which I agree with. Identifying partners who are willing to acquire tax credit properties about to expire is one meaningful strategy outlined in HOU 4.4.3. Recently, an opportunity to add 12 affordable units was presented to the council utilizing HOU 4.4.3, but it was rejected.
The Housing Balance section of the plan also encourages exploration of innovative solutions such as Accessory Dwelling Units. While ADUs are clearly not a large-scale solution for affordable housing, I recognize the considerable side-benefit of allowing families to stay together while reducing their housing costs and possibly obviating or at least lessening the need for expensive nursing home care for elderly or disabled residents.
I do like the character area design principles used in the plan and feel as though adherence to them will allow Manassas City to grow robustly while providing a good balance of available housing for our residents at all the various stages of their lives.
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