Alexandria releases Housing 2040 blueprint with 10 goals, calling for zoning reforms, stronger tenant protections, and new tools to stem displacement
Recommendations address loss of 11,000 affordable units since 2000, but many strategies hinge on state approval and future funding
Alexandria officials have released the long-awaited draft recommendations for the Housing 2040 Plan, a document that lays out an ambitious agenda to address the city’s affordable housing crisis through a combination of zoning reform, stronger tenant protections, state legislative advocacy, and new public-private financing tools.
The draft, published Thursday by the Office of Housing, spans 10 goals and covers everything from green building standards to wealth-building programs for renters. Residents have until March 22 to submit feedback online, with an in-person open house scheduled for Feb. 28 at Nannie J. Lee Memorial Recreation Center.
Zoning and development
On the supply side, the plan calls for maximizing housing near Metro stations and high-frequency bus routes, supporting office-to-residential conversions, and exploring inclusionary zoning — a tool that would require developers to set aside affordable units as a condition of approval. The city would need state legislative authority to mandate such requirements, and the draft directs staff to complete a feasibility study and pursue that authority.
The plan also proposes maintaining a consolidated checklist of affordability requirements and contribution guidelines for developers at project inception — an acknowledgment that the current process can be opaque — and calls for updating Zoning Ordinance Section 7-700 to accommodate senior housing typologies and enable deeper affordability levels.
Alternative housing types get explicit attention: accessory dwelling units, microunits, co-living, and dorm-style housing are all listed as typologies the city wants to encourage, along with a broader review of mixed-use zoning districts to ensure multi-unit residential development is supported citywide.
Preservation
The preservation section of the draft is among its most detailed, establishing a formal set of Strategic Preservation Priorities to guide where the city directs its limited financial resources. Properties with units affordable at 30%, 40%, and 50% of area median income — the deepest affordability levels — top the priority list, as do buildings with documented health and safety issues and properties that make up a significant share of a neighborhood’s rental stock.
The plan sets a goal of maintaining the city’s affordable housing stock on a one-for-one basis during redevelopment — meaning that for every affordable unit demolished, one should be replaced. It acknowledges that achieving that ratio will depend on site-specific factors but directs staff to use bonus density and height incentives to make replacement feasible.
To slow the loss of naturally occurring affordable housing, the draft proposes exploring a preservation fund drawing capital from nonprofits, financial institutions, and philanthropic partners, and advocates for state authority to give the city a right of first refusal on affordable properties it doesn’t currently own.
Tenant protections and state advocacy
The plan takes an assertive posture toward Richmond. Under Goal 3, the city commits to advocating for a series of state legislative reforms, including “good cause” protections that would limit a landlord’s ability to decline to renew a lease, expanded notice periods, pre-court eviction diversion, caps on fees such as application and pet charges, and limits on the use of eviction records and criminal history in housing decisions.
Locally, the draft calls for building out a formal eviction diversion pilot program, expanding legal representation for public housing and voucher residents facing eviction, and creating a displacement risk index to identify neighborhoods under the most acute pressure.
Seniors, condominiums, and housing quality
Two issues that received significant attention at the City Council work session in January — aging condominiums and housing for seniors — each get their own goal in the draft.
For condominiums, which make up roughly 48% of Alexandria’s ownership housing stock and average 45 years old, the plan proposes advocating for state mandates requiring developers to hand over as-built plans and maintenance manuals at turnover, requiring regular structural inspections, and exploring Commonwealth-backed loans to help associations undertake major capital repairs.
For seniors and people with disabilities, the draft calls for a study of mixed-income assisted living models, expanded use of accessory dwelling units to support aging in place, and a formal review of the Rent Relief Program for Older and Disabled Adults to assess whether current funding levels are adequate.
On housing quality broadly, the plan envisions a data-driven monitoring system that would publicly report property-level data on code violations, eviction filings, and tenant complaints — a transparency measure aimed at increasing landlord accountability.
Wealth building and sustainability
The final two goals break new ground for a city housing plan. Goal 9 explicitly frames housing as a vehicle for economic mobility, calling for partnerships to offer financial counseling, rent reporting to credit agencies to help renters build credit scores, and exploration of pathways from rental assistance to homeownership, including rent-to-own models.
Goal 10 addresses climate resilience, directing the city to use energy benchmarking to identify underperforming buildings, support green retrofits through financing tools like C-PACE, and promote high-performance construction standards — including Passive House design — in new affordable housing development.
What comes next
The online comment form opens the week of Feb. 23. The Feb. 28 open house at 1108 Jefferson St. runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and will include breakout sessions on homeowner resources, senior housing, landlord-tenant rights, and affordable housing preservation. Interpretation will be provided in Spanish, Amharic, Arabic, Dari, and Pashto.
Registration is encouraged to help organizers better plan for the event. Register using this link.
A final draft is expected to go before the City Council in June. The full draft recommendations are available at alexandriava.gov/HousingPlan.
