Council candidates back Zoning for Housing, call for Phase 2

Four of five Democrats respond to YIMBYs of NOVA questionnaire ahead of Saturday primary

Feb 17, 2026

Four of the five Democrats competing in Saturday’s City Council firehouse primary say they support expanding housing supply and moving forward with Phase 2 of the city’s Zoning for Housing initiative, according to questionnaire responses submitted to YIMBYs of Northern Virginia.

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Update - Feb. 19: YIMBY’s of NOVA provided the following update on its website, “Mr. Gomez & Mr. Sumpter provided responses during a 2/18 candidate event with the Alexandria Federation of Civic Associations, which appeared to contradict responses provided in our questionnaire. For full context we encourage you to watch the recording of that event once it is online: https://alexafca.org/”.

Tim Laderach, Roberto Gomez, Charles Sumpter, and Sandy Marks responded to the questionnaire. Cesar Madison Tapia did not respond by the deadline. YIMBYs of NOVA said it would add his responses if received before election day.

The four who responded broadly agreed that Alexandria’s affordability crisis stems from decades of restrictive zoning that limited housing construction. All four acknowledged the discriminatory origins of historic zoning policies and supported reforms to allow more housing types across the city.

YIMBYs of NOVA is a nonpartisan advocacy group focused on increasing housing supply in the region. The organization said it is gathering member feedback through Wednesday and hopes to release a ranking of candidates before the primary.

Causes of the crisis

All four candidates pointed to supply constraints as a primary driver of high housing costs.

“Over time, we haven’t built enough housing to keep up with demand in a region that continues to grow,” Marks wrote. “Much of our zoning policy was written for a different era and limited the range and scale of homes we allowed.”

Laderach cited “The Color of Law” and noted that zoning tools “were used to shape the socioeconomic outlook of towns, cities, and neighborhoods.”

Gomez said the city’s zoning code “makes it illegal to build the kinds of homes that used to make neighborhoods like Del Ray and Old Town accessible to working families, such as townhouses, small apartments, and duplexes.”

Sumpter called the crisis “the result of deliberate policy choices, not an accident of the market.”

Role of market-rate housing

The candidates agreed that market-rate housing plays a role in affordability but emphasized the need for affordable housing policies alongside it.

Laderach said the city needs “more housing at all price points — affordable, market rate, and luxury housing,” arguing that more market-rate supply creates a “filtering effect that unlocks more entry-level homes.”

Gomez cautioned that “if we only focus on market-rate development, we’re only building for people who can already afford to live here.” He called for “mixed-income development” and “strong affordable requirements through inclusionary zoning.”

Sumpter wrote that “market-rate housing alone is not a solution. Without strong affordability requirements, tenant protections, and public investment, new development can widen inequality rather than reduce it.”

Marks called market-rate and affordable housing “complementary strategies, not competing ones.”

Community engagement

All four candidates said they would work to expand community engagement beyond traditional public hearings, which they said tend to exclude renters, shift workers, and non-English speakers.

Gomez, who runs the youth trades program Cornerstone Craftsman, said he works with “teenagers and families who represent the voices that aren’t able to meet at City Hall.” He proposed establishing “community coalitions” with interpretation in Spanish, Dari, Pashto, and sign language.

Sumpter, who grew up in public housing in New York City, said he “won’t treat volume or loudness as a proxy for consensus” and would “ask who is missing from the conversation and why.”

Laderach, as president of the Del Ray Citizens Association, said he is “keenly aware of how public engagement works and where it falls short” and cautioned that “we must keep in mind what a vote of an association does and doesn’t represent.”

Marks said she supports “expanding multilingual outreach, digital and asynchronous engagement, and stronger partnerships with community organizations to reach renters and working families.”

Housing and other issues

Asked to connect housing policy to another issue, each candidate chose a different focus.

Laderach chose transit, arguing that “housing that is not connected to transit cannot truly be considered affordable if a family must add on transportation costs to their monthly bills.”

Gomez chose environmental sustainability, saying he would “push for climate-forward zoning that prioritizes density around Metro stations and transit corridors.”

Sumpter chose public health, citing his experience as former chair of the Alexandria Commission on HIV/AIDS, where “we emphasized housing stability as essential to keeping people connected to care.”

Marks also cited climate, noting that 57% of the city’s emissions come from transportation and residential buildings.

Zoning for Housing Phase 2

All four said they support moving forward with Phase 2 of Zoning for Housing, though they emphasized different priorities.

Laderach said Phase 2 should start “as soon as possible” and called for pre-approved pattern books, allowing garden-style apartments in more places, and zoning reforms to address childcare deserts.

Gomez said he would prioritize “simplifying our residential zoning categories” and revisiting the bonus height provision that was tabled during Phase 1.

Sumpter emphasized “strengthening tenant rights, resources, and protections” and “advancing anti-displacement and eviction-prevention efforts.”

Marks said Phase 2 should begin “within this Council term” and supported “expanding missing middle opportunities, making it easier to build near transit and along commercial corridors, reexamining parking requirements, and reducing barriers to adaptive reuse like office-to-residential conversions.”

What’s next

The firehouse primary is Saturday, Feb. 21, from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Beatley Library and Leonard “Chick” Armstrong Recreation Center. Online voting is also available for those who registered by Friday.

The winner will appear on the April 21 special election ballot. So far, former Alexandria City Councilmember Frank Fannon has announced he will run as in indepentent in that special election.

The full questionnaire responses are available at yimbysofnova.org.