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Virginia Developer Suggests Options for Affordable Workforce Housing

In devising ways to provide affordable housing for workers who are priced out of the communities they serve, counties and municipalities may want to consider creating incentives for landowners to sell their property at a discount, Gary Garczynski, NAHB’s immediate past president, suggested at a Homeownership Alliance symposium held last week in Washington, D.C. as part of National Homeownership Month.

In reviewing their comprehensive plans and land-use categories, counties could designate areas for workforce housing, said Garczynski, whose business in Northern Virginia these days is focused on acquiring and developing land for larger home builders.

“Right now, the burden seems to be placed squarely on the development community, but is that the right place?” he asked. “Should providing workforce housing be approached with a broader vision? Where does the responsibility rest? Is it important to the goals of the community? And if it is important, the whole community should be part of the answer.”

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To make land less of a cost burden, governments could explore providing landowners with credits against their taxes for reducing their price or give developers true density bonuses for their participation in the workforce housing zone, he said.

As a solution to impact fees that go directly into the price of the house, Garczynski suggested the possibility of providing home buyers with tax credits against the long-term cost of financing such fees through their mortgage.

Or governments could reduce fees on workforce housing.

Building higher densities has been identified as an important factor in reducing housing costs, but Garczynski noted that “density is a dirty word, the word that has everybody cringing because it means schools, it means roads.”

If areas are truly committed to having teachers, police and fire fighters living in the communities in which they work, then they should be willing to spend some of their tax dollars to achieve that objective, he said.
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