Board declines Clear Springs loan request, allows resubmission under new program

The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors on Oct. 21 declined to approve an $18.3 million request from the Villages at Clear Springs for financing under the county's Affordable Multifamily Housing Loan Program, but the board voted to let the developer revise and resubmit under the new Attainable Housing Loan Program.

Housing staff told the board the Villages at Clear Springs proposed 180 affordable units in a two-phase development near Evergreen Mills Road and Battlefield Parkway. Under zoning and the master developer's ADU obligation, staff said only 74 of the 180 affordable units could be financed by the county. Staff and the multi-department review teams said the project scored above the program's minimum on qualitative factors — including deep affordability, universal design and on-site resident services — but that its financial leverage ratio (county funds to non-county funds) was far below program standards.

"The SRT scored the application 86.86 points, exceeding the program's minimum threshold of 75," said Eric Keeler, director of Housing and Community Development. "The unsustainably weak leverage ratio (about 1 to 0.72) was the primary reason staff and the executive review team recommended not to approve the loan at this time." Keeler told the board the recently adopted Attainable Housing Loan Program relaxes the minimum leverage requirement from 1:5 to 1:3 but the Clear Springs application still did not meet that new threshold.

Supervisor Caleb Kirschner, whose district contains the site, moved the committee recommendation that the board not approve the loan in the requested amount and instead direct staff to waive the Sept. 2 application deadline for the new attainable program so the applicant could resubmit. Supervisor Phyllis Bridal seconded. After debate, the board approved the motion 7–2 (Supervisor Michael Letourneau and Supervisor Umstead opposed). The vote does not approve funding; it authorizes the applicant to revise and be re-evaluated under the new program.

Supporters of the resubmission argued the applicant's high qualitative score justified giving the developer a chance to rework the financing. Critics said the leverage ratio was dramatically worse than other recent awards and expressed concern about using limited county housing funds to cover an outsized share of a project's financing gap.

Keeler told the board the housing fund balance available for such loans is finite; staff noted that approving the Moorefield Station loan earlier in the meeting plus the Clear Springs request and a likely future request for an Ashburn park-and-ride conversion would nearly exhaust the program funds. The board's motion leaves staff free to recommend approval or denial when a refiled application returns under the attainable loan program.

What the board did

- Vote: 7 approve / 2 oppose. Motion: do not approve loan application as submitted; direct staff to waive the 09/02/2025 deadline for the Attainable Housing Loan Program to permit resubmission; no loan awarded tonight.

Why it matters

Loudoun's attainable housing loan funding is a limited county subsidy designed to leverage other sources; debate over this application highlights the tradeoffs the county faces between preserving subsidy for many projects and making large awards to one project that provide deeper or quicker production of affordable units.

Next steps

Staff will accept a revised application from the Villages at Clear Springs for consideration under the Attainable Housing Loan Program and bring that application back for evaluation; any new funding recommendation would return to committee and then the full board for approval.