Manassas Park expands workforce-dwelling eligibility to all qualified city employees

The Manassas Park City Council voted to expand eligibility for its workforce-dwelling-unit (WDU) program to all qualified city employees, a change staff said is intended to increase the pool of potential buyers for workforce housing units.

City staff described a shortfall of eligible applicants under the initial eligibility rules, which limited participation to teachers, police officers, firefighters, dispatchers, and certain social‑services staff. "As it sits right now, the only people eligible for the [WDU] program are teachers, police officers, . . . and social services staff that work for Manassas Park," staff said, and explained those categories often place potential applicants above the program's income thresholds. Staff reported two ADU sales have completed but said no WDU applications had been found eligible as of the agenda deadline.

Staff recommended and council approved a resolution to amend the committed-attainable-for-sale housing policy so that any city employee who meets the program's qualifying financial criteria may apply for WDU units. Council members asked about part-time eligibility, conversion of unsold WDU units to ADUs, marketing, and whether loan denials would return units to market rate; staff said part‑time employees typically would not qualify for financing, conversions could be explored in future policy iterations, and developers have set contractual deadlines after which unsold units revert to market sale.

The resolution passed after a motion and second; the council did not record individual roll-call votes in the transcript. Staff said the city will pursue outreach to employees and explore marketing and referral partnerships to fill upcoming units.