Fairfax advisory board urges council to explore home-sharing pilot and formal housing trust fund

The Housing & Healthy Communities Advisory Board (HCAB) presented council members with data on Fairfax City’s housing shortage and two near-term proposals — a home-sharing program and creation of a formal housing trust fund — and asked the City Council for guidance on whether to pursue further development of those options.

HCAB chair Mark Light and staff housing program manager Jamie Ergas told the council that the board was created from recommendations of the 2023 homelessness task force and has spent its first 10 months assembling data, partnerships and a work plan. Ergas said the city’s housing stock is predominantly single-family detached (about 47.6% of residents live in that type), which informs opportunities for home sharing.

“Home sharing has some unique possibilities in the fact that this does not require building additional housing,” Ergas said, describing three approaches: a passive information-and-checklist model, a vetting model that would include background and credit checks, and a matchmaker model that would actively pair hosts and guests and provide case management. The board asked…