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Town hall highlights deep split over Arlington's missing-middle housing and EHO program
Summary
Residents at the May 4 town hall sharply disagreed over the county's missing-middle (EHO) approach: some urged pausing approvals and preserving existing housing, others said EHO and midrise missing-middle supply are necessary to address affordability and demographic declines.
A central theme of Arlington County's May 4 town hall was housing: speakers lined up on both sides of the missing-middle/EHO debate, offering data points, anecdotes and policy prescriptions.
Opponents such as Joshua Handler and Barbara Taylor warned that current missing-middle outcomes do not deliver housing affordable to teachers, first responders or younger families. "The 4 EHO units that have sold or are under contract range in price from $1.2 to $1.6 million," Taylor said, arguing those homes are unaffordable to intended beneficiaries and may incentivize teardowns of lower-cost housing. Jay Hamilton presented before-and-after examples showing single-family homes replaced by duplexes or sixplexes that sold at substantially higher prices, and urged a pause in permitting to reassess impacts.
Supporters, including Jason Schwartz and Rebecca Dieter (Coalition for Smarter Growth), said increased zone capacity, midrise development and programs like EHO can expand supply and produce attainable units near transit. Schwartz cited early EHO projects and said some new units have rents below comparable three-bedroom market units. Dieter noted tenant interviews of EHO sixplexes as evidence that the ordinance had already produced some attainable units near Metro stations.
Speakers on both sides referenced county data and the comprehensive-plan process. Several speakers also raised related process issues: unclear communications about the county's low-residential lot-size study, the cost of BZA (zoning-appeal) filing fees (one speaker cited $1,200), and requests for more transparent economic and environmental analyses before large-scale permitting.
What happens next: Board members said the comprehensive-plan update and upcoming CIP discussions will be the venues for resolving many of these disputes. The board also noted ongoing legal and procedural constraints (including pending legal opinions referenced by members on EHO), and invited continued public input during the comp-plan drafting process.
