Northern Virginia’s top local leaders admit they’re failing to address the rapid rise of housing costs in the region — and in a truly rare move for politicians, they’re willing to take some of the blame for those shortcomings.
Most researchers, advocates and developers agree Greater Washington’s housing affordability crunch has been driven primarily by a lack of supply, a diagnosis that officials from Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William say they accept. And at a summit convened by the region’s chambers of commerce Monday, leaders from each jurisdiction conceded that they’ve too often allowed political concerns to slow the construction of new homes.
“We have a regional approach to housing, but it’s not coordinated, deliberate or successful,” Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson, a Democrat, told a crowd of business leaders and politicians gathered at George Mason University’s Arlington campus.
Arlington County Board Chair Christian Dorsey, a Democrat,…
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