Leveraging Partnerships to Create More Affordable Housing

A rendering of Braddock Road,
which is expected to break ground in Spring 2022.

It takes a village to create affordable housing. Since its founding, APAH has worked closely with local government, neighbors, corporate and lending partners, and service providers to acquire, build and preserve affordable housing and provide programs and services for residents.

One project in APAH’s pipeline highlights a different, but potent type of partnership that can be leveraged to create affordable housing across the region: working with for-profit developers.

In Northern Virginia, we are working with Erickson Senior Living, a national manager and developer of continuing care retirement communities. Erickson Senior Living is redeveloping the former Northern Virginia Training Center in Fairfax County into 1,000+ new units of independent living and continuing care. As part of their land entitlements process, Erickson Senior Living committed to donate a portion of the site for an affordable senior housing development, and they selected APAH as their partner in 2020. APAH will develop an 80-unit affordable development for independent seniors adjacent to Erickson Senior Living’s master planned community. “We greatly appreciate the opportunity to help those in Fairfax County succeed and enjoy a better quality of life, including by supporting valuable initiatives to expand housing options for seniors,” said Sean Sands, Executive Vice President, Business Strategy and Development at Erickson Senior Living.

APAH recently secured 9% tax credits and Virginia Housing Trust Fund and Housing Innovations in Energy Efficiency (HIEE) Funds, administered by VA Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). Thanks to these creative and dynamic partnerships, the project is expected to break ground in Spring 2022.