HUD Secretary Fudge Visits Alexandria Affordable Housing Community The Spire

Fudge used the opportunity to address the need for affordable housing in the DC area and around the country.

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On Friday afternoon, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Marcia L. Fudge, stopped by Alexandria for a tour of AHC’s latest affordable housing community, The Spire. She was joined by Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson and U.S. Congressman Don Beyer (VA-08).

The 113-unit apartment building is located in Alexandria’s Beauregard neighborhood and serves those in our area who make 30 – 60 percent of the area median income (AMI). It was built on land provided by the neighboring Episcopal Church of the Resurrection and funded through a variety of city, state, federal and private sources. The community has already welcomed hundreds of residents since March of this year.

While on tour of the building, the officials saw community spaces and one of the two bedroom unit which comprise the majority of units in the building. 12 of the spacious, modern units are ADA accessible and all have Energy-Star certified appliances.

Following the tour, Wilson, Beyer and Fudge provided remarks on the project and affordable housing. “There are many people living in poverty among us and thank goodness we are choosing as a community to use our resources to invest in housing and the other services for these people,” said Beyer.

Beyer is co-sponsoring legislation that will increase the affordable housing tax credit by 50 percent with the goal of building more than two million affordable units nationwide.

“This project is one of the things that gives me hope,” Fudge remarked. “It makes me feel good about what I do every day.” Fudge pointed out the great need for affordable housing which has only been exacerbating by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“There is no place in this country today where a person making minimum wage can rent a two bedroom apartment – nowhere in this country,” Fudge emphasized.

She highlighted the Biden-Harris administration’s Build Back Better Agenda, which seeks to create jobs, cut taxes and lower costs for those struggling to make ends meet in our country.

“Right now the president is saying to his nation it is time to take care of our people, not just roads and bridges, which we are doing, not just the military, not just the things that we always pay for,” she explained. “The president and vice president understand very clearly where we are in this county today. We have so many communities that won’t even allow these projects to happen. Because no matter how good we are, there are still too many of us that don’t want these things in our backyards.”

The Spire is only one of the half-dozen recent or current projects to increase affordable housing in the Alexandria area. Other projects include The Lineage, which opened in April 2021, and the Waypoint at Fairlington, which is projected to open in 2022.