To the Editor:
The article about the plight of housing people of modest means, and especially those with blemished records, made me appreciate that in Alexandria there are some exceptionally compassionate people. Their sincere angst over the declining supply of affordable housing in Alexandria is admirable. Finishing the article reminded me of the axiom, if there was an easy answer, then there would be no problem.
And it’s a problem far from unique to Alexandria. Case in point: Across the Potomac, in larger and more populous Prince George’s County, Md., there are 1,000 churches but few that have a prison ministry.
More telling: there is in all of PG county only one small apartment building dedicated to providing housing to recently released prisoners, and they must first have a job before they can rent a bed in one of the 10 apartments. Even Washington D.C., which has halfway houses galore, doesn’t have anywhere near the amount of affordable housing it needs, even habitable space for its homeless families.
I only wish Alexandria’s affordable housing advocates’ solutions were as creative as their concern, especially for those hard cases whose inability to rent housing is due to their awful life choices (e. g., prison record, no education, no marketable skills, prior eviction, sex molester, etc.). Cajoling Alexandria landlords to reduce their rents to accommodate individuals who give every reason to believe they will not be responsible tenants strikes me as futile use of time
Perhaps a more expansive solution would be to stop treating Alexandria as if it were an island. Let’s face it: The city is geographically small; it’s becoming ever more densely populated and, more important, it’s a sought after place in which to live. These three factors alone foretell rising not declining rents. But barely 40 miles away, in Baltimore city, there are literally thousands of empty houses, albeit all needing repair. Baltimore is looking for people and organizations, whether for-profit or nonprofit, to acquire and restore them for occupancy.
Surely this fact alone merits research by our affordable housing advocates. Unorthodox admittedly, but given the paucity of realistic options to provide affordable housing in Alexandria, certainly for the hard cases, there is no harm and certainly no shame in at least exploring if it can be proffered in nearby Baltimore to those unable to secure it here.