Local funds are critical to the financing of affordable housing. The combination of bank financing and tax credits will always leave a gap in high-cost markets like the Washington, D.C. region. As a result, very- and extremely- low income housing communities are most in need of a wide variety of gap funding. Federal resources, including CDBG and HOME funds, are frequently used to partially close that gap, but in recent years many jurisdictions have seen cuts to these financing tools. Locally-generated funds have become increasingly important to help bridge the financing gap, and are becoming a growing component to affordable housing funding, overall. In fact, several jurisdictions within the region—including the city of Alexandria and Arlington and Prince William counties—generate more than half of the current public funding for affordable housing from local sources.
