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The two people in charge of Winchester’s new Department of Community Development — Deputy Director Nasser Rahimzadeh (left) and Director Mike Ruddy — consider strategies for bolstering the number of affordable rental dwellings in the city during a discussion Monday afternoon in Rouss City Hall.
The two people in charge of Winchester’s new Department of Community Development — Deputy Director Nasser Rahimzadeh (left) and Director Mike Ruddy — consider strategies for bolstering the number of affordable rental dwellings in the city during a discussion Monday afternoon in Rouss City Hall.
WINCHESTER — As Winchester becomes an increasingly desirable place to live, rents charged for houses and apartments continue to rise as the number of available dwellings continues to fall.
City Manager Dan Hoffman has established a new Department of Community Development in Rouss City Hall that, starting next month, is expected to bolster the number of homes in the city that can be rented at prices working-class individuals and families can comfortably afford.
“It’s really a renaming of an existing department,” Hoffman said on Monday. “The [now-defunct Department of] Development Services was planning, zoning, inspections and economic development. Community Development is planning, zoning, inspections and housing.”
The Department of Community Development is headed up by two familiar faces: Director Mike Ruddy, a former director of planning and community development for Frederick County, and Deputy Director Nasser Rahimzadeh, a former deputy director of zoning and inspections for Winchester.
The new Department of Community Development is tasked with working with developers, state and federal agencies, and local residents to find solutions for bolstering Winchester’s supply of affordable housing. To help with its mission, the Housing Choice Voucher Program currently administered by the Winchester Department of Social Services will be integrated into the Department Community Development starting Jan. 1. The Housing Choice Voucher Program helps qualified low-income individuals and families pay their monthly rents.
“We’ll deal with that end of it, then start looking at different strategies we can do to address [City] Council’s priorities on affordable housing,” Ruddy said on Monday.
Among council’s priorities, Hoffman said, is a proposal currently being considered by the city that would require any residential developer who applies for a planned unit development (PUD) overlay to offer at least 10% of its rental units at prices the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development deems affordable based on Winchester’s average median incomes for individuals and families. A PUD overlay adds residential density to a property, allowing for the construction of apartment and townhouse complexes on land with limited acreage.
More tactics to increase Winchester’s supply of affordable housing are expected to be developed as Ruddy and Rahimzadeh research available programs and meet with developers and city residents. For example, Hoffman said money from the city’s annual Community Development Block Grant can start being directed toward affordable housing projects rather than being used for sidewalk and infrastructure repairs, as they have in the past.
“It’s about helping people that are currently in the community ... so they don’t get squeezed out,” Rahimzadeh said on Monday.
There’s no denying that Winchester has become an increasingly expensive place to rent a house or apartment. According to RentData.org, the monthly median rent for a two-bedroom dwelling in the city is currently $1,205. Ten years ago, in 2012, the monthly median rent for a two-bedroom dwelling was $956.
Once the Department of Community Development starts bolstering the number of affordable units in Winchester, Hoffman said it could have a domino effect and lower the overall median rent levels. Since 56% of Winchester’s current residents live in rental housing, according to a housing study commissioned last year by City Council, that could eventually lead to reduced rents across the board for thousands of people.
“It’ll take time,” Hoffman said, noting that one reason for rising rents is that in Winchester, local housing demand has outpaced supply since about 2008. “We have to get the overall [rental] rates down by injecting more housing into the market.”
“Some of these redevelopment sites, catalyst sites are really good places for this to happen,” Ruddy said, referring to vacant and underutilized structures that could be converted into rental housing. An example of this is the long-vacant ZeroPak apple processing and storage facility in Winchester’s North End, which owner John Willingham is in the process of renovating into affordable apartments for people with low or limited incomes.
Hoffman, Ruddy and Rahimzadeh said the Department of Community Development will have to take a gradual, measured and thoughtful approach when determining the best ways to increase the availability of affordable rental units in Winchester.
“It took many, many years for the nation as a whole to reach this point, so it’s not something that will be resolved in a matter of months,” Rahimzadeh said. “There’s no silver bullet out there, no panacea, so we’re going to have the long-term view that multiple policies will hopefully create and sustain a good housing stock.”
— Contact Brian Brehm at bbrehm@winchesterstar.com
"It's about helping people that are currently in the community ... so they don't get squeezed out."
Nasser Rahimzadeh, deputy director, Winchester's Department of Community Development
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I currently live in the city of Winchester for the past 4 years and I also work in the city. I love Winchester, but my rent is increasing so fast that I am considering moving to West Virginia by the end of next year. I would absolutely love to live in the new complex on Piccadilly and Kent but no way can I afford $400k mortgage. Please before I have to make such a drastic move make housing affordable in Winchester!!
Make it affordable is dewable. Just need to stop building period.Just look at that monstrousity you built on Piccadily and Kent. I am sure they are rules and regulation an buildings heights that got changed for this to happen. Eye sore already and can't wait for the congestion in this area, But that is the way our Local Government rolls.
It is all about the money and not the residents that made this town
Using excess funds meant for infrastructure and repairing sidewalks is robbing the silo to plow the field. The more people you add, the more infrastructure will need to be fixed. Self-defeating.
They should add thoughtful revenue generating mechanisms as well, especially since they always tell us these developments won't add costs when citing number of children, etc.
The problem is like a diamond - there are 128 facets and most of the discussions focus on only one facet without considering the total problem. The monthly rent gets the most ink and if you have been following this 'critical' issue the stories have not changed much over time. Pushing new developers to offer 10% of the units is too spartan. It should be 20% - but again that is just one facet. The core problem is our mindset. We do not all share the same commitment to affordable housing. That should be the mission for all stakeholders. It isn't - it's about tax 'credits' and other financial shenanigans and short term profit. On Oct. 23 the Star published an affordable housing piece for the North End: ".."That's a pretty monumental step for us," Willingham said on Friday. "We were kind of held up making sure that what we were proposing could be designed [in a way to make the project eligible for the tax credits]. Otherwise, we would be starting from scratch."
The tax credits are critical to the ZeroPak project, Willingham said, because they can be sold at a discount — for example, 85 cents for $1 worth of credits — to investors who apply the credits to their own tax bills. Selling the tax credits and pursuing government grants, along with securing bonds and investments, is how the $30 million to $40 million ZeroPak renovation will be financed..." If it was about affordable housing the units would be built and offered at reasonable prices and the ROI would be pushed out a bit. Also, when raw land changes hands several times between developers and partnerships it works against affordability at completion. I applaud the effort - but all stakeholders need to stop working at cross purposes and major changes need to happen to the tax code. This will require electing people focused on governing for the greater good and not bombast. This is not a new problem. It has been going on for years. Why has no real meaningful change happened?
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