Contact: Michelle Winters, michelle@allianceforhousingsolutions.org
One of the Alliance for Housing Solutions’s founding principles is the belief that everyone deserves to live in affordable, safe, and decent housing.
Like many in the Arlington community, we’ve been troubled and saddened by reports of ongoing issues with AHC’s management at the Serrano Apartments, including inadequate maintenance, an unhealthy living environment, and poor treatment of tenants.
As an organization that has had a long relationship with and receives funding from AHC, we continue to urge their leadership and board of directors to take action to remedy this situation immediately. Short-term fixes that do not address the root causes — both physical and cultural — will not be sufficient.
The situation at Serrano requires both immediate attention and long-term work to understand how we can prevent these situations from developing in the future, as well as ensure that adequate avenues exist for complaints to surface to allow for a timely response. As AHS argued in our recent comments on the annual budget, we urge the Arlington County Board and staff to strengthen oversight of the committed affordable unit portfolio to ensure the long-term success of the County’s affordable housing programs and investments.
About the Alliance for Housing Solutions
The Alliance for Housing Solutions is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization working to increase the supply of affordable housing in Arlington County and Northern Virginia through public education, policy development, advocacy, and innovation.