FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM
R EA L E STATE
Real Estate Summer 2017
Seniors Face Pricing Out Alone As City Stalls on Housing Plans
by Matt Delaney
SUMMER 2017 | PAGE 13
Falls Church News-Press
A quiet conflict is bubbling underneath the surface of Falls Church’s small-town civility. Long-term, and occasionally, lifetime residents are entering old age and finding themselves pinched by the City’s escalating fiscal demands that run counter to these seniors’ often static budgets. To both the seniors experiencing the increased financial pressure and to the City government aiming to assist them, affordable housing and tax relief resolutions may be clear, but the path to get there is far from it. That resolution is simple: help
keep seniors in Falls Church. It works in the favor of the elderly citizens who intend to spend their remaining years in the community they helped build and the City has no objection to that. Diversifying the tax base among residents of varying age groups and economic statuses is preferred as it keeps Falls Church appealing to a range of people. The City’s tax relief and deferment programs are a go-to option to take the edge off expenses for seniors. However, deferring can induce anxiety among residents who view the growing pot of back taxes as an unpaid bill (with interest), and relief programs can’t afford to be as generous as other
jurisdictions due to Falls Church’s smaller population. In short, the programs do aid seniors, but they aren’t the cure. A true remedy comes from a top-to-bottom affordable housing structure, though the steps taken to achieve such a development have received lukewarm support at best. The clock is ticking for all residents who fall below the City’s Area Median Income, especially the seniors who feel they’re dwelling on borrowed time. “Falls Church is such a highend place that [the City Council] doesn’t stop to think about lower income people who just barely make it from month to month,” Ruth Kaufman said. “There are
AN AFFORDABLE HOUSING complex for seniors in San Francisco, Cal. (Photo: Bridge Housing) good people that come from low income backgrounds and are trying to live on Social Security...or a pension, [but] the pension has to pay for medical needs, so anything left over is just nil.” Even seniors with means are feeling the burden. Jack Gordon is a transplant from San Francisco who’s owned a condo in the Broadway of Falls Church since 2010. The Bay Area’s high property values and taxes seemed to follow Gordon east as the financial upkeep between his new home
and his old one are near identical. Lydia Gorman and Lois Eister have lived in Falls Church since their twenties and have paid off their homes, making the City’s taxation more manageable for them than most. Still, both acknowledge that Falls Church has gone from a middle class settlement to an upper-middle class enclave that lacks the sociability and affordability it once did, specifically in terms of housing.
Continued on Page 14
INSIDE: Little City Loans Approved – A Lot page 17 | Tysons’ Residential Transformation page 18 | F.C. Home Sales #s pages 19–20
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