Dear John,

It’s been a busy year!

In 2021, we continued the work begun at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic to prevent evictions and promote access to rental assistance during this public health crisis and beyond. In addition to maintaining the Northern Virginia Eviction Prevention & Housing Stability Toolkit and Tenant Supplement, we launched a new resource – the Northern Virginia Eviction Prevention & Rental Assistance Dashboard. We also continued our role as co-convener of the Northern Virginia Eviction Prevention & Community Stability Task Force. Earlier this month, the critical nature of this work and its impact on our region was recognized when the Task Force was awarded Best Regional Partnership at the 2021 Virginia Governor’s Housing Conference.

While the pandemic raged on, necessitating our continued response, our regular work as a convener, advocate and trusted policy resource continued. We brought together leaders from 24 cross-sector housing industry organizations through our Leadership Council, convened a new group for emerging leaders in the housing sector, hosted advocacy strategy sessions on local land use policy issues and published 30 Housing in Action summaries to keep advocates and community members informed about housing policy issues across three jurisdictions.

The past year also brought new opportunities to expand our role as a technical advisor and power builder. Most notably, we partnered with Tenants and Workers United and residents of the Harmony Place Mobile Home Park to design and complete a community-engaged survey. This was the first survey of a mobile home park in Northern Virginia and the first in the state to use a community-engaged framework. We look forward to supporting the residents as they present the results to Fairfax County staff next month!

These activities and other accomplishments over the last year can be found in our 2021 Year-in-Review report. It’s been a productive year, and we are energized to tackle the challenges that lie ahead!

The metro area is on track to face an estimated shortfall of more than 100,000 housing units by the year 2045 – a devastating projection for a region where nearly 50% of renters and more than 25% of homeowners are already housing cost-burdened. We are committed to creating a Northern Virginia that provides housing opportunities for all; a community in which no household is forced to forgo food, health care or other essential services to pay their housing expenses. If you share our vision – please donate to support our work. Together, we can achieve a healthier, more sustainable and more equitable community through housing investment.

In partnership,
Michelle

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