For decades, the Barcroft Apartments have provided housing affordable to residents with a diverse array of incomes and backgrounds, including many of Arlington’s lowest income households, at one of the largest market-rate affordable properties in Arlington. The December 2021 purchase of the property by Jair Lynch (JL), with support from Amazon and Arlington County, was accompanied by a commitment to permanent affordability for 1,334 units at 60% AMI for 99 years and a promise that no legacy tenants (those in residence at time of sale) would be involuntarily displaced.
While this commitment to affordability at 60% AMI is a notable achievement for the County, the vast majority of residents at Barcroft Apartments earn much less. Jair Lynch’s survey in May 2022 showed that a quarter of existing residents at the property, or 255 households, earned 30% AMI or less. ACF and the signatories on our September 2022 Call to Action believe that 255 is the correct number of 30% AMI units to aim for long term. Achieving that number will mean Barcroft can continue to provide affordable options for future residents at this income level in the long run. At full development, with the planned addition of a significant number of market rate apartments, these 30% CAFS would likely represent less than 8% of the property’s total inventory.
