Editorial: Affordable Housing & The Arts

If the Falls Church City Council can find that extra penny to cut the real estate tax rate for its FY25 budget by 2 cents — in a regional climate where the collapse of commercial real estate, in particular, is thrusting rate hike burdens on property owners all around it — then such will surely be fine feathers for their caps. Note that in recent years, the tax rate in Falls Church has shrunk from $1.365 per $100 of assessed valuation to what could become $1.21, with prospects for more, maybe a lot more, in coming years.

So, in the inflationary environment we’re now in, while tax bills will on average climb by the mid-$400s in Arlington and Fairfax, they will go up by a lot less than half that in F.C. That’s a savings of more than $300 per household. On top of that, Falls Church will pay full value for its world class school system and for its valued employees, while its neighbors struggle with underpaying on both accounts.

We’re just beginning to reap dividends from the two-decades’ long effort here to generate economic development along the thin commercial corridors of this tiny 2.2 square miles. In that context, we’re going to see development continue to occur and more people moving in. Now at almost 15,000, the population of this little oasis will climb toward 20,000 and will sail beyond that in the coming years.

All this is to the good in our view. It means more patrons for local businesses, including restaurants. The Little City is now attracting some truly fine restaurants and becoming a destination for the really big bucks that are swirling around the wider region. The Pre-K to 12 school system is world class, and the quality of life infrastructure and amenities here really can’t be beat, especially with the focus on improving sidewalks, intersections and parks by the Council now.

It leaves two things that need attention: affordable housing and support for arts. On the first front, this is reflective of a national crisis and there’s going to need to be help from the federal government to really make a dent. There shouldn’t be a single “homeless” or “unhoused” person in our country. The right to a roof over one’s head needs to be seen like basic health care and food. This is an absurd injustice in our culture right now and while taking it on at the local level does produce important results, it will not be until there is a national mobilization that we can expect the kind of change that we need.

The second front is the arts and humanities, and this F.C. Council budget is coming in woefully short in its commitment to those. The Creative Cauldron is about to move into an amazing new space adjacent to the coming Whole Foods. It and other like efforts need citizen help provided through their taxes (see the page 1 story, this edition).