Housing affordability in Fairfax County has become an urgent challenge affecting residents across all stages of life. For working families, the rising cost of both rentals and homeownership often makes it impossible to live where they work. As a result, many employees endure long commutes from outside the county, creating traffic congestion, reducing quality of life, and weakening the local labor market when they eventually relocate their jobs elsewhere.

Retirees face similar pressures. After downsizing from larger homes, they often discover that smaller units within the county remain prohibitively expensive. This lack of affordable options forces many older residents to leave Fairfax altogether, taking with them years of community ties and civic engagement.

Without a range of affordable housing options, Fairfax County risks losing both its workforce and its longstanding residents, undermining economic competitiveness, social stability, and the county’s vision of being a place where families can thrive across generations.