HAND members are hard at work addressing the growing housing affordability challenge across the Capital Region. Five Minutes With is a series highlighting these individuals and organizations within our membership. This informal conversation asks HAND members about their recent projects, the affordable housing industry and more. In the latest edition, we chat with Anne Venezia, Arlington County’s new Housing Director.

In my new role, I also look forward to further collaborating with organizations like HAND and MWCOG to share ideas and problem solve. The need for new approaches at a regional level has never been greater.

Ms. Venezia brings more than 20 years of experience in housing policy and finance.Combined with her deep knowledge of Arlington and strong interpersonal skills, she was the top candidate in a national search. In her new role, Ms. Venezia will direct the Housing Division’s portfolio of financial and development programs and services.

She most recently served six months as the Acting Housing Director and was the Housing Finance Manager for four years prior. Venezia joined Arlington County in 2008 and gained experience delivering strategic financial planning, asset management, multifamily development and acquisitions, and housing policy oversight. Check out our conversation below:

HAND: You have extensive experience in the housing/community development industry – can you tell us about the journey you’ve taken to get to this point?
AV: I started my career in consulting, working on housing policy and disaster recovery at two different firms before entering the public sector. I accepted a position with the Development team in Arlington County’s Housing Division in 2008, underwriting loans to support acquisitions of new affordable units and ramping up my housing finance skills in the process. Following a re-org in 2016, I moved to a newly created Finance and Asset Management team. While managing this team, I oversaw an annual budget of $30 million for housing programs (largely multifamily development) as well as asset management and compliance functions of the County’s more than 8,000 committed affordable units, nearly $400 million in multifamily development loans, and over 200 single-family loans. While much of my background has been on the finance and data side of housing, working directly with families benefitting from these programs — whether in disaster ravaged neighborhoods or onsite at one of the County’s affordable properties — has always had the greatest impression on me, and is a reminder of how important our affordable housing work is to support these households.

HAND: Can you tell us about your latest role? How are you dealing with the impacts of COVID-19 simultaneously?
AV: I served as Acting Housing Director from November 2019 until April 2020 and was offered the permanent Housing Director position at the end of April. Coming into this role during a national pandemic has its challenges – we’re balancing existing programs with new COVID-related relief programs, all while learning new technologies that enable remote work and virtual community engagement. Thankfully, we have a dedicated and hardworking staff that has surpassed expectations in meeting these new demands and we’re looking for opportunities to improve our service delivery that can continue into a post-COVID world.

HAND: What is the most important takeaway(s) from your experience thus far that you’re bringing into your new role?
AV: While metrics can be powerful in demonstrating how impactful a housing program is (or not), the people we’re helping through our programs need to be our central focus. Especially in this new COVID reality—when households are struggling more than ever to pay for basic expenses such as housing, food, and medical care—we need to constantly re-evaluate how we can help and anticipate emerging needs. And, as budgets tighten, evaluating which programs can serve the greatest needs will allow us to support as many households as possible.

HAND: What do you think is the largest hurdle when it comes to creating and preserving affordable housing across our region
AV: While there are many challenges to affordable housing in our region, limited supply and housing types are major drivers of these constraints. Even in the era of COVID, growth continues in our region; having a limited supply of affordable housing types drives up demand and prices for the limited options that do exist. There simply aren’t enough rental options in our region to meet demand, particularly for those households earning less than 60% of area median income (AMI). This results in public sector subsidies being the primary, if not only way for households earning <60% of AMI, to live in Arlington and other high-cost areas of our region.

Further exacerbating the problem is high land values in our region, which disincentivizes production of affordable housing types on these parcels. Land owners wish to maximize returns on their properties; often it’s not economical to build smaller and potentially more affordable housing types, rental or homeownership. Instead, the housing types built on these expensive parcels often are out of reach for most low and moderate-income renters and homeowners.

The good news is we’re in an economically strong region, which can provide us with the resources needed to address these supply challenges.

HAND: What are you most looking forward to over the coming months?
AV: The saying “innovation loves a crisis” gives me hope during this unprecedented time. As a County, we’re challenging ourselves to try new approaches to continue service delivery while staff is largely remote. While we’re faced daily with the devastation of COVID on our low-income communities, these challenges are sparking creativity in our otherwise daily tasks – how can we serve 10 households with a program that typically serves 8? Is it time to resurrect programs that appeared unnecessary years ago but now are relevant again? Can we rethink opportunities for housing affordability in the face of tightening budgets?

Larger economic changes, while challenging to those markets, also may present opportunities for affordable housing. As the real estate market changes due to an increase in remote work, New York City and other urban areas see increased office vacancies as opportunities to re-purpose these spaces for affordable housing. These types of approaches could introduce new options in the DC area as well.

In my new role, I also look forward to further collaborating with organizations like HAND and MWCOG to share ideas and problem solve. The need for new approaches at a regional level has never been greater.

HAND: Do you believe there is a “secret sauce” to addressing housing affordability? If so, what do you think that is?
AV: Affordable housing challenges are complex – there isn’t a single solution that can fully meet the need. However, a multi-pronged approach could go a long way in addressing these challenges:

• Increased supply and housing types. To meet the needs of our most vulnerable households, we need to diversify our housing stock to enable more types at a range of affordability levels. This includes reevaluating regulations that inhibit supply goals and limit affordable housing types.
• Regional collaboration. As I shared earlier, organizations such as HAND and MWCOG enable our ability to share ideas and resources. Approaching affordability challenges more holistically will position us to provide greater options across the region.
• Participation across sectors. This entails consistent and visible support from public agencies as well as resources and ideas from the private and nonprofit sectors. No one sector can solve the affordable housing challenge alone – everyone needs to work together to leverage our skills and resources.
• Taking risks and trying new things. Addressing the many challenges to affordable housing requires a multi-faceted approach of traditional tools and new solutions. We need to be comfortable with trying things that maybe don’t work as intended and keep trying until an effective formula emerges. And, since affordable housing is part of a constantly evolving economy, we must always revisit our formula; solutions that work today may work differently as job and real estate markets change.

HAND: If you weren’t working in this industry, what might you be doing?
AV: Writing novels in a far-away mountain cabin. My family probably wouldn’t join me in a remote location, however, so I’d probably need to settle for writing in an inspired place closer to Arlington. 😊

A new partnership with Bank of America enables Howard University to provide testing and health care to DC’s most vulnerable and under-served neighborhoods. An excerpt from the press release reads: 

Bank of America has awarded a $1M grant to the Howard University Faculty Practice Plan (HUFPP) to improve access to COVID-19 testing in the diverse Washington, D.C. communities located east of the river.

‘We’re excited to partner with Bank of America to get these critical resources to the areas that need them the most,” says Howard University President Wayne A. I. Frederick. “Many of our patients travel great distances to come to Howard University Hospital, which makes it challenging to seek medical attention at the first sign of illness. Our goal is to meet the community where they live so their access to care greatly improves and hopefully we can reduce the spread of the coronavirus significantly.’

Beginning on Tuesday, May 5, Howard University Faculty Practice Plan will host testing at the new Benning Road Center, located at 4414 Benning Road, N.E., Washington, D.C., Suite 2400. The free testing will be available on Tuesdays and Thursday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for the next three months. Residents can sign up by appointment by calling 202-865-2119, option 3. The team will see patients who are showing symptoms or who believe they are asymptomatic.

‘You will not need to have a doctor’s prescription in advance to get tested at our location,” says Dr. Hugh E. Mighty, Howard University vice president of clinical affairs. “We want to eliminate the obstacles so more people can be tested because we believe everyone should be tested. We want to screen our community neighbors in the areas where there are higher incidents of hypertension, heart disease and diabetes because those pre-existing conditions are linked to the higher incidents of coronavirus that we’ve seen in African American communities.’

As the need increases, the Howard team will look at expanding to include a mobile unit to provide testing options in a second area of the city. In addition to funding the tests and equipment, a portion of the grant will be used to enhance Howard University Hospital’s telehealth services. This will expand a doctor’s ability to see patients remotely and increase the patient’s access to care.

Read the full announcement here.

This announcement was originally published by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.

The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) Board of Directors held a special virtual meeting on April 22 on COVID-19 coordination and approved principles for reopening the National Capital Region once it is safe to do so. To that end, the board approved a resolution and statement directing local city and county managers to work together to develop a coordinated, safe, and scientifically-informed strategy. The board also urged area residents to continue the social distancing actions that are slowing the spread of COVID-19.

Prince William Board of County Supervisors Chair Ann Wheeler noted the value of regional cooperation on COVID-19, saying it has contributed to procurement [of equipment], cooperation of residents staying home, and ”it will matter as we begin a slow and measured response to reopening.”

“I appreciate that while [the statement] tells our constituents that we are working together to plan the reopening of the region, it begins by stressing the time is not now and we continue to need the public to stay at home and practice social distancing, said Frederick County Executive Jan Gardner.

D.C. Council member Robert C. White, Jr. said the commitment to coordinate is essential given the region’s interconnectedness. “Our borders are porous… so in both addressing the public health aspect [of COVID-19] and tour recovery, we know that we operate, we function, we rise and fall as a region.”  

Read the full announcement here.