HENRICO COUNTY, Va. — When Henrico supervisors approved the massive and controversial Arcadia project in Varina, a provision was negotiated that at least 20 of the homes in the residential development would be built for lower-income households.
The housing proffer from developer East West Communities was the first such provision ever included in a zoning case in Henrico, officials said when Arcadia was approved early last year. It was accomplished through a collaboration with the Maggie Walker Community Land Trust, a regional nonprofit that buys and leases home lots to income-qualified buyers to keep the land “permanently affordable.”
While the 20 lots represent less than 3 percent of the nearly 800 homes to be built at Arcadia, administrators with the county and the nonprofit are pointing to the proffer, or something like it, as a potential approach to addressing housing affordability in Henrico and the region.
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