{"id":9588,"date":"2021-11-03T13:51:04","date_gmt":"2021-11-03T13:51:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/?p=9588"},"modified":"2021-11-03T14:21:51","modified_gmt":"2021-11-03T14:21:51","slug":"santa-fe-realtors-promote-diverse-housing-options-in-housing-strapped-region-2-3-2-2-3-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/homepage\/success-story\/faar-sg-1121","title":{"rendered":"Fredericksburg Area Association of REALTORS\u00ae Leverages a Smart Growth Poll to Create a Deeply Informed Regional Growth and Housing Action Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>At fifty miles south of the nation\u2019s capital, Fredericksburg, Virginia \u2013 the boyhood home of George Washington! \u2013 is more than a bedroom community, though it is beset by some of the worst commuter traffic in the country and, like many communities nationwide, it is feeling the crunch of insufficient affordable housing.\u00a0 Using a number of Smart Growth resources from the REALTOR\u00ae<\/sup> Party, the Fredericksburg Area Association of REALTORS\u00ae<\/sup> (FAAR) has established itself as the go-to source of data, research, and policy guidance as the region grapples with how to manage the development of workforce and entry-level housing with sensitivity to the surrounding countryside.<\/p>\n

Public Policy Director Kim McClellan explains that a major Smart Growth Grant<\/a> first secured FAAR\u2019s expert reputation in housing research by funding a 2017 housing density study, clearly showing that Fredericksburg needed to build much more housing for the essential workers serving the community.\u00a0 She presented the results to all the elected officials and planning managers in the association\u2019s jurisdiction, who are still citing the information four years later.\u00a0 In 2020, wanting to mark the new decade with another project supporting affordable housing, FAAR learned about the REALTOR\u00ae<\/sup> Party\u2019s State and Local Growth Polling. <\/a>\u00a0\u201cThis was a great opportunity for us to separate anecdotal assumptions regarding how people felt about where they live, from their actual values and priorities,\u201d she notes.\u00a0 With additional support from the state association, FAAR worked with the REALTOR\u00ae<\/sup> Party\u2019s consultants, fine-tuning questions posed to 420 adults in a three-locality region.<\/p>\n

The results of the poll were surprising, in a positive way, reports McClellan.\u00a0 93% of the participants were happy with the quality of life in the Fredericksburg community.\u00a0 Traffic, far from being the top factor when choosing to live there, did not even make the top five; safety was number one.\u00a0 A full 50% believed there needed to be more entry-level affordable housing.\u00a0 Again, FAAR shared the results with local officials, this time, along with one of its monthly mailings of MLS stats that they provide as a regular service.\u00a0 \u201cWe like having a reason to be in contact with our decision-makers, and value-added information like this helps to strengthen those relationships,\u201d she notes.<\/p>\n

FAAR also engaged its own members in an interactive Zoom event to discuss the key findings of the polling information.\u00a0 Informed by their opinions and priorities, they built on the value of the poll in their next step: developing a growth and development action plan. \u00a0\u00a0\u201cWhat we needed to know, was \u2018How do we as a REALTOR\u00ae<\/sup> association create a pipeline to home ownership?\u2019\u201d\u00a0 McClellan explains.\u00a0 \u201cOur existing policy positions on affordable housing were very general, and we were frequently asked by elected officials for more prescriptive steps.\u201d\u00a0 Another Smart Growth Grant enabled FAAR to hire a local economic firm to formulate a list of concrete housing policy options specific to the region.\u00a0 The association is now gathering member input to determine which of the study\u2019s recommendations to make the focus of REALTOR\u00ae<\/sup> advocacy.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach step of the process has helped establish REALTORS\u00ae<\/sup> as the source of housing expertise and promotes the image of REALTORS\u00ae<\/sup> in the community.\u00a0 That provides incredible member-value, and we\u2019re so grateful to the REALTOR\u00ae<\/sup> Party for helping us do that,\u201d says McClellan.<\/p>\n

To learn more about how the Fredericksburg Area Association of REALTORS\u00ae<\/sup> is informing the development of its region, view a recent Community Outreach webinar Shape Your Community\u2019s Future with Smart Growth Resources<\/em><\/a> or contact Public Policy Director Kim McClellan at kmcclellan@faarmembers.com<\/a> or 202.253.8624.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Using the information gleaned from the REALTOR\u00ae Party\u2019s State and Local Growth Polling program, the Fredericksburg Area Association of REALTORS\u00ae developed a plan identifying prescriptive steps to support affordable housing policy in the northern Virginia region. ","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":9597,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,33,296],"tags":[1710,55,344,420,645,407],"class_list":["post-9588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-about-us","category-success-stories","category-success-story","tag-fredericksburg","tag-rpac","tag-smart-growth","tag-smart-growth-grant","tag-smart-growth-polling-program","tag-virginia"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9588\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realtorparty.realtor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}