The Reality of EHO in Arlington County
Our policy impact report finds EHO has missed the County's own goals: it isn't affordable to moderate-income households, isn't compatible with surrounding neighborhoods, isn't dispersed across Arlington, and isn't near Metro.
Cover of The Reality of EHO in Arlington County, a Neighbors for Neighborhoods policy impact report
An analysis of EHO since its adoption in 2023 demonstrates that it has not lived up to the goals that the County established for this multi-family development:
EHO is not affordable to moderate-income households, but only to very high-income households.
EHO is not compatible with surrounding neighborhoods – most EHO buildings are much larger than new single-family homes.
EHO is not dispersed across Arlington, but it is concentrated in certain civic associations and zoning districts.
EHO is not consistent with Arlington’s transit-oriented development goals: 62% of EHO-approved properties as of 2/1/26 are more than .5 miles from Metro.
EHO has not and cannot meet these goals because of the faulty foundation on which the policy is based. The County Board assumed that increasing the supply of housing with EHO would reduce housing costs. As discussed in this report, that has not occurred and will not occur due to the high cost of land in Arlington and the fact that EHO does not require developers to include any affordable units in their developments.
During the Missing Middle Study, neither Arlington County staff nor its consultant spoke with developers to ascertain what they would build under the new zoning ordinance. While the County suggested that EHO buildings would be no larger than single-family homes, in fact, they are much larger. The County’s consultant assumed that EHO would be concentrated in the zoning districts with larger minimum square footage, such as R-10 and R-8, but instead, development is concentrated in R-6 and R-5 districts.
The County Board, County staff, and residents have been embroiled in EHO since 2020. The amount of time and effort that has gone into EHO from the Missing Middle Study, to hearings on the adoption of EHO, to legal challenges to EHO is staggering. All of this work has yielded no positive results. It is time for the County Board to work with the Arlington community to improve housing opportunities in Arlington.