(RECAP: Though born in controversy, Arlington’s Affordable Housing Study Working Group managed to win over most critics during its three-year effort, and on Dec. 4 was among the honorees at the eighth annual Ellen M. Bozman Affordable Housing Awards, presented by the Alliance for Housing Solutions. “It’s fantastic to live in a community where affordable housing is a bipartisan issue. Arlington can serve as an inspiration to the country as to how we can make it work,” said Michael Spotts, who served as vice chair of the 18-member task force. The body’s work evolved into an Affordable Housing Master Plot, adopted unanimously by the County Board last year.)

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(RECAP: Donald Trump’s choice to have his one-time rival Ben Carson head HUD has triggered a lot of head-scratching. Carson’s ongoing dilly-dallying on whether to accept the job has perhaps driven many into full excoriation disorder, wondering why a retired neurosurgeon with no housing policy experience is even being considered. But if the critique is that a medical professional is unfit for the HUD position, then that doesn’t square with the research, which is increasingly convinced that housing is indeed a health issue. “There are clear and obvious links between health and housing,” says Diane Yentel, president and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition. “Whether Dr. Carson would use his position and his expertise to make that case in order to protect and expand proven affordable housing solutions remains unknown.”)

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(RECAP: Virginia Beach’s 25th Street development and an affordable housing project in the city have won annual Vision Awards from the Urban Land Institute of Virginia. The development turned the city’s 244-space surface parking lot into a 147-unit apartment complex, the iFly indoor sky-diving facility and a parking structure. The urban plotting and development group awarded its innovative deal of the year to the $12 million Crescent Square affordable apartment complex in Virginia Beach. The 80-unit housing project from Richmond-based nonprofit Virginia Supportive Housing was built by Breeden Construction. Units are rented to adults earning no more than 50 percent of the area’s median income or to individuals who had been homeless.)

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