Officials Eye Development Incentives As Housing Affordability Worsens In Prince William County
Prince William County is losing its reputation as one of the more affordable counties in Northern Virginia.
Sitting about 35 miles southwest of D.C., the county has long been considered a bedroom community for the nation’s capital. But the days when it was one of the more affordable bedroom communities are gone, county planning and elected officials said at Bisnow’s Prince William Rising event this month.
“I came here because this was the affordable place to be,” Prince William County Board of Supervisors Chair Deshundra Jefferson said onstage at Sweeney Barn in Manassas. “I cannot say that right now.”
The significance of losing its affordability means the county could lose out on attracting and retaining businesses because employees can’t afford to live near where they work, panelists said. But they also said the county is taking steps to help developers create more affordable housing.
Prince William County home prices have surged over the past decade. In February 2017, a single-family home averaged $362K, while in February 2025 it averaged $577K, according to Zillow. Last month, the average home value was up over 6% year-over-year.
In the apartment market, Newmark’s fourth-quarter data shows average effective rents in the Manassas/Far Southwest Suburbs were $2,015, up 6.7% from the year prior. That’s higher than what Newmark shows for effective rents in the Central and West Alexandria, Woodbridge/Dale City and Fredericksburg/Stafford submarkets.
Prince William County Planning Director Tanya Washington said that when she first stepped into the role at the end of 2023, one of the first things she heard was that home prices were getting more expensive, pushing people to look further to the south and west to counties like Stafford and Fauquier.
“Our residents, county employees, other folks who work in the county, are now facing the fact that they may not be able to afford to live here,” she said.
The county already has one incentive in place through its 2040 Comprehensive Plan, which allows developers to exchange affordable housing for density.
If at least 10% of a project’s units are priced at 80% to 120% of the area median income, the plan allows developers to apply for 20% more density, Washington said.
“Through that, the county has been able to get quite a number of affordable units through rezoning applications,” Washington said.
More help could soon be on the way.
The county’s planning commission is considering an Affordable Dwelling Unit Ordinance that would create a Housing Trust Fund to help developers fill gaps in their capital stacks. A final draft version of the ordinance was released last month and the commission held a hearing March 12.
The fund is expected to reach $31M by 2029, according to multiple panelists at Bisnow's event.
Prince William County Executive Chris Shorter said onstage that the county has already set aside $10.5M for that fund and is contemplating adding another $5M this year.
Gap funding provided by local jurisdictions has been vital in getting Wellington Development’s affordable projects in the region to pencil, founder Ben Miller said.
The firm has eight deals in the pipeline in Loudoun and Montgomery, he said, with three projects scheduled to start this year in Loudoun. He also told Bisnow after the event he has multiple all-affordable Prince William projects in the planning stages.
“All of our projects have a gap,” he said. “You can’t rent a one-bedroom apartment to somebody at 30% AMI — $800 — and make the math work without a gap. So the gap financing is integral.”
Miller also said that as the federal government funding is canceling housing contracts and reducing future funding, a fund like the HTF becomes even more crucial.
The Affordable Dwelling Unit Ordinance additionally lays out a menu of density additions developers would be eligible for in exchange for opting to provide various amounts of units for “low-income” or “very low-income” households.
For opting to reserve 15% of a development’s units for low-income tenants, a developer would get 27.5% additional density, while a development that allocates 34% of the units for residents at that income level would get 56% additional density.
Washington said the planning department is “very eager” to get the ordinance to the finish line.
“We have some tools that are within the county's purview, both providing more carrots to help provide more affordable units, and one of the carrots has definitely been working through our comprehensive plan, so we're hoping that we'll have additional options through our affordable dwelling unit ordinance,” she said.
