August 11, 2008

Members of the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors and Alexandria (VA) Mayor William Euille assembled in city hall on July 24 to accept the 2008 Ambassadors for Cities Award. The award, given to the city by the National Association of Realtors and The United States Conference of Mayors Council for the New American City, honors cities that show outstanding leadership towards ensuring affordable housing opportunities for low and moderate income families, city employees and first time home buyers. The award also highlights outstanding partnerships between city professionals and local realtors.

“The city has a long history of helping first-time homebuyers by providing down payment and closing cost assistance,” Euille stated in his acceptance speech. “Educating first-time homebuyers has proven to be the best way to help homebuyers stay in their homes and to avoid foreclosure,” he added.

Helping the city’s homebuyers and owners is not new to Alexandria. For over a decade, the city has provided organized programs and events such as various Homeownership Assistance Programs, foreclosure prevention seminars/podcasts and an annual home ownership fair that is 14 years old. The fair has attracted over 800 attendees annually who browse through booths and participate in training programs. The city’s homeownership programs have helped over 850 residents with down payments and closing costs.

In 2004, the city started an Employee Homeownership Assistance Program (HAP) that focused on assuring city workers, teachers, firemen and police officers had access to affordable housing. A recent $15.2 million grant from the Virginia Housing Development Authority’s Sponsoring Partnerships and Revitalizing Communities Program will help provide funds to help extend the city’s HAP, as well as the Low-Income HAP and the Moderate-Income HAP.

Starting in 2007, the city’s long history of helping citizens and employees find affordable housing reached a new milestone as the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors partnered with the city to provide greater public access to counseling services. Since the partnership, local realtors have worked alongside city professionals to arrange a variety of homeownership services, including a special foreclosure seminar and podcast that helped inform distressed homeowners.

Kit Hale from the National Association of Realtors, along with David Gatton from the United States Conference of Mayors, presented the award to Euille and Jane Quill, chair of the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors. “The work being done by the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors and the city, without doubt, is addressing the housing opportunity needs of this community,” said Hale.

Alexandria is one of six cities to be designated 2008 Ambassador for Cities honorees.