The regional nonprofit developer targets transit-rich opportunity areas, aiming to serve residents in downtown Silver Spring, Maryland

ARLINGTON, VA (September 27, 2023) Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing (APAH) recently completed the purchase of 170 apartments at the Falkland Chase apartment community in Silver Spring, MD from seller JBG Smith. APAH is envisioning a phased redevelopment of the community, which will create approximately 1,250 new apartments, most of which will be targeted as affordable for residents making at or below 60% of the Area Median Income (AMI).

The Washington DC metro region, including Montgomery County, is facing an affordable housing crisis. In response to this milestone, Carmen Romero, APAH’s President and CEO, said “Falkland Chase is APAH’s second community in Montgomery County, aligning with APAH’s regional expansion to address increasingly severe affordable housing needs.”

Upon vacancy and/or turnover, the existing 170 garden-style apartments will be leased at rents affordable to residents earning 60-65% AMI until the redevelopment begins. The North parcel of Falkland Chase purchased by APAH is already approved for the 1,250 new units, and APAH intends to modify the existing site plan to maximize the affordability of the future community.

“We commend all who made this large-scale, high-impact project possible, including Montgomery County leadership, County Executive Marc Elrich, and the Housing Partnership Fund,” said Ms. Romero, “so that future families can enjoy quality, stable, affordable homes.”

APAH will develop a mix of one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartment homes to support family housing, as the current site is primarily a mixture of one-, and two-bedroom apartments. Phase one of the redevelopment is projected to begin as early as 2026.

Partners & Financing

The Falkland Chase project is a priority for Montgomery County, which committed to $19.5 million in funding through a combination of the Department of Housing and Community Affairs’ Housing Initiative Fund (HIF) and Affordable Housing Opportunity Fund (AHOF) programs. “The County is at risk of losing more than 10,000 naturally occurring affordable housing units over the next 10 years. We made this investment not only so families could afford to stay in their homes, but to create brand-new, economical, low-cost housing opportunities,” said Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich. “The County has more than 30,000 renters with households spending 50 to 60 percent of their income on rent alone. We have an obligation to protect the people who live and work in Montgomery County, and to make sure new residents and employees can afford to stay here.”

The lender, Housing Partnership Fund, with Woodforest National Bank and National Housing Trust Community Development Fund (NHTCDF) as participants, provided a private loan of $20.1 million. Robin Hughes, CEO of Housing Partnership Network, a network of more than 100 mission-aligned affordable housing organizations, notes, “This investment represents the largest loan in the history of our CDFI, Housing Partnership Fund, a social enterprise launched more than two decades ago to help meet our members’ growing needs for flexible, early-stage financing for affordable housing. We’re proud to continue to fuel APAH’s work alongside partners, including Woodforest Bank, NHTCDF, and Montgomery County in Maryland.”

The South and West parcels that comprise the remainder of the Falkland Chase community were sold to a partnership between Bank of America and Enterprise Community Partners’ Middle-Income Housing Preservation Fund and the Washington Housing Initiative Impact Pool.

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About APAH

Founded in 1989, APAH helps more than 2,300 households live in stable, secure, affordable rental homes. APAH has nearly 714 affordable apartments under construction and an additional 1,500 in its development pipeline. As a CORES Certified Resident Services provider, APAH delivers comprehensive services to youth, families, and seniors across its 21 properties. APAH was named one of the nation’s Top 50 Affordable Housing Developers of 2019 by Affordable Housing Finance magazine. The organization was named 2021 Developer of the Year by the Housing Association of Nonprofit Developers (HAND). In 2022, APAH’s Queens Court Apartments received HAND’s Best Large Affordable Housing Project award and the Urban Land Institute’s inaugural Terwilliger Center Award for Innovation in Attainable Housing. Lucille and Bruce Terwilliger Place was named Best Affordable Housing Development at the 2022 Virginia Governor’s Housing Conference and received a Multi-Family Residential Award of Excellence at the Best of NAIOP Northern Virginia Awards 2022. In 2023, APAH received Montgomery Housing Alliance’s Developer of the Year award.