But people are often buying the same size homes there that are available in Arlington. The difference is the cost. We're going to get a nicer house if we live farther out. But we're going to have to commute an hour each way. Stewart Schwartz of the Coalition for Smarter Growth agrees that the inner suburbs need a better supply of affordable housing.
People value the mix of uses available in places like Arlington and Alexandria.
The solution is to provide more places like that. It will bring home prices down and make communities affordable to everyone. Schwartz says the state should spend its money on new transit before it builds circumference roads in the outer suburbs. He hopes legislators will also change the state's formula for funding transportation projects to put mass transit on equal footing with highway construction. Funding mass transit is only part of the challenge, says Miller.