D.C. area is behind the curve on housing and jobs forecasts, Washington Post, November 17, 2011

This is an excellent article by Brady Dennis at WaPo following up on the the GMU Center for Regional Analysis study on the prospective imbalance between jobs and housing growth in the Washington metropolitan area over the next 20 years.   In one sentence, it summarizes the GMU study this way:

The study found that local communities have yet to plan adequately for the looming demand, leaving open the possibility of a housing shortfall that could hurt the region’s economy, lower the overall quality of life and drive away employers and employees.

You can see the studies conclusions and policy recommendations GMU makes in its study to prevent this outcome here on the Reston 2020 blog.

The article notes that Montgomery County has been taking steps to address this situation and suggests that the new Tysons Plan will do the same.  While the Tysons plan will help reduce the current jobs-residents ratio from more than 6:1 to roughly 4:1 if the plan is followed, overall density is being allowed to double in the two-decade timeframe.  It is a tepid step in the direction of achieving a balance in residential and employment populations.

Reston has the opportunity to do better than that as it plans for the development of its transit-oriented development (TOD) areas, but little progress has been made so far in the Reston Task Force despite extensive citizen efforts, including those by RCA's Reston 2020 Committee.