Arlandria-Chirilagua Housing Cooperative (Alexandria, Virginia)

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Formerly known as "Potomac Gardens", The Arlandria-Chirilagua Housing Cooperative (ACHC) was formed in 1996. Informally known as "Chirilagua", this site is the home to many low income immigrants, many of them from Central America. The term "Chirilagua" comes from the municipality of Chirilagua, El Salvador; located in the department of San Miguel. During the 80's, when many Salvadorans immigrated to the US due to their long and bloody civil war, many residents of the department of San Miguel settled in the DC area. In these specific buildings, many of the renters had roots in or around Chirilagua (SV), practically changing the name of the whole area known as "Arlandria" to "Chirilagua" due to their dominance in this neighborhood. Although now, most people confuse the boundaries of Arlandria and Del Ray and most think Del Ray is everything south of the co-op, Arlandria (known to the locals as "Chiri" or "Chirilagua") is bordered from the Arlington Border to the intersection of Mt. Vernon Square and W. Glebe Road. Arlandria and Chirilagua are interchangeable, as most refer to the whole section by its latter name, but the area is officially named "Arlandria", a name given to this section of Alexandria due to its border with Arlington. It is an amalgam of both localities. The interesting thing about this low income residential complex is that the majority of the people have a stake in the co-op. Most of the residents are considered "shareholders" of the apartments, but few opt to rent them rather than own them. This property is controversial as the co-op owes the City of Alexandria money; a fraction of which was to be forgiven if the co-op proved to the city that it was operating successfully. At the time the city was asking for its money back, it was not and almost had to repay the $537,000 or default. Since then, a new loan term was established. That, among internal issues within the co-op have made the property infamous and some have labeled it "mismanaged". The other reason this area is controversial is due to criminal activity. The City of Alexandria actually has a satellite location in the shopping center adjacent to it, and police are a frequent visitor to the property. There has also been a share of immigration raids in the past years in which undocumented aliens have been captured and/or deported.

dockets.alexandriava.gov/fy10/120809rm/di26.pdf
www.alexandrianews.org/2011/2011/06/housing-co-op-gets-...
alextimes.com/2011/07/federal-raid-rattles-arlandria-ch...