A Tireless Proponent for Fair and Affordable Housing
Join us for a new series of stories from the Center for Local History highlighting members of our community who made a difference in ways that helped shape our history and created positive change.
Their voices were not always loud, but what they said or did had a significant impact on our community.
Charles Rinker
Charles Rinker (1940-2015) was a tireless proponent for fair and affordable housing in Arlington County. His reach also extended to Alexandria, Falls Church, and Fairfax County in Virginia as well as Montgomery County and Baltimore in Maryland.
His ability to meld economic savvy with public advocacy and popular sentiment made him a powerful and highly effective presence in organizations he helped found and establish such as AHC, Inc. (Arlington Housing Corp.), Arlington New Directions Coalition, A-HOME (Arlington Home Ownership Made Easier), TOAC (Tenants of Arlington County) and BRAVO (Buyer and Renters Arlington Voice).
Never reluctant to confront institutional resistance, Rinker’s ethos could perhaps best be summarized by his statements:
“If private profit is made in such a way as it deprives others in the society of the necessities of life—food, shelter, clothing, health, etc.—then it’s wrong, no matter what face one tries to put on it.”
“Ultimately we need more than the criticism of friends and neighbors to deter the displacement of low-and-moderate income households…but moral indignation from the community would be a good start.”
TOAC (Tenants of Arlington County) pamphlet
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Charlie was always an inspiration and leader in Arlington County’s work in affordable housing. While he wasn’t directly involved with APAH, we worked closely with many organizations he founded, including BRAVO, AHOME and AHC. He founded a collective group with AHS that met monthly to coordinate advocacy on housing in Arlington. That group is still meeting, coordinated by AHS, and known as Housing Arlington. He was also very warm and encouraging to me as the CEO of APAH. Lora Rinker was also a partner to APAH in our permanent supportive housing work with ASPAN.
Wonderful to remember a visionary leader who made Arlington a leader in affordable housing in the region.
– Nina Janopaul, APAH
I had the good fortune to live less than two blocks from the Rinker family in Ashton Heights beginning in 1983. I was thrilled to find a house near the Rinkers, who were already friends of ours from church, political, and volunteer activities. I remember their house, which sadly now sits empty, as being a beehive of activity where people came together to address social justice issues and human needs in Arlington. Charlie and Lora were a team with similar interests and they took on mostly volunteer or underpaid jobs addressing the needs of the “least of those among us”. Charlie focused primarily on issues relating to affordable housing, and I believe he was in at the beginning of both the AHC (Arlington Housing Corporation) and APAH (the Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing). Lora worked on issues of homelessness and hunger, particularly through A-SPAN (Arlington Street Peoples’ Assistance Network). One always knew that you could leave donations on the Rinker’s front porch and they would get to A-SPAN, AFAC, APAH or some other charitable organization that they worked with. It was and has been a wonderful privilege to be a friend and neighbor of Lora and Charlie, two of the most giving and selfless people that I have ever known–community activists constantly working on behalf of the those who most needed help!! They did so much to shape the community support networks that we take for granted today!
– Charlene Bickford