Greater Greater Washington, March 28th, 2019, Now more than ever, DC must comply with fair housing rules
As we wrote here in 2017, D.C.’s growth is uneven, and unfair. Two-thirds of new housing permits have been in two of D.C.’s 10 planning areas: Central Washington, which includes downtown and NoMa, and “Lower Anacostia Waterfront,” which encompasses Southwest Waterfront and Navy Yard/Capitol Riverfront (as well as Poplar Point, which has not had any development yet). The 2006 Comprehensive Plan predicted these two areas would get about 30 percent of the growth rather than two-thirds.
Notable parts of the city are particularly off-limits to those who make less money. Only four units in Ward 2 and one unit in Ward 3 have been built with local Housing Production Trust Fund dollars—which can be combined with federal dollars in affordable-housing developments—since 2001. Of course, the land in some parts of the city costs more than in other parts, and that changes the calculus of what gets built. But is reasonable to conclude that the District’s wealthiest areas are also its most exclusive, and that this is no fluke of the market: City-sanctioned policies like restrictive zoning and historic districts keep housing artificially scarce by prohibiting multifamily buildings or imposing tight restrictions on accessory apartments. Neighbors with the luxury of time and resources are able to exploit these policies for their own purposes, which regardless of intent functionally results in fewer homes for fewer people in the parts of the District with the best access to transit, schools, green space, and amenities.
This has resulted in a city and region needlessly segregated by race and income where people of color, and people who make less money, spend more time commuting, have inferior access to good schools, and, overall, face unwarranted limits to opportunity. It has also likely undergirded the displacement of longtime residents. In a National Community Reinvestment Coalition report concluding that DC saw “the most African-American residents—more than 20,000—displaced from their neighborhoods, mostly by affluent, white newcomers,” one recommendation is to use the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing process, which, per NCRC, “provides an opportunity for community groups to engage with municipal leadership in the planning process. AFFH provides a mechanism for identifying areas that are vulnerable to, or may be in the early stages of gentrification. Community groups can then work to develop strategies to avoid displacement of incumbent residents by attracting investment and providing affordable housing.”
