The Washington Post: DC Mayor Muriel Bowser Wants More Low-Cost Housing In Affluent City Neighborhoods

The Washington Post, October 15, 2019: DC Mayor Muriel Bowser Wants More Low-Cost Housing In Affluent City Neighborhoods

The D.C. government plans to sharply increase low-cost housing in some of the District’s most affluent neighborhoods to spread it more equitably throughout the city and correct what officials called a history of “racially discriminatory” housing policies.

In a report released Tuesday, the administration of Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) proposes to significantly increase the amount of affordable housing in wealthy parts of the city where it is currently scarce, swaths that include neighborhoods such as Chevy Chase, Spring Valley and Capitol Hill.

The effort would take place on a smaller scale in neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River, which are mostly African American and low-income, and currently, account for a disproportionately large share of the city’s low-cost housing.

The report, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post, blamed the imbalance on decades of housing policies that it said would take a generation of “focused and sustained effort” to address.

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