We want to express our support for the Office of Planning’s (OP) proposed amendment to allow occupancy of rooftop penthouses, and to increase the maximum height of penthouses from 18 feet 6 inches to 20 feet. The amendment has…
Category: Affordable Housing
Testimony in Support of 90 & 91 Bladgen Alley NW Reduced Parking
We wish to express our strong support for this project and the proposed reduction in the number of parking spaces provided for this laudable housing development and historic restoration project. Forcing unneeded vehicle parking into this innovative alley residential development would do great harm to this historic alley which is a treasure for the city. We agree that the vehicle parking is unnecessary. Instead of providing vehicle parking, the new housing will offer…
RELEASE: CSG applauds progress in DC’s Inclusionary Zoning program and pushes to strengthen policy
WASHINGTON DC — Coalition for Smarter Growth Policy Director Cheryl Cort issued the following statement today in response to the Gray Administration’s release of the DC inclusionary zoning annual report and the administration’s proposed revisions to the program:
Letter to the Editor: Inclusionary zoning is working for renters
While the program needs to be strengthened, inclusionary zoning is showing benefits. Moderately priced housing units are being integrated into nearly every new residential development. That means desirable neighborhoods such as Chevy Chase, Dupont Circle, 14th and U, and NoMa will be affordable for more people.
Inclusionary zoning is a work in progress, but it’s already delivering on its promise to make exclusive and rapidly changing neighborhoods more accessible for working-class and middle-class residents.
D.C. Council passes weakened affordable housing law; tempers flare before election
Even an advisory opinion by the chief financial officer would be the first time the District would be required to give an outside party access to data on the disposition of public land. Cheryl Cort, policy director for the Coalition for Smarter Growth, said it was also important that the bill would make it District policy to first seek affordable housing whenever the development of public land is at issue. Whether the bill will be signed by Gray, however, is unclear.
Letter to Muriel Bowser in Support of DCHA’s Affordable Housing Proposal
We support DCHA’s proposal for 1125 Spring Road to create 200 rental homes, 90% of which would be affordable. We support the proposed wide range of affordability, including deeply affordable units at 30% AMI that are so desperately needed as market pressure continues to eliminate more and more of the city’s most affordable stock. We also ask that some of the units be use for permanently supportive housing.
Testimony: DC Zoning Update on alternative language September 2014
We support most of the proposed changes in the hearing notice for subtitle C, but specifically want to express opposition to the DC Office of Planning proposal to: “Remove the Priority Bus Corridor from the areas within which required parking may be reduced by up to 50% as a matter of right as originally advertised.” Instead, we support the alternative language: “In the Alternative: Retain the Priority Bus Corridor as an area within which required parking may be reduced by up to 50% as a matter of right, as originally setdown on September 9, 2013.”
CSG testimony to DC Zoning Commission on “alternative language”
around in our city’s long decline and current rapid growth, this zoning update is urgently needed. We wish to reiterate our overall support for the ZRR. In particular, we wish to address some of the proposed changes to the language set down last year on September 9, 2013 contained in the hearing notice for September 8-11, 2014 hearings.
In Our Backyard: Responding to the Affordable Housing Crisis
Low- and moderate-income people across the country are facing a rental affordability crisis. TalkPoverty’s backyard in Washington, D.C. is no exception.
Support for Bill 20—707: Land Disposition Transparency Act of 2014
We wish to testify in support of Bill 20-707, the Land Disposition Transparency Act of 2014. We have tracked public land dispositions for several years and applaud the significant public benefits that have been delivered as a result of them. As laudable as many of these public land dispositions are, the process for how a public subsidy is provided to a private development to accomplish public goals is opaque. The process has often left the public wondering if it received the best deal.