Category: Affordable Housing

Walkable Neighborhoods: How to Make Them for Everyone

Walkable Neighborhoods: How to Make Them for Everyone

Posted on by acustis


Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Refreshments 6:00 pm
Program 6:30-8:30 pm

National Capital Planning Commission
401 9th Street NW, North Lobby, Suite 500
(Metro: Archives)

Walkable urban places are in high demand. A decade ago, Columbia Heights, H Street NE, and Petworth weren’t considered particularly desirable places to live. Today, these neighborhoods are booming, and so are many more city blocks close to transit and downtown. In addition to the more established affluent neighborhoods, demand to live in newly-popular neighborhoods that offer walkable, bicycle-friendly, and transit-oriented lifestyles is driving up housing prices. Given the turnaround in 2000 of D.C.’s decades-long population decline, the city’s growth could be used to ensure that everyone – especially disadvantaged D.C. residents – shares in the benefits of a stronger city and stable tax base. But rising housing prices loom as an increasing problem for moderate- and low-income who want to stay in the city and take part in the District’s resurgence.

 

How can we continue to offer more opportunities to live in walkable, transit-oriented neighborhoods and share the benefits with people across the income spectrum? Join us to discuss this challenge with Chris Leinberger, David Bowers, and Ed Lazere.

  • Chris Leinberger is a land use strategist, developer, researcher and author of Walk this Way: The Economic Promise of Walkable Places in Metropolitan Washington, D.C.. Chris will discuss the benefits of rising values from walkable urban places and the need complement these opportunities with affordable housing strategies.
  • David Bowers of Enterprise Community Partners will discuss how a stronger affordable housing strategy can be a part of the city’s agenda, especially as demand to live near transit continues to rise.
  • Ed Lazere of the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute will explain how the city’s growing financial strength can help ensure that new prosperity is shared with everyone through the budget decision-making process.

This event is part of CSG’s 2013 Walking Tours & Forums Series, possible by the generous support of the National Association of Realtors. In cooperation with APA Virginia, AICP credit for this event is pending.

 

 

Testimony to D.C. Comprehensive Housing Strategy Task Force

Posted on by acustis

Please accept these comments in addition to my oral testimony at the Oct. 22 hearing on behalf of the Coalition for Smarter Growth. We are a regional organization based in the District of Columbia focused on ensuring transportation and development decisions are made with genuine community involvement and accommodate growth while revitalizing communities, providing more housing and travel choices, and conserving our natural and historic areas.

Public Land for Public Good

Public Land for Public Good

Posted on by acustis

The report chronicles how the District of Columbia has used the redevelopment of public land to provide affordable housing and other benefits.

Highlighting the significant accomplishments the District has made in creating affordable housing and integrating it into larger mixed-use development, the report also details areas needing improvement. Most importantly, the assessment points to recent reduced expectations in the level of affordability in future projects. The report calls for the District to recommit to making the most of affordable housing opportunities in public land redevelopment deals, as the District seeks to build a more inclusive city as housing prices rise and more affluent residents move in.

Affordable Housing Production on Public Land for the District of Columbia

Affordable Housing Production on Public Land for the District of Columbia

Posted on by ian

Public land development has traditionally been viewed as a catalyst for revitalization and private investment in distressed neighborhoods. However, given D.C.‟s strengthening real estate market, public land can play an important role in providing the diversity of housing the city needs, especially in areas with high and rising values. Public land redevelopment can also meet other community needs for services and amenities for a thriving city. Effective public-private development can provide updated public facilities such as libraries and schools, affordable housing, and enhanced community amenities, along with cost savings and other efficiencies.

Testimony Regarding Leveraging the Value of D.C.’s Public Land Dispositions to Build Housing Affordable to D.C.’s Low- and Moderate-Income residents

Posted on by ian

The Gray administration’s focus on getting D.C. residents back to work is rightly the number one priority for the District – and it’s critical to helping communities and families across the District succeed. Going hand in hand with the success of increasing employment is ensuring that the workers D.C. invests in can also find a place to call home here in the District. Without affordable housing opportunities, newly trained workers may leave the city for cheaper housing, but longer commutes, taking away opportunity to grow D.C.’s tax base and strengthen our communities.

What’s Affordable “Workforce Housing” for the District of Columbia?

What’s Affordable “Workforce Housing” for the District of Columbia?

Posted on by ian

One of Mayor Vincent Gray’s stated priorities is to increase the supply of workforce housing, a component along the continuum of affordable housing needs. This is a laudable goal — seeking to make Washington, D.C. a place where residents can afford to live close to where they work. However, if D.C. officials use regional incomes to define “workforce housing,” it could result in policies that would fail to reach most of D.C.’s low- and moderate-income working households who have a difficult time finding an affordable place to live in D.C.’s expensive housing market.

Testimony: Support for D.C.’s 15th Street NW revised concept/nine story apartment building

Posted on by ian

We would like to express our support for this project and are eager to see this new construction and senior housing preservation project advance. We believe that this new building is respectful of its neighbors and historic context. Most importantly, the new building will respect the St. Augustine church.  At the same time, the project will contribute to preserving and adding affordable housing in this popular neighborhood.  This is a valuable contribution to our neighborhood and city. We also welcome the market-rate units as part of meeting housing demand across a spectrum of prices.

Click here to view full testimony >>

DC: Testimony in Support of Inclusionary Zoning

Posted on by ian

Good afternoon. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. I am speaking on behalf of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, a regional nonprofit based in DC. I would like to express my support for the good work of the Office of Planning. In addition to diligent work on small area plans and development review, the Office of Planning’s major effort to revise and update our outmoded, 1950s zoning code is coming to completion this year. I have appreciated how DCOP has engaged the public through working groups, and provided us with new research and analysis to support a robust discussion. OP’s detailed assessment and proposed code revisions will help us fulfill the 2006 Comprehensive Plan vision to build a sustainable, inclusive city.