DC4RD Update — May 2024

The Need for a Green New Deal for Housing in DC Reaching Critical Point; Ongoing Discriminatory Displacement of DC’s Lower Income Communities Must Be Ended Now

The structural and systemic racism has been brutal to Black DC — with income disparities still at 1968 levels (counting for inflation).

We must find solutions fast otherwise DC will not be affordable for anyone making less than $100,000/yr.

Washington, DC – In October 2022, more than 100 DC residents spent more than eleven hours in the Council chambers (virtually) to speak in favor of DC adopting the Green New Deal for Housing bill.  

This Green New Deal for Housing legislation would help keep working class families and lower income residents in their existing homes and into truly affordable new homes under an alternative housing model — Social Housing.

Social Housing veers away from market-based profit commodification and avoids the purposeful neglect and pitfalls of DC’s existing public housing system. So what’s happening with it?

The Green New Deal bill has stalled in Council committees for almost two years without an expressed reason by city officials as to why.  Meanwhile, public properties are still being handed over for $1 by the city to developers to continue a privatized trickle-down market-housing approach using DC’s dwindling land and assets and it's not having the results we expected (Most new “affordable” units are studios/one bedrooms affordable for single professionals making $85,000/yr).

As shown below, the Social Housing solution can be sped up as the stalled legislation may not be needed at all for this alternative housing model to be implemented through existing agencies, zoning, and political will.

The Green New Deal for Housing, referenced as “Social Housing” is not public housing. 

Unlike public housing residents, Social Housing tenants will not make the annual sojourn to the DC City Council telling of the horror stories and begging for better treatment from the DC Housing Authority (DCHA). DCHA will have no role whatsoever in any Green New Deal housing units at all.

Public housing wallows while waiting for federal monies to maintain the properties. Private market-based housing rents/housing income inures to absentee private owners/corporations that spend the monthly income as they want, likely not at the properties in DC. 

Social Housing Isn't Public or Private, It's the People: Social housing has its upkeep and routine costs covered largely by the rent/housing costs paid for by the people living there. Social Housing buildings have their own democratically elected board with a direct stake in the success of their buildings by the people living there. And, Social Housing won't concentrate poverty or wealth as this Green New Deal for Housing model makes the units affordable to the people living there whether they make $100,000/yr or $20,000/yr.

Under the Social Housing model, tenants pay no more than 30% of their income towards rent/housing costs. That means even if someone gets a better job or made more income they would not have to move and instead would just pay a reasonable increase in rent/housing costs commensurate with their increasing income.  The same is true if their income decreases. 

If you lived in a Social Housing building and you make $20,000/yr, you would pay $500/month for your studio/one bedroom unit.  If you make $100,000/yr, you would pay $2,500/month. A yearly tenant survey would adjust housing costs dependent on your income, but you would never pay more than one-third of your income on your housing.

2020 US Census : Ward Level Displacement Analysis

Considering the massive displacement from DC over the past 20 years (60,000 Black residents have been compelled to leave their Chocolate City), the Green New Deal for Housing represents an alternative housing solution to substantially end the pushing out of longtime DC residents.

The market-based trickle-down housing model in DC has rocketed housing costs to extreme levels (In Washington, DC, a family of four needs to make $275,000/yr to live “comfortably”).  Simultaneously, DC housing policy is broken, setting “affordability” at prices so unacceptably high that most of DC’s “affordable” units are out of reach for working-class residents and families.  

The vast majority of DC's “affordable” units have been built for single professionals making 80% of the Area Median Income, this means for people making $85,000/yr. DC's minimum wage is $17/hr or about $33,000/yr. DC's so-called affordable housing is simply not affordable for most people making less than $55,000/yr. And, the AMI keeps going up annually thus reducing “affordability” in DC year over year.

DC's broken “affordability” policy is why folks are demanding the city pilot the Green New Deal for Housing at public sites currently being threatened with privatization for more of the same trickle-down market-rate housing.

For example, at recent zoning hearings for 1617 U Street, NW (current home of the Third District MPD station and Engine 9 fire station) witness after witness testified in support of a social housing model instead of a market-based ground lease/air rights sale for any proposed redevelopment at these 2-acres of public land.

During hearings, experts argued that a customized special use zone could be remapped at this public site to essentially require the parameters of a Green New Deal for Housing model — 70% of the units deemed affordable at a diversity of affordability levels and to include many family sized units.

On Social Housing, Director Colleen Green of the DC Department of Housing and Community Development said to At-Large Councilmember Robert White: 

“[We] … could … establish sort of the goals of social housing, by policy changes [or] if we’re … continuing to use the RFP [process] … we [can] request projects that meet the [social housing] goals of what we’re talking about … that band that we’re not meeting … the 0- to 30% [AMI], the lowest income bands built. … It’s a matter of our policy direction, are we going to put more money in, are we going …  to fund at this [60-80%AMI] level or we’re going to fund at lower income levels.”

The director was hinting that we don't need a whole new bureaucratic agency for social housing, we just need the political will and funding (and possibly special use zoning) to do it.

The displacement of DC's long time neighbors and established communities can begin to end once the Green New Deal is deployed in DC. It's past time for a Social Housing pilot program and residents are asking for that at 1617 U Street NW.

Social housing or, as it is called in DC, the Green New Deal for Housing,  was recently profiled by DCist's Morgan Baskin who put out a report on January 17, 2024 entitled, “There’s A Growing Push To Develop Social Housing In D.C. What Is It?” https://dcist.com/story/24/01/17/dc-social-housing-green-new-deal/

Do you agree we need to decomodify housing to end displacement and to build truly affordable housing around the city? 

At-Large DC Councilmember Robert White then hosted a Public Roundtable “11.28.2023 — Making Social Housing Work in the District of Columbia”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZUPkGYTdcM

At White’s hearing, Ms. Colleen Green, New Director of DHCD speaks about social housing >> https://www.youtube.com/live/KZUPkGYTdcM?feature=shared&t=14004

DHCD, Dir. Green on Social Housing:

“Creating a new organization [Dept of Social Housing] to tackle social housing could lead to similar waste. The duplicative administrative cost alone should be reason for caution we want to make sure that when we innovate we do it in ways that increase efficiency and minimize unnecessary disruptions this is how we will have the best chance of assisting assisting the district’s tenants quickly and effectively the impact of reallocating resources from our existing programs and the potential loss of Housing and services compounded with the cost associated with the creation of a new agency should also be carefully evaluated when making decisions about the most effective course of action for these reasons it is crucial to engage in financial modeling for projects in different neighborhood markets and to create a business plan for our potential new agency to accurately assess the timeline and amount of subsidy required for the proposed agency to achieve self-sufficiency at DHCD we have studied other social housing projects and efforts in the United States that have recently been highlighted in the media in places such as Montgomery County Maryland Atlanta Georgia and Seattle Washington among others these efforts can represent important steps forward for these places and we can benefit from some of the tools they are applying to achieve their goals as you know through the commitments the mayor has made over the past couple of years DHCD has been the leader in advancing new approaches while creating a significant number of affordable housing units for example DHCD requires affording affordable housing development we assist to meet the highest environment and energy standards of any low-income housing tax credit program in the country… .” https://www.youtube.com/live/KZUPkGYTdcM?feature=shared&t=14359

“[W]e are all operating from the same one [financing] bucket. You would really need additional resources and additional um set aside or whatever appropriation whatever you want to call it in order to create more more units… What really is going to be needed to create more units is more dollars, so siphoning off sort of the existing resources to create a new public agency does not net not create more more units.” https://www.youtube.com/live/KZUPkGYTdcM?feature=shared&t=14814

CM Robert White: “What if there was money in addition to the housing production trust fund so let’s say uh the council kept it at 100 million but added 25 million to social housing projects, would that change your perception or your your view of um the [social housing] program.” https://www.youtube.com/live/KZUPkGYTdcM?feature=shared&t=14848

Dir. Green: “I think that we have the resources we need to create affordable housing. Putting that 25 million into the pot of resources that we currently have could also establish sort of the goals of social housing, by policy changes [or] if we’re using continue to use the RFP [process] … we [can] request projects that meet the [social housing] goals of what we’re talking about … that band that we’re not meeting … the 0- to 30% [AMI], the lowest income bands built.” https://www.youtube.com/live/KZUPkGYTdcM?feature=shared&t=14870

“I think that some of the things that have been said [during this hearing] in terms of um leveraging things differently looking at different financing models that can stretch our dollars using bonding capacity in a different way that could potentially create more units more savings will stretch the dollars farther so it was really interesting to talk about and hear all these ideas for different um financing models and that’s how you would get to you know additional units.” https://www.youtube.com/live/KZUPkGYTdcM?feature=shared&t=15018

“Alot of what can be done in terms of social housing model, I say, let’s take a look at the housing authority and see, you know they have a lot of projects they have unused bandwidth right there that we need to make sure those affordable units come online that are that are available to us that aren’t produced yet so focusing on the processes and procedures and making the things that we have work better is probably where I would spend my investment in my dollars um you you mentioned.” https://www.youtube.com/live/KZUPkGYTdcM?feature=shared&t=15210

CM Janeese Lewis George: “I guess my question is why don’t why don’t you see us creating social housing as a way to to create more of that wouldn’t we reach our goal faster if the district also took on took on the role and became our own sort of developer in its own right in creating housing?” https://www.youtube.com/live/KZUPkGYTdcM?feature=shared&t=15907

Dir. Green: “I think that you know developers are efficient. This is what they do. They’re always on trend with the market. We actually partner with them to figure out what’s going on in the market. I don’t think that the creation of all of these units are by developers. These were policy decisions that were made that created units at certain affordability levels. … [T]o me it’s not a matter of how it’s produced or who’s producing it, because I think the partners that we have are quite efficient in producing. It’s a matter of our policy direction, are we going to put more money in are we going you know to fund at this income level [or are] we’re going to fund at lower income levels.” https://www.youtube.com/live/KZUPkGYTdcM?feature=shared&t=15925