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Articles and news on development.

Colby King

Colby King on Black Displacement from Washington D.C.

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“The most destructive force to strike my native District of Columbia in my lifetime has been displacement: the forced removal of Black families and their community-binding activities and institutions from areas such as the Foggy Bottom and West End neighborhoods of Northwest D.C. and the southwest side of town. Displacement of thousands from places they had lived for generations to make room for new housing, better buildings and ultimately more affluent and privileged people.”  

Opinion, “D.C. shoved Black neighborhoods aside. It’s still paying the price” by Colbert I. King, published in the Washington Post on January 19, 2024, https://archive.ph/5gxwK

The city's “poor folk [are being forced] out of their neighborhoods” by the city's “active role in development, selling or leasing publicly owned land, changing zoning laws, closing alleys and providing developers with inducements to construct new — or refurbish old — buildings … with resultant racial and class tensions.”

Opinion, “Quit the posturing in the Banneker-Shaw school dispute” by Colbert I. King on May 24, 2019 in the Washington Post, https://archive.ph/OSHig

“The city's growing tax base of middle-class couples and singles makes D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams giddy. The sight of “undesirable” neighborhoods being rapidly transformed into places where wealthier folks want to live makes Williams go weak in the knees. These changes are just what the mayor, his economic planners and his business friends ordered. Besides, there's no time for the displaced. The mayor's too busy with the National League of Cities and, when he's home, being wined and dined in glitzy downtown restaurants, Georgetown salons and the homes of folks he never thought he would meet when he was laboring as an Agriculture Department bureaucrat. The whole thing has turned his head. So what if booming property values and a richer downtown cultural life aren't doing much for renters or the evicted?”  

Opinion, “Turning a Deaf Ear to the Displaced” by Colby King dated January 8, 2005, published by the Washington Post,  https://archive.ph/ps8ft#selection-949.33-949.846




Sources:

Census 2020 :: Black Displacement from DC by Ward

DC Census Shocker: Ward 1 Shows Profuse Black Displacement While Ward 3 Has Grown in Black Population; Rest of City (except Wards 7, 8) Loses Significant Numbers of Black Residents & Families

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When the 2020 US Census numbers were published in 2021, local press guise the massive displacement of Black folks from D.C. as “integration” or “growing diversity” (over past 2 decades, 60k Black folks have been made gone from the city).

Also notably missing in any local census analysis is the fact that the ward scapegoated for being exclusive and segregated was one of two wards that increased in Black residents over the past 10 years.

CENSUS 2020 (WARD LEVEL)

DC lost 20,000 (-6%) Black population in the last decade by Ward,  Lost Black population:

  • Ward 1, -6,000, -24%
  • Ward 2, -3,100, -32%,
  • Ward 4, -7,200, -16% 
  • Ward 5, -5,300,   -9%
  • Ward 6, -3,200, -10%
  • Ward 7,  (0),  0%

    Gained Black population — Ward 3, +2,000, +58%  –Ward 8, +3,000,   +5%

In response to all the amazing comments to this post

Here are some of the key sources we can relay that support the Census chart demonstrated above and showing that Ward 3 increased in Black residents while the rest of the city (except Wards 7 and 8) saw the startling displacement of longtime residents who identify as “Black-alone” on the 2020 US Census.

First, going to OP’s index of all the sources regarding the 2020 census >> https://planning.dc.gov/publication/2020-census-information-and-data

From the OP index and one table in, find this chart.

Using the charts from OP, review the 2020 DC Census by Ward analysis provided by Blaine Stum, The Legislative Policy Advisor for the Office of Chairman Phil Mendelson :: https://mobile.twitter.com/Blaine_Stum/status/1425885669113712651

Then below, find snapshots of the US Census website demonstrating the startling numbers of DC Black displacement which you can access here >> https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/interactive/race-and-ethnicity-in-the-united-state-2010-and-2020-census.html

​​​

Also to note among the Census data points is the racial wealth income gap, a stark reality for those living and working in D. See the Washington Post Analysis, Economy, “The black-white economic divide is as wide as it was in 1968, Economy” By Heather Long and Andrew Van Dam, dated June 4, 2020, “… [T]he gap between the finances of blacks and whites is still as wide in 2020 as it was in 1968, when a run of landmark civil rights legislation culminated in the Fair Housing Act in response to centuries of unequal treatment of African Americans in nearly every part of society and business.” https://archive.ph/thnvI#selection-1621.0-1621.303

Moreover, there are 40,000+ vacant housing units conservatively citywide and likely more now!

(AOBA report 2019-2021 at p.13). Imagine now, how and why the blue-ist city in the nation can define “Housing Affordability” as a housing unit affordable for an individual making 120K/yr.

It is a preeminent policy failure that harms Black DC and increases displacement pressures each time you hear a developer, the Mayor, anyone say they are constructing “affordable housing.” See more here >> https://twitter.com/dc4reality/status/1624111925494706177

Build-Baby-Build

Compare and Contrast: Growth & Displacement

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Recently, the Mayor’s Office of Planning proudly announced that the city has started growing in population again.

There are apparently 3,000 new people in DC than there was in July 2021, pointing to U.S. Census numbers.

The local media quickly got-in-with-the-spin by parroting the executive to help spread the amazing word of D.C.’s “comeback.”

  • “U.S. Census Bureau Numbers Show DC’s Population Stabilizing”
    Prince Of Petworth, December 23, 2022
  • D.C. Sees Slight Population Increase After Two Years Of Decline
    WAMU, Jenny Garthright, Dec 26, 2022
  • D.C.’s population grew last year, reversing pandemic-related decline
    Washington Post, Fredrick Kunkle, December 23, 2022

Interestingly, it is the Federal City Council propped “think tank”, the DC Policy Center that checks the Mayor’s announcement pointing out there is still a net migration of single wealthy professionals (“urbanists”) to lands beyond the District and that the “new people” that are “stabilizing” DC’s population loss are likely babies.

Compare and contrast the recent heralding of new DC babies to two other data points:

D.C. isn’t constructing family sized units (3+ bedrooms) — Nearly 98% of all new housing units built in DC over the past 20 years are studio/1bdrm/2bdrm units (not family sized).

Many of the new young people who moved into the city over the past decade have hooked up, gotten hitched, and are starting families. With DC’s severe limits to DC’s unoccupied single family housing stock coupled with the almost zero new construction of family sized units, many newly productive DC families are leaving the city to raise their children.

What of the voluminous displacement of Black residents apparent with each major Census update ?

Contrast the recent DC baby news with the fact that the Mayor never puts out any press releases telling the tale of displacement of Black DC and working-families (maybe because its the policies of the city directly responsible for the harm). Instead, when the Census pops showing the horrible numbers of those being shown the door (60,000 Black folks made gone from the city over the past two Census cycles), the Mayor’s Office of Planning tried to spin this displacement as “choice.”

That is, the Mayor’s “planning” officials are suggesting DC’s vulnerable communities are leaving their Chocolate City, their homes, their families simply because they seek greener pastures. And, the local media went right along with this terrible trope, going further and suggesting that the Census shows better integration of the city (more mixing of races in DC’s neighborhoods).

Who do you believe it serves to champion population growth in DC while simultaneously downplaying the harms or worse rewriting the reality of displacement for tens of thousands of working families and Black residents who cannot afford the real estate speculation gold rush over the past two decades?!?

ARTICLES ABOUT GROWTH AND DISPLACEMENT OVER THE LAST SEVERAL YEARS IN REVERSE CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER:

D.C.’s population grew last year, reversing pandemic-related decline
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/12/23/dc-census-2022-growth/
By Fredrick Kunkle
December 23, 2022 at 8:00 a.m. EST

D.C. Sees Slight Population Increase After Two Years Of Decline
Jenny Garthright, Dec 26, 2022, 1:08 pm
https://dcist.com/story/22/12/26/dc-new-census-numbers-population-increase/

1 in 4 public housing units sit vacant during D.C. affordability crisis
Washington Post, Steve Thompson, October 19, 2022

DC’s Population Growth Has Affected the Racial and Ethnic Composition of Wards 6, 7, and 8
By: Elizabeth Burton, October 7, 2022
https://greaterdc.urban.org/blog/dcs-population-growth-has-affected-racial-and-ethnic-composition-wards-6-7-and-8

Meaningful Racial Equity in DC Zoning
Kymone Freeman September 16, 2022
https://www.weactradio.com/2022/09/16/dc-zoning-roundtable/

Leavin’ the region — Greater Washington faces threat of increasing departures to other markets
Washington Business Journal, Tristan Navera, Sep 9, 2022

D.C. Becoming ‘Chocolate City’ Again After Pandemic ‘White Flight’ Reverses Gentrification Trend — The Census Bureau released new data this week.
Bruce C.T. Wright Written By Bruce C.T. Wright, July 1, 2022
https://newsone.com/4364960/dc-white-flight/

D.C.’s White population has declined for the first time in two decades
By Tara Bahrampour, Washington Post
July 1, 2022 at 6:00 a.m. EDT
https://archive.ph/cFQWZ

Charts of the week: A pandemic-induced exodus has broken the District’s population boom
Sunaina Bakshi Kathpalia, March 25, 2022
https://www.dcpolicycenter.org/publications/census-shows-pandemic-exodus-has-broken-dc-population-growth/

Chart of the week: Are D.C.’s 25-34 year olds leaving the District because of pandemic telework? 
March 11, 2022, Bailey McConnell
https://www.dcpolicycenter.org/publications/young-professionals-leaving-dc-telework/

D.C.’s population is shrinking
Jan 10, 2022, Paige Hopkins
https://www.axios.com/local/washington-dc/2022/01/10/dc-population-shrinking

DC had largest percentage drop in population in nation
Valerie Bonk | vbonk@wtop.com
December 23, 2021, 6:54 AM
https://wtop.com/dc/2021/12/dc-had-largest-percentage-drop-in-population-in-nation/

Why Is D.C. Losing So Many Residents?
By Christopher Jones • December 27, 2021
https://georgetowner.com/articles/2021/12/27/d-c-s-population-loss/

New census data finds D.C. had nation’s largest percentage drop in population
December 23, 2021
Héctor Alejandro Arzate
https://www.npr.org/local/305/2021/12/23/1067215177/new-census-data-finds-d-c-had-nation-s-largest-percentage-drop-in-population

Many fled D.C. during pandemic, halting city’s population boom
Washington Post, Tara Bahrampour and Marissa J. Lang, Dec 24 2021

1 in 7 residents of the D.C. area moved during the pandemic, poll finds — A larger share of area residents say they have seriously considered moving to a new community since the pandemic began
Washington Post, Luz Lazo and Emily Guskin, August 17, 2021 at 6:00 a.m. EDT

Census Reveals Growing Diversity In Washington Region, Increasing White Population In D.C.
Martin Austermuhle, Aug 17, 2021, 4:15 pm
https://dcist.com/story/21/08/17/census-reveals-growing-diversity-in-washington-region-increasing-white-population-in-d-c/

2020 census numbers show where our region is growing and where it isn’t
By DW Rowlands (Contributor) August 18, 2021
https://ggwash.org/view/82241/2020-census-numbers-show-where-our-region-is-growing-and-where-it-isnt

VERIFY: Yes, data shows 17,000 more people left D.C. in 2020 than year before, amid pandemic
WUSA9 News, Evan Koslof, July 16, 2021

2020 Census shows U.S. population grew at slowest pace since the 1930s
By Tara Bahrampour,  Harry Stevens,  Adrian Blanco and  Ted Mellnik
April 26, 2021
https://archive.ph/yDQi1

Opinion: There can be no racial equity in D.C. when Black and Brown families are being displaced
The Washington Post/Opinion by Minnie Elliott
March 5, 2021 at 9:00 a.m. EST
http://www.dcfeedback.com/fit2print/dc/506

COVID Is Carrying Young People Away from DC — Whether They Want to Leave or Not
Hayden Higgins, Oct 15, 2020
https://medium.com/seventhirty-dc/covid-is-carrying-young-people-away-from-dc-whether-they-want-to-leave-or-not-e38ec01d6259

More than 92 Percent of D.C. Residents Have Responded to 2020 Census
by Stacy M. Brown September 23, 2020
https://www.washingtoninformer.com/more-than-92-percent-of-d-c-residents-have-responded-to-2020-census/

This GIF Shows How The D.C. Area’s Demographics Have Changed Since 1970
Jan 14, 2020, 4:32 pm
https://dcist.com/story/20/01/14/this-gif-shows-how-the-d-c-areas-demographics-have-changed-since-1970/

The Reason D.C.’s Once-Dramatic Population Growth Is Slowing Down (And Why That’s Not So Bad)
Jan 30, 2019, Martin Austermuhle
https://wamu.org/story/19/01/30/the-reason-d-c-s-once-dramatic-population-growth-is-slowing-down-and-why-thats-not-so-bad/

Census: In D.C., Black Median Income Is Now Less Than a Third of White Median Income And other surprising highlights from the latest U.S. Census data
by Andrew Giambrone September 15th, 2017
https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/325548/census-in-dc-black-median-income-is-now-less-than-a-third-of-white-median-income/

Why do people move out of D.C.
Washington Post, Perry Stein, June 10, 2015

I have no proof that apartments in these towers are being warehoused and acknowledge that such a thing may seem counterintuitive in today’s allegedly red-hot market — or any market. But if demand for expensive units is softer than we’ve been led to believe, I wonder if landlords could be hiding supply to keep their rents up.

Lane Brown, writer for Curbed, in his Jan. 27, 2023 report, “New Yorkers Never Came ‘Flooding Back.’ Why Did Rents Go Up So Much? Getting to the bottom of a COVID-era real estate mystery.”
Housing is a Human Right

YIMBY’s: D.C. “Desperately & Urgently” Needs More Housing

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We hear so-called YIMBYs constantly cheer on listserves and real estate blogs, #BuildMore housing quickly and voluminously. They say the city is desperate for new housing and we need lots of new units urgently. Any skeptics or detractors to this build-baby-build posture are quickly written off simply as NIMBYs.

Yet, the YIMBYs can never seem to answer these basic questions:

  1. New housing for whom? Is it the trickle down market rate housing being built everywhere or truly affordable for those making the living wage or less?
  2. What statistics substantiate the “urgency” for new housing? DC has some of the highest vacancy rates in the nation, will building more of the same help?
  3. And, why is the city tearing down the 0-30%AMI housing such as public housing to privatize and build more luxury housing?

Last we checked, the well heeled developer-class have collaborated with cohorts in city bureaucratic planning positions to usher in wave after wave of new construction, with areas of DC exploding with denser taller buildings consisting of expensive studio/one bedrooms.

Tens of thousands of new luxury units have been built in DC over the past twenty years and 9 out of 10 of these units are strictly targeted to wealthier single professionals.

But recently, it is this slice of the local demography (single wealthy professionals) who are parting with the urban core as they are forming families and being quite privileged and mobile they can move when things like pandemics unfold and impact our living collective conditions. Yes, it is these new residents who stormed into the city over the past decade who are now choosing to leave the big box luxury buildings that were designed for them and are moving into single family homes in outer city limits and back to suburbia. 

Thus, any urgency for more housing serving the professional-class  is quickly dispelled by the facts on the ground, with DC conservatively having 15% of units built (not just marketed) sitting vacant, and the new built-out areas such as Navy Yard having 1 in 3 units empty (all pre-pandemic numbers). 

[Pre-pandemic], the average vacancy rate in the District is 14.7%, with submarkets such as SW/Navy Yard, Capitol Hill, and Georgetown/Wisconsin Ave, are seeing vacancy rates at 31%, 27%, and 18% respectively .

DHCD Report, Saving DC’s Rental Housing Market Strike Force, citing from “The State of the DC Multifamily Rental Market” analysis by the Apartment & Office Building Association of Metropolitan Washington (AOBA), published by Randi Marshall, Vice President of Government Affairs, D.C., February 19, 2021, at page 13.

Housing as commodity, not for community

In spite of mounting units being built but left to sit empty, its become apparent that the mega real estate companies don’t mind and are pushing to build even more housing that’s as expensive as ever before.

This is because housing is no longer necessarily for creating human community. Rather, new housing units are in large part serving as international investment commodities, that are essentially blocks of money in the form of new housing construction.

Moreover, any claimed desperation or “urgency for more housing” is a statement of perverse absurdity without doing the homework in understanding the type of housing the city truly needs constructed (see 40k person waiting list for affordable family sized housing).

YIMBY’s see no urgency to build housing that we actually need, instead they continue to chant and demand the city construct housing that only serves an elite professional-class.

DC desperately needs 0-30%AMI units and lots of them, so say the PHIMBY’s (Public Housing in My BackYard).

See links below for stats and research substantiating the points above.

Stats and Facts Supporting the Above Conclusions

Racial Inequity: 1990 60% of DC Black vs 2010 50% 2020 41% [2020 census | interactive DC diversity app] 60k Black people displaced from DC over the past twenty years of #BuildMore, these stats cannot be ignored!

  1. DC racial segregation through affordability gap as wide as 1968: White wealth surge; black wealth stagnation 
  2. Mythbust: we are not in housing crisis, other than an “affordable” housing crisis (we lack units for those in the 0-50%AMI range)
    1. Vacancies citiwide is 14.7% (Navy Yard; Gtown/Wis Ave up to 31%)
    2. Slow down of incoming DC residents
    3. Offices hit record vacancy high in 2021

Foreign investors snap up Washington real estate at an accelerating clip

“This is the normal world. You go to work in a city. All around you are enormous new buildings. They look alike. But you will never be able to afford to live in them. Because they are not really homes. They are blocks of money,  bought by global investors whose money has nowhere else to go.” https://twitter.com/rotten4eva/status/1492740361374121986

THE DC COMP PLAN IS RACIST

Maurice Cook, Director of Serve Your City, and community advocate out of Ward 6 discusses the DC Comprehensive Plan, the definition of racial equity and affordable housing, and what the Council Office on Racial Equity (CORE) report about the #DCCompPlan means to Black people living and working in the District of Columbia. Please Watch :: https://youtu.be/zDH96HFqfP8

DC Council Dumpster Fire

Dumpster Fire Smoke Screen

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DC Council "This is Fine"

While the nonprofit complex pulls out the stops to stem the Council bleeding the people of DC even more, the smokescreen from the “dumpster fire” “debacle” “sh*tshow” of a DC Council budget vote on Tuesday July 21 has worked.

The fog of class war has the Council Chair saying things like it would be tantalizing to cut immigration services, emergency rent support, and other human services to make up for a stupid move to tax small publications in the District (The Ad Tax).

Council Chairman Phil Mendelson

Playing both the perpetrator and now the self-proclaimed hero, CM Mendelson says he can eliminate the ad tax on small publications by moving some money around from the capital budget, cutting mental health services, and some other piddly wrangling. If this all seems a bit hexing, and wrong, it is.

Council Chairman Phil Mendelson to the Rescue
Council Chairman Phil Mendelson to the Rescue

What a slick move, a smokescreen. First, this “debacle” has got the advocacy community to scramble their bases to beg the Council not to cut $18M more in services to real DC people instead of bringing on fire from the people demanding that the overall first budget vote be completely trashed and we start over. See FBC breakdown of the first Council vote on July 7th below:

The DC budget vote as shown above, even if the recent threats of 18M in cuts is reversed, is an absolute atrocity and in fact criminal to the working people of the District during a pandemic. There are no cuts to the Metropolitan Police Department budget for example!

Second, this confusing creepy clown show led by the Chairman during DC’s FY2021 budget process has allowed all Councilmembers, even the so-called progressives on the dais to deflect away from the broader call of the people to take the capitalists boot off working families necks by defunding MPD, raising taxes on the rich, and moving monies from proposed luxury projects to projects that could really help people now in the pandemic such as from the proposed McMillan Park giveaway to the long-stalled reopening of Crummell School for those families who are struggling in Ivy City.

That is, Councilmembers can avoid dealing with the obvious huge gaps in human service funding by tweeting out memes and rhetoric about a “dumspter fire” and receive rounds of applause by advocates who in turn move back from stronger positions to the passive prone begging not to hurt the our people further.

Result: the Council, yet again, escapes accountability as to how really horrid that first budget vote is and the continued harm that DC’s budget will bring onto the most vulnerable in the District, especially now during pandemic.

Meanwhile, with all the content that the so-called urbanists pull off with the help of developer contributions, the budget vote is as important as one retweet of a DCist report. David Alpert is far from concerned about what this budget means for DC’s communities of color.

Conclusion: Its all perplexing but a skillful clumsy show put on by the Chair, Phil Mendelson and sheepish Council colleagues. The Chairman however is in the driver seat, commanding control over the city and outcomes for all its people in perpetrating an oppressive racist corporate agenda to crush Black families and communities of color and working residents of the District of Columbia.

To see this agenda and the people who pull the puppet strings, click the following links:

By: Chris Otten, DC4RD, co-facilitator

Mumbo vs. Muriel

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Remember when Muriel Bowser, Mayor of the District of Columbia said Mumbo Sauce — DC’s famed condiment choice for chicken wings, fries, and pretty much anything yummy — annoyed her.

Well apparently rich white dudes don’t annoy her, whether it be out-of-town developers salivating over the latest public land giveaway, or most recently her stooping for Michael Bloomberg who is running for President in 2020. Bowser demonstrates that if these dudes got the money she is ready to serve up her soul and most certainly without the #MumboSauce.

However, the resultant socioeconomic policies promulgated by Bowser and city officials in service to wealthy white men is actively harming local Black residents and longtime DC families living in established working-class neighborhoods of color.

D.C. has the highest ‘intensity’ of gentrification of any U.S. city recent studies show. Wapo story || DCist story.

Colby King’s May 24, 2019, opinion piece in the Washington Post discusses the actions and consequences of Mayor Bowser and DC government in forcing, “poor folks…out of their neighborhoods.”

King describes how the city plays an “active role in development [by] selling or leasing publicly owned land, changing zoning laws, closing alleys and providing developers with inducements to construct new — or refurbish old — buildings [putting] upward pressure on rents and housing values [forcing] poor folks…out of their neighborhoods… .”

DC PEOPLE ARE THE SAUCE. DISPLACEMENT IS A CRIME AGAINST PEOPLE AND CULTURE!

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#mumboss #mumbomuriel #mumbosauce

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DCHA’s “Repositioning” Plan is Privatization of Public Housing

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On Friday, January 31, 2020, Councilmember Anita Bonds who chairs the DC Council Housing Committee, hosted a hearing on the DC Department of Housing Authority (DCHA) and their “respositioning” plan for DC’s public housing stock — real homes where real people live and have real personal and professional networks.

Some public housing residents were in attendance and testified to the deplorable conditions that Chairwoman Bonds has heard about with public housing continually for years — mold, pipes leaking, rodents, infrastructure, etc.

There were ANC Commissioners and Ward 6 Public Housing residents there, like Commissioner Rhonda Hamilton who says she knows of pets living in better conditions than that provided at housing managed by DCHA.

There were other residents testifying from Greenleaf Public Housing in the Southwest, DC, Ward 6, testifying about the terrible living conditions that must be repaired now, not over a 17-year DCHA plan.

Mrs. Shont’a High, President of the Park Morton Residents Council in Ward 1 describes how DCHA has begun the plan to “revitalize” her community. She speaks about being thrown out of her home of nearly twenty years by DCHA’s repositioning plan.

Denise Thomas lives/ed in Ward 7’s Kenilworth Gardens, which has seen DCHA begin its “repositioning” on her home and neighborhood and how its destroying all of it.

Chris Otten, a DCHA client in Ward 1, describes what it is like living in a DCHA-subsidized unit that is managed by a private slumlord with toxic dust and mildew never being remedied.

Paulette Matthews, bounced from Barry Farms Public Housing in Ward 8, now lives in Ward 1, who describes the horrendous disruption from displacement and how it has changed her life and that of her family.

Councilmember Elissa Silverman actually sums it up DCHA’s “repositioning” plan during her opening remarks:

I am extremely concerned that DCHA is not just drifting away from serving its most vulnerable residents but deliberately abandoning our most vulnerable residents. I fear that DCHA has grown into an appendage of the real-estate division of our Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED). And, this is going to lead to the continued gentrification of our city.

For the full Council video, all 13GB’s of it, click this link.

Myth Busting!

Housing: Supply & Demand MYTHBUSTING!

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In a recent post to a popular DC listserve, there was this comment:

A new ADU (and ADUs at scale) will “contribute to affordability” in terms of adding supply, and thereby reducing the overall pressure for price appreciation and the concomitant pressure to convert existing lower priced housing to standards and expectations which satisfy higher priced segments of the market.

Richard Layman rlaymandc@yahoo.com, Saturday, February 1, 2020, Comment on Columbia Heights listserve columbia_heights@yahoogroups.com

The above intriguing comment seems to not consider the concept that #HousingIsNotACommodity and rather #HousingIsAHumanRight . . . right?

Moreover, the lack of a race and class analysis in pubic discussions around housing and jobs at this point is frustratingly maddening. Essentially, one can enjoy a “LIVABALE WALKABLE” city only if you are young, professional, single, and likely white.

Going to the facts spells that housing is a human need not a product and exposes this false sense that supply of any new housing relieves some kind of “pressure.”

First, let’s take a gander at the Income Gap analysis vis-a-vis housing costs in the City:
* https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2016/11/02/net-worth-of-white-households-in-d-c-region-is-81-times-greater-than-black-households/
* https://www.dcfpi.org/all/economic-inequality-in-dc-reflects-disparities-in-income-wages-wealth-and-economic-mobility-policy-solutions-should-too/

economic-inequality-blog-fig1-768x908.png

This means the posture of continuing to construct more and more of the status quo unaffordable housing for single wealthy professionals without an equally important push for getting longtime DC residents and Black families real jobs with real pay to be able to stay here during the modern day goldrush is simply ignorant and discriminatory. 

And, even if policy makers and the Mayor could wrangle some economic systems that actually helps longtime DC residents and families, there’s no way they will be implemented in a timely way to keep up or be substantial enough to help most people becoming more and more vulnerable to displacement. 

The HOT real estate market in DC is appreciating way too fast for most folks to keep up with rents, taxes, and housing costs generally:
* https://dc.curbed.com/washington-dc-market-reports
* https://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2019/09/04/as-d-c-area-housing-market-booms-researchers-warn.html

Bottom-line, given the absolute real estate fire of the last decade and construction of tens of thousands of unaffordable single professional housing, there is absolutely no excuse that anyone should be pushing the idea that constructing any housing type at any cost is ok without a race and class analysis, especially considering the ballyhoo’d equitable development as expressed in Comp Plan Framework changes.

MORE FACTS THAT DISPEL SUPPLY & DEMAND MYTH:

NEW UNITS DON’T BRING PRICES DOWN

The DC Zoning Chair suitably explains as follows:

Tens of thousands of new largely luxury studios/1bedrooms have been built in DC, but prices keep going up and up and up:
* https://twitter.com/ecoylogy/status/1224692194277298179
* https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/z3bnme/tons-of-new-apartments-are-being-built-that-almost-no-one-can-afford

DC POPULATION GROWTH SLOWING DOWN

The influx of DC newcomers (old rhetoric: 1,000 new people a month as routinely expressed by Council Chairman Phil Mendelson) has become a trickle now, and in some months there’s more a net exit of people.
https://wamu.org/story/19/01/30/the-reason-d-c-s-once-dramatic-population-growth-is-slowing-down-and-why-thats-not-so-bad/

WE MUST ACCOUNT FOR THE CURRENTLY VACANT UNITS IN THE CITY

So what of the 30,000 vacant units according to the census, where the vacancy information gathered by the American Housing Survey (AHS) conducted biennially by the U.S. Census (more info about the survey below) shows this:

Screen Shot 2019-12-17 at 6.19.35 AM.png

This table (B25004) represents the 5-year estimate from the AHS for Washington, D.C.  This timeframe reflects 60 months of collected data and is the most reliable metric for estimating how many housing units fall into each of these categories.  There are also 1-year and 3-year estimates, explained here.  The Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) is the smallest level at which the survey reports data.

The substantial numbers of vacant units demonstrate how much foreign investment capital is parking itself in these new luxury buildings:
https://www.bisnow.com/washington-dc/news/capital-markets/foreign-investment-in-dc-expected-to-increase-next-year-102315

Empty units do not create successful inclusive DC communities.

The biggest purveyors of the supply & demand myth are the so-called urbanists — largely white single professionals moving back into the cities after their grandparents and parents failed suburban experience, or their cohorts from the mega-real estate industry. 

We’ve asked them to publicly debate these issues openly: David Alpert, Alex Baca, and Cheryl Cort.
* https://ggwash.org/about/staff-board
* https://www.smartergrowth.net/about/contactstaff/

In conclusion:

IF WE WANT A SUCCESSFUL INCLUSIVE CITY — THAT MEANS WE GOTTA HAVE POLICIES AND PEOPLE THAT ESPOUSE SUCH IDEALS, NOT JUST STATE THE RHETORIC. WE ALSO HAVE TO HAVE REAL FACTS AND PEOPLE-CENTERED ANALYSIS BEFORE US, NOT JUST REAL ESTATE DOGMA.

MW COG

MW COG SETS 2030 HOUSING NUMBERS

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UPDATE ON SEP. 11, 2019, MEETING AT METRO WASHINGTON COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS (COG) REGARDING HOUSING IN THE DMV THROUGH 2030

On September 11, 2019, the COG passed a joint resolution that sets into motion the coordination of housing preservation and production targets across the DMV. The goal: 320,000 new or preserved housing units by 2030, and of these 2/3 of the units should be considered “affordable.” Chair of the COG, DC City Councilmember, Robert White, emphasized that these units should be built to include 3+ bedroom units, aka family-sized units.

Find the COG documentation and resolution below:
* https://www.mwcog.org/newsroom/2019/09/11/officials-set-regional-housing-targets-call-for-collaboration-to-address-production-and-affordability-challenges/

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RESOLUTION R27-2019
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Major points:

  • 320K Housing Units Added 2020-2030 (an additional 75,000 units beyond units already forcast)
  • 75% of all new housing should be located in activity centers and around high activity transit (see definitions above)
  • 75% of all new housing should be “affordable” to lower- and moderate-income housing (see definitions above).
  • To share these goals to all constituents and set targets for each jurisdictions.
  • To work with non profit private and philathnropic entities to advance these goals

ROBERT WHITE — AYES UNANIMOUS RESOLUTION MWCOG R27-2019 PASSES SEP 11 2019

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DEFINITIONS
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In reviewing the resolution and information from the COG about the Housing Production targets please understand the following definitions as they can be interpreted:

  • Accessibility — Locating housing close to transportation, transit centers, or “activity centers.” This term has almost nothing to do with universal accessibility a principle of the disability advocacy community.
  • Affordable Housing — Housing that costs $2,500/m or less. There is no mention of bedroom sizes or housing costs as a percentage of one’s income. It is strictly the government setting levels of profit making, shifting market forces and volatility from the private sector onto the public.

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NEWS REPORTS
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Some news reports that came out after:

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OMISSIONS IN THE DISCUSSION
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The following are basic planning concepts that wasn’t discussed at all or just briefly by COG before passing the resolution:

  • Expiring Affordability — What is the duration of affordable covenants that may run with the land? Shouldn’t we be ensuring that any new or preserved affordable housing exist in perpetuity.  What’s the point of expiring affordable housing covenants?
  • Public / Universal Housing — The COG made no mention of the importance of public housing and public land while setting these housing targets.  Public housing is a permanent safety net to prevent homelessness.
  • Analysis of $2500/m — How realistic is it to say “affordable” housing set at $2,500 a month.  Doesn’t this just push the status quo?

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SOME QUOTES FROM THE COG MEETING
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* CHRISTIAN DORSEY, ARLINGTON, COG — “Ready and willing to do our part” “I love three simplistic targets” “This is a big setp for our region” “Our region has failed to effectively deal with housing” “Its complicated” “Roads are full of traffic” “Net effect people are harmed” “Targets are based on thoughtful analysis” “Provide accountability” “Concept of regionalism should not be understated” “lets get it done, im excited”

* DERRICK DAVIS, PG COUNTY, COG — “we explored, what the heck is ami” “no better place to be than the dmv” quotes victor hoskins … as a great thinker.  “messaging is absolutely important, crucial to drive home, to give politicos the right message to communicate with our folks”

* JOHN FOUST, FAIRFAX — “economic development critical” “Fairfax board has committed to 5,000 units over 15 years”

* NANCY NAVARRO, MOCO — asks about the “defintion of high impact areas” when referencing jbg report; emphasizes “social justice and racial equity”

* JUSTIN WILSON, ALEX — “addressing concerns about impacts such as overcrowding schools”

* BEV PERRY, DC — “more work needs to be done”

* KATE STEWART, TKPK — “Board Retreat was helpful” quotes Matthew Desmond “Its hard to argue that housing is not an fundamental human need” … “we’ve been echoing that sentiment” “this is an historic event today” “wants to partner with Mont County”

* RUTH ANDERSON, PRINCE WILLIAM, — “Cast vote in favor” “this will help us forge our comprehensive plan”

* SENATOR GEORGE BARKER, VA, “we gotta keep stepping things up” “things already happening that are pushing us in the right direction” “fairfax is doing a tremendous job in preservng affordable housing”

* BRIDGET NEWTON, ROCKVILLE — “i think this is wonderful what we are doing with housing” “something mr jackson said, taking over current garden style neighborhoods and that we need to build hi-rises — its a problem. its a quality of life issue, displacement of current families. there’s something to be said about having a balcony, to play outide, etc.” “we don’t need 2 types — hi rise or single family” “we need a mix of housing and therefore we lived in communities with all kinds of careers and picture, and we must look at the whole picture” “climate of fear — when people hear about more housing they immediate fear the impacts to roads and schools”

* TODD TURNER, PG — “impacts that come along with the housing” “what the pressure brings to things like infrastructure” “we have to be very careful about that”

* SHARON BULOVA, FAIRFAX — abt to introduce resolution “region forward compact in 2010” “we’ve had more success in the goals than we’ve realized” ** “our air is better” “we set targets to clean up our air, and we’ve done that.” “amazon — needs affordable housing” “we need to make sure weh have housing and quality of life for the industry we want to attract and retain in our region” “we want to create affordable housing for the folks we want to work here and live here”

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DC Generally a Mess: Timeline

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DC General Hospital was hailed as a top emergency trauma center for victims with gunshot wounds, that is until Anthony Williams shut it down as part of the citywide divestment of public services serving working DC residents at the start of the millennium.

2001 – 2013

Over the past decade plus, DC General shifted from a closed hospital to an emergency hypothermia shelter, then to a family shelter as other shelters around the city were shuttered continuing the social service divestment in DC.  The shelter filled up as local politicos luxury-visions for, and gentrification of the city unfolded and homelessness skyrocketed.  Families were forced to pile into expensive motels (and still are today).   Christmas back at DC General was a depressing exercise.

2014

In 2014, the DMV was shocked by the story of Relisha Rudd, a young child living at the shelter who disappeared, furthering calls to close the shelter down.

2015

in 2015, the DC Council had already voted to support the Mayor’s $300 million dollar dispersed family shelter plan and subsequent real estate deals.  In the discussion, Mary Cheh (Ward 3 Councilmember), declares “What’s wrong with us?” as they weaken basic amenities at the proposed family shelters.

2016

Starting off 2016, Mayor Bowser unveils her plan to shut down DC General so she can replace the shelter beds in new family shelters across the city. Legislative support was affirmed again by DC Council vote in 2016, making the closure required by law.

2017

There was immediate pushback by some DC neighborhoods, but with Council support & zoning agency approvals certain to follow, the Ward-based shelter plans moved forward in 2017.

2018

In 2018, the DC General closure plans get real for the families at the city’s biggest, and only shelter available to them in the city.  Advocates speak up and say “Families, not Developers, Must be Primary Drivers of DC General Timeline” as the Mayor discretely sought Amazon’s pick to land in DC.  The Mayor wasn’t budging, DC General will close by year’s end.

As voices got louder both in critique and in seeking clarity about DC General’s closure, transition of current shelter families, and planning for Ward-based shelters, DC Councilmembers started growing spines and demanding answers and holding hearings.

What became clear at the hearings was the rush to raze all buildings at Reservation 13 (the public land where DC General exists) will impact the lives and health of families still living at DC General. The Mayor’s homeless service executives were exposed as frauds.

People demanded the shelter closure be delayed.

Advocates turned up the heat heading into June and July, 2018, gathering steam for the Council to consider legislation that would delay the closure.  Pushback from the Mayor led to the Council weakening the bill, disappointing advocates, and indeed leaving the families now at DC General exposed to injury.

DC is considered a United Nations Human Rights City.  In the midst of the DC General controversies, a report was published showing how the city policies and politcos are falling short as to this acclaim.