Collection: Housing, explained

Image by Alexas_Fotos licensed under Creative Commons.

How did DC once hold 800,000 people (in fewer buildings)? How do affordable housing programs work? Why is housing segregated? This is your guide to the basics of housing economics and policies in the region.

  • How DC once fit 800,000 residents

    Over 800,000 people lived within the boundaries of the District of Columbia back in 1950. How did all of these people fit, with fewer and smaller buildings than today?  Keep reading…

  • Housing public policy from A to Z

    What's AMI? the HPTF? a PUD? With these articles, you'll be familiar with the ins and outs of housing policies, which have major impacts on how and where we live, who can live there, and what it costs.  Keep reading…

  • Where DC used to bar black people from living

    One of many pieces of America’s shameful racial past was when racial covenants forbade people in certain areas from selling their houses to an African-American family. DC had these in several neighborhoods, particularly Mount Pleasant, Columbia Heights, Petworth, Park View, and Bloomingdale.  Keep reading…

  • Why the left is wrong about affordable housing

    Whenever we discuss housing affordability, we usually hear two major opposing beliefs. Both are well-honed, clear arguments. And both are wrong — or at least, not completely right. Some say that new development only provides high-end housing which doesn’t do anything to help those who really need it. Therefore, they oppose new market-rate development. Others…  Keep reading…

  • Why the right is wrong about affordable housing

    On Wednesday, we discussed what’s wrong with the notion that supply and demand don’t apply to housing. But on the other end of the spectrum, a free-market approach isn’t the whole answer to housing affordability, either. Some people (on the left) oppose new market-rate housing development. They claim that new development only provides high-end housing,…  Keep reading…

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