Posts by Patrick McAnaney
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How federal stimulus accidentally bottlenecked affordable housing in DC
In the third installment of “Affordable Howsing”, a series on how affordable housing is built in DC, we delve into how several projects have ground to a halt recently thanks to the District’s crash into the federal limit on private-activity bond issuance. Keep reading…
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Understanding the District’s Housing Production Trust Fund
There’s a potentially powerful tool for building affordable housing in DC’s Housing Production Trust Fund, but the program’s structure and history make for major challenges to achieving its aims. Learn more about the HPTF and its future prospects. Keep reading…
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Why affordable housing can’t pay for itself
Understand development costs, the financing needed to meet them, and the ever-present “gap.” This is the first in an ongoing series about how affordable housing works. Keep reading…
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“Gentle” density can save our neighborhoods
A year ago this month, Minneapolis made national headlines by adopting a new comprehensive plan with two objectives: reducing racial segregation and improving housing affordability. Its method for doing so was through zoning—the plan effectively banned single-family-exclusive zoning by allowing three-family buildings in all residential neighborhoods across the city. Keep reading…
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What housing does the District’s workforce need?
Increasingly, DC's workforce is comprised of either high-income or low-income jobs, with few middle-income jobs available. Among DC’s most common occupations, 40% are low wage jobs that do not pay enough to cover DC’s high housing prices. Keep reading…
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Adams Morgan is losing diversity, but is new development the culprit?
Since the blockbuster Comprehensive Plan hearing in March, it has become clear that the desire for community conversation about growth and gentrification is not limited to the DC Council chambers. Recently, a similar debate broke out on the Adams Morgan neighborhood listserv. Keep reading…
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Walk, bike, and transit benefits boost people of all incomes
Last Tuesday, the DC Policy Center wrote that the “DC government does not need to favor those who walk or bike to work. And it should not favor those who drive either.” I agree. Where we differ is that the Policy Center opposes a flexible commuter benefits bill the Coalition for Smarter Growth supports, the Transportation Benefits Equity Act. Keep reading…