Posts by Pete Rodrigue — Contributor
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Redevelopment at Brookland Manor moves forward, but affordable housing challenges loom
Last week, DC’s Zoning Commission approved property owner MidCity Financial’s plan to redevelop the first of eight blocks at Brookland Manor. Two big questions that aren't going anywhere: How should DC regulate development, and what obligation does it have to care for low-income residents? Keep reading…
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“We’re already in jail:” Evictions and private policing at Brookland Manor
Some tenants at Brookland Manor say management and a former security company mistreated them, and that the owner, who wants to develop the property, is trying to push them out. This post takes a look at those allegations. Keep reading…
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Would plans for Brookland Manor mean fewer affordable apartments? Yes, if you look closely.
The owners of Brookland Manor say their redevelopment plan would replace all of the existing affordable housing at the complex. Residents and advocates say that isn't true. Read the latest installment in our series on one of DC's most contentious housing cases. Keep reading…
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How the DC government shot itself in the foot at Brookland Manor
MidCity, the company that owns Brookland Manor, wanted to build more housing— and more affordable housing— at Brookland Manor, but the DC government got in the way. Here's how that happened. Keep reading…
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Brookland Manor: What’s there now, what the owners want to build, and what that could mean for affordable housing
Brookland Manor is a large apartment complex in Brentwood, a short walk from the Rhode Island Metro station, where most of the tenants receive some form of government housing subsidy. It’s also home to a case study on development and affordable housing across our region. Keep reading…
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Myths and misperceptions surrounding public housing and the people who live in it
A lot of Americans believe things about federally subsidized housing that simply aren’t true. You’ll sometimes hear things like, “most federal housing assistance just means people living in government-owned high rises,” or “people who get housing assistance don’t work.” Thankfully, we have data to investigate these beliefs. Let’s look at four of the biggest myths. Keep reading…
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How exclusionary zoning limits poor families’ access to good schools
It’s a pattern so common we take it for granted: Good schools and expensive neighborhoods go together. If you want to send your child to a good public school, you’ll need to “buy into the school district.” But it’s not like this is a law of nature. It’s a byproduct of zoning laws we choose to put in place even though they systematically and needlessly harm low-income students. Keep reading…
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Is new housing, most of it for low-income residents, worth giving up an acre of park space?
DC has plans to turn half of a park on Georgia Avenue into an apartment complex that will largely be affordable housing, much of which will replace a nearby public housing project that’s in disrepair. Many residents support the plan, but some are opposed, with reasons ranging from not wanting to lose any park space to wanting the building to be shorter. Keep reading…
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How strict land-use rules keep poor people in Mississippi
For much of the 20th century, the US labor market presented unrivaled opportunity for low-income workers to move to greener economic pastures. If the economy sucked in Oklahoma, Colorado, or Mississippi, you could move to California, Connecticut, or New York. Though certain barriers to moving, like racial discrimination, have since lessened, new ones have risen to block low-income… Keep reading…
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Zoning: The hidden trillion dollar tax
Zoning in cities like DC is starting to get expensive. Maybe trillions of dollars too expensive. Economists Enrico Moretti and Chang-Tai Hsieh find that if we lowered restrictions that keep people from building new housing in just three cities (New York, San Jose, and San Francisco) to the level of the median American city, US GDP would have been 9.7% higher in 2009— about… Keep reading…