Posts tagged Housing
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Can housing vouchers for all stem the region’s housing crisis?
As the pandemic exacerbates the nation’s housing crisis, President Biden and Acting Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Marcia Fudge have declared support for opening up Housing Choice Vouchers (also known as Section 8 vouchers) to every eligible American. What impact could this have on the housing crisis in the region? Keep reading…
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A DC nonprofit plans to provide additional transitional housing for LGBTQ youth
DC nonprofit Supporting and Mentoring Youth Advocates and Leaders, or SMYAL, recently announced that it is opening an extended transitional housing (ETH) program, its third facility for LGBTQ-identifying young people experiencing homelessness. Keep reading…
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A chance to do things differently? How the Greenleaf Gardens redevelopment plan could fulfill its goals.
Last November, the DC Housing Authority (DCHA) selected a co-developer for its planned redevelopment of Southwest’s Greenleaf Gardens community and embarked upon a precedent-setting approach to engaging Greenleaf Gardens residents. Now, DCHA has brought that co-development team into its first meetings with residents and stakeholders to explain the proposal that so inspired confidence in DCHA’s selection committee. Here’s what that proposal entails and how it relates to what DCHA required in its request for proposals (RFP). Keep reading…
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DC Council held a roundtable about how to get emergency rental assistance to residents. Here’s my testimony.
On February 22, Ward 1 Councilmember Brianne Nadeau held a roundtable on emergency rental assistance. The roundtable also addressed the goings-on of the mayor’s strike force on rental housing, a group of mayoral appointees tasked with delivering 10 recommendations by mid-March on how to “save” rental housing. by mid-March. Alex Baca, GGWash’s policy manager offered testimony at this meeting. Keep reading…
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Montgomery County is having a bunch of conversations right now about opening up some of its wealthiest neighborhoods to more affordable homes. The big question is: when?
Montgomery County has a housing shortage, particularly for lower-priced homes. In December, County Councilmember Will Jawando introduced a bill, ZTA 20-07, that would allow duplexes, townhomes, and small apartment buildings on “R-60” lots within one mile of Red Line stations. The Planning Department is already working on its own plans to create more “missing middle” homes, including one focused on downtown Silver Spring that could involve zoning changes and Thrive 2050, which looks at the entire county and will not involve any zoning changes. Both of these efforts will play out over the next several months, with many opportunities for public input. Keep reading…
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A $38 million HUD loan fund will finance affordable housing preservation in DC
DC has secured funding to preserve hundreds of affordable housing units, thanks to a loan program from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The $38.8 million in financing through HUD’s Section 108 loan guarantee program will be used for affordable housing preservation projects that DC has deemed worthy of funding but didn’t previously have money for. Keep reading…
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What role could trailers play in combating the housing crisis in Virginia?
Are they trailers or the new face of affordable housing? That’s the debate policy-makers and advocates are having across Virginia as they work to figure out what role manufactured units should play in addressing the commonwealth’s affordable housing crisis. Keep reading…
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Residents say landlord disinvestment is making a bad situation worse at a Langley Park apartment complex
The Bedford and Victoria Station Apartment complex in Langley Park, Maryland is a microcosm of immigrant neighborhoods across the region. Like tenants in Chirilagua, Culmore, Manassas Park, and Montgomery Village, tenants at Bedford and Victoria Station apartments say they are confronting a trifecta of challenges: a global pandemic, severe unemployment, and landlord neglect. Keep reading…
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The Faircloth Amendment, explained
Last summer, the House of Representatives passed the Moving Forward Act, a $1.5 trillion plan to upgrade the national infrastructure and combat climate change by reducing demand for fossil fuels. The bill incorporated a handful of amendments related to housing and homelessness offered by a group of Congressional Democrats. One of those amendments would have repealed the Faircloth Amendment, a 1990s-era rule that prevents the expansion of public housing in the United States. But what exactly is the Faircloth Amendment and why is there so much debate around the subject? Keep reading…
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Why my family left 16th Street Heights
When I first moved to my lovely basement rowhouse apartment on the corner of 15th and Buchanan in the Sixteenth Street Heights in 2012, my then-roommate and I had few criteria on where to live. We were looking for an apartment with high enough ceilings so he could practice the upright bass, and I wanted to be near the S or the 50 bus lines. But when my wife and I decided we wanted to purchase a home, we quickly realized we could not afford to live in the neighborhood we have called home for so many years. Keep reading…