How one Petworth ANC is forging a path for affordable housing

“We do not have enough of the share of affordable housing across other communities, and because of that, we put a tremendous burden on others,” ANC 4C commissioner Jonah Goodman said earlier this month. It’s spicy, but also true, and not exclusive to Petworth, where 4C is located: The District’s development landscape is uneven and unfair.

Affluent neighborhoods, which track closely with parts of the city zoned for single-family residences, rarely see new development at all. When it happens, it’s either teardowns of smaller single-family houses, replaced with larger single-family houses, or large, mixed-use projects. Meanwhile, rowhomes in DC are never going to cost $200,000 ever again, and it’s extremely challenging to build the sort of mid-sized apartment building that eventually filters down to costing slightly less than new construction. It’s vexing, and the solutions are piecemeal.

That said, ANCs do have some available powers, and ANC 4C has been a leader in affirming new development so as to increase the construction of more affordable housing. Its affordable housing guidelines, put into practice in the Hebrew Home redevelopment, have created clarity for developers interested in building in 4C, leading to greater negotiating power for the ANC.

Aubrie, who is a teacher at Center City Petworth, located in 4C, has been working with ANC 4C Commissioners toresearch ways for the ANC to expand its impact within the community and to better understand its powers to expand affordable housing inventory. This research entailed conversations with nonprofits, policy organizations and fellow commissioners to get a sense of the initial needs and concerns regarding housing.

Following these conversations, Aubrie inventoried existing affordable housing units in 4C, in order to have better documentation for future conversations with developers and the community. Many of those existing affordable units are rental units subsidies that will expire in the coming years, and none of which are single-family homes. Finally, a plan was put in place to have a community conversation, involving those interested in affordable housing, residents of 4C, commissioners, and guest panelists. Throughout this process, it was clear that there are many misconceptions around affordable housing and that there are clear ways for community members to become better involved.

On December 16, ANC 4C hosted a community conversation about housing. Aubrie and ANC 4C01 commissioner Charlotte Nugent facilitated the discussion, with Alex, 4C10 commissioner Jonah Goodman, and Martin Mellett of Jubilee Housing as panelists.

Here are some of the topics we discussed:

What is affordable housing?

HUD defines affordable housing as costing no more than 30 percent of someone’s income, and a lot of housing programs are based on this measure. But the way that we talk about affordable housing in our day-to-day lives often refers not to affordable-housing policies like the Housing Production Trust Fund, or the Local Rent Supplement Program, or even income-restricted units, but housing that we consider reasonably priced. As Martin explained during the meeting, homeownership, co-op models, and rentals exist within our housing stock, and the tools to reach each of those varies depending on what the goal is.

How do we create and preserve affordable housing?

It’s not easy, or guaranteed. Knowing more about existing housing stock can help considerably, which is why Aubrie identified affordable units in ANC 4C. But creating and preserving affordable housing requires a lot of funding, typically public funding, which is allocated through DC’s budget process or via federal tax credits.

What can Ward 4 residents do to support the creation and preservation of affordable housing?

Supporting affordable housing is a long-term engagement, and isn’t necessarily tied to the development of a specific project. Go to your monthly ANC meetings, introduce yourself to your commissioners, and be a positive and affirmative member of your community who, rather than questioning if housing should be built, is actively engaged in making that housing more closely aligned with affordable housing goals.

GGWash’s policy team does, from time to time, provide calls to action to testify in on housing and land-use related policies. Most recently, we asked you to urge your councilmembers to pass the Comprehensive Plan, alongside changes to the text and Future Land Use Map that add allowable density, particularly in affluent neighborhoods.

Where is affordable housing located in ANC 4C?

The initial inventoried list of affordable units in ANC 4C can be found here and includes data available from Open Data DC and HousingInsights. The majority of affordable housing in ANC 4C can be found on Georgia Avenue or directly off of it, along with several builds off of Spring Road and Upshur Street. Many of the projects are smaller builds, consisting of less than three affordable units total, while the largest projects consist of upwards of 150 units.

There’s quite a bit more to say about what Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners, specifically, can—and can’t—do with regard to housing affordability. We look forward to discussing this in a future post! In the meantime, you can view a recording of ANC 4C’s community conversation on housing here.