Category: Affordable Housing

CSG in the News: D.C. Council Chairman Postpones Comprehensive Plan Vote Amid Concerns Over His Changes

Posted on by Cheryl Cort

D.C. Council Chairman Postpones Comprehensive Plan Vote Amid Concerns Over His Changes

by Jon Banister, Bisnow Washington,  D.C., September 16, 2019

The D.C. Council has postponed a key vote on the District’s Comprehensive Plan after planners and housing advocates raised concerns over a recent addition to the bill.

Council Chairman Phil Mendelson removed the final vote on amendments to the Comprehensive Plan’s Framework Element from the agenda for Tuesday’s legislative meeting and rescheduled the vote to Oct. 8, his spokesperson, Lindsey Walton, confirmed.  “We’ve received a number of comments, most of these before first readings but more discussion since then, to address issues of displacement and promoting affordable housing and so we’ve been working on what I would call tweaks to enhance what the document says with regard to those issues,” Mendelson said during a Monday press conference.

D.C. Planning Director Andrew Trueblood sent Mendelson a letter last week detailing concerns over additions to the amendments that he said could make it easier for development opponents to delay projects by appealing them in court. He called for the additions to be removed or significantly revised. Advocates including Coalition for Smarter Growth shared Trueblood’s concerns and supported his recommendations…

Read full Bisnow story here.

Will the DC Council vote for inclusion or exclusion?

Posted on by Cheryl Cort

Take Action Today

On October 8 the DC Council votes on the city’s Comprehensive Plan. Amendments must ensure that affordable housing and preventing displacement are top priorities

On October 8 (postponed from Sept. 17), the DC Council will vote on the Framework Element of the Comprehensive Plan. The plan defines DC’s priorities for development and will shape our city for years to come.

You have helped us win numerous positive amendments to the draft plan. However, the current bill includes language that undermines affordable housing and prevention of displacement, and even has text that is exclusionary and helps perpetuate housing segregation.

Tell the DC Council to fix the bill.

To fix the bill, we need the DC Council to adopt two amendments:

  1. Councilmember Brianne Nadeau’s amendment which addresses racial and social equity in DC by prioritizing affordable housing and prevention of displacement.
  2. An amendment to remove exclusionary language that makes preserving “physical and visual character” a dominating requirement in development review. This is too similar to the type of planning language that has historically perpetuated housing segregation.

It’s down to the wire, but with your help we can win these two amendments!

The Comprehensive Plan bill should ensure we meet our housing needs – affordable housing and preventing displacement.

Click here for our action page to see both amendments and send a message to the Council.

Before next Tuesday’s vote, send a message to the DC Council and let them know we want a city for all.

Thanks for all that you do,

Cheryl

—
Cheryl Cort
Policy Director
action@smartergrowth.net

The DC Comp Plan is back – let’s ensure it allows for a more inclusive city

The DC Comp Plan is back – let’s ensure it allows for a more inclusive city

Posted on by Cheryl Cort

Together with you, we’ve pressed for over two years for an updated Comprehensive Plan that makes building more affordable housing a priority for the city. But for more than a year, the guiding first chapter or “Framework Element” has been bottled up in the DC Council. Finally, the second and crucial vote on the bill will be September 17.

While the Chairman’s revisions incorporate many of the amendments we supported, it falls short of establishing affordable housing as our top priority, and doesn’t ensure that enough housing can be built across the whole city.

Send a message to the DC Council today and let them know we want a city for all.

Tell the DC Council the Comprehensive Plan must:

  • Directly address the city’s need for more housing, especially near transit, so that people across the income spectrum can have more choices about where they can live;
  • Make affordable housing the highest priority throughout the document, and in the development review process;
  • Commit to preserving existing affordable housing and prevent residents from being displaced;
  • Enable new affordable housing to be built across the city, including in Upper Northwest, where for too long some of its residents have blocked significant numbers of new homes from being built;
  • Fix the broken development approval process (including Planned Unit Developments), ensuring that affordable housing is given top priority, and that the process is predictable for those who participate in good-faith.

Email the Council today!

In our meetings with Councilmembers over the past few months we’ve pressed the case and believe there is significant support.

 

Photo credit: Ted Eytan, https://www.flickr.com/photos/taedc/36800611944/in/album-72157687591856363/

CSG in the News: D.C. wants more accessory dwelling units

Posted on by Cheryl Cort

From the Washington Business Journal:

D.C. wants more accessory dwelling units. But financing and permitting remain key roadblocks, advocates say.

By Alex Koma  – Staff Reporter, Washington Business Journal

Aug 6, 2019

The District changed its zoning laws three years ago to allow the construction of more accessory dwelling units in the city than ever before — but can homeowners actually secure the permits and financing they need to take advantage of that change?

In too many cases, housing developers and advocates say the answer is a clear “no.”

Accordingly, they’re turning to the public and private sectors alike for help in breaking down barriers across each one of those twin issue areas: finding financing for homeowners looking to build ADUs and helping them navigate the District’s permit process….

“Anyone trying to do this, they’re becoming an amateur developer going through the permitting process,” said Cheryl Cort, policy director at the Coalition for Smarter Growth. “How can we make it understandable so they know what to expect, and it’s predictable?”

See full Washington Business Journal story here.

RELEASE: CSG joins with United Planning Organization to Announce Launch of ADU DC, an Accessory Dwelling Unit Initiative in Washington, DC

Posted on by Cheryl Cort

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | Aug 6, 2019

United Planning Organization Announces Launch of ADU DC, an Accessory Dwelling Unit Initiative in Washington, DC

Initiative will catalyze affordable rental housing and increase financial stability for lower-income homeowners in Washington, DC

WASHINGTON, DC: Today, the United Planning Organization announced the launch of ADU DC, a pilot initiative to make accessory dwelling units (ADUs) more accessible to lower-income homeowners in Washington, DC. The initiative is presented by United Planning Organization in collaboration with Coalition for Smarter Growth and founding corporate supporter Citi Community Development.

An ADU is a secondary dwelling unit on a single family home lot, such as a basement or garage apartment or a free-standing structure. A 2016 change to DC’s zoning regulations allows for ADUs to be built as a matter of right in certain low-density residential neighborhoods. ADUs benefit homeowners by creating an income stream, while adding lower cost and affordable housing in existing neighborhoods.

ADU DC aims to help qualified homeowners build ADUs on their properties; give greater access to affordable and lower-priced housing in the District; and add housing stock by educating homeowners about ADU development, zoning, permitting, design, and financing.

 

“ADU DC has the potential to empower residents to create affordable housing in their own communities,” said Dana Jones, President and CEO, United Planning Organization. “Through this innovative approach, homeowners will be able to increase property values, age in place, build intergenerational wealth and grow new skill sets in development and property management.”

 

“In Washington, DC, approximately one in three Black residents is a homeowner. Yet, research shows that on average, Black households have lower home values and lower incomes than their White counterparts. As a result, Black households in DC have a net worth 81 times lesser than White households,” said Robert Burns, Senior Vice President, Citi Community Development. “Accessory dwelling units present a unique opportunity for homeowners to increase their incomes and begin to close the wealth gap. By supporting ADU DC we aim to help enable more homeowners to boost their financial resilience, while adding much-needed affordable housing for renters in the region.”

“In 2016, DC reformed its restrictions on accessory apartments, now we must ensure that homeowners, especially moderate and low income homeowners, can take full advantage of this new opportunity,” said Cheryl Cort, Coalition for Smarter Growth.

As part of the initiative, the Coalition for Smarter growth and UPO will produce “how to” guides, a report of barriers, a Homeowner’s ADU manual, a policy brief on financing for lower-income homeowners, and procedural recommendations for government.

ADU DC was announced at a multisector launch event featuring a panel of experts that highlighted current regulatory barriers, financing, and case studies from ADU initiatives nationwide.

“Mayor Bowser has set an ambitious goal for DC to create 36,000 more homes, 12,000 of which must be affordable,” said Polly Donaldson, Director, DC Department of Housing and Community Development. “In order to achieve this goal we must think differently, be bolder, and create new affordable housing tools; ADUs fit that bill and this initiative brings us one step closer to our goal.”

DC’s rapidly rising housing prices pose dire challenges to low income families. In the last decade, the city has lost half of its low-priced and affordable housing. DC’s lower-income households increasingly pay more than half of their incomes for housing, or are pushed out of the District’s housing market altogether. For older homeowners, rising values have been both a threat and an opportunity. Rising property taxes that follow increased values can be a threat to long-time homeowners on low and fixed incomes. But higher property values also mean greater wealth that can be used for retirement and shared with the next generation. This opportunity is especially important for African American homeowners who experience wide gaps in wealth with their White counterparts.

About United Planning Organization
United Planning Organization is a human and community development organization. As the Community Action Agency for Washington DC, UPO’s federally-mandated purpose is to help people lift themselves out of poverty. UPO surveys DC residents to learn the gaps in community needs and invents ways to bridge those gaps by uniting people with opportunities. A staff of 400 helps over 50,000 DC residents each year, with impacts in education, employment, health, housing counseling, and in strengthening families and communities.

About Citi
Citi, the leading global bank, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management.

About Coalition for Smarter Growth 
The Coalition for Smarter Growth promotes walkable, inclusive, and transit-oriented communities in the Washington DC region, and the land use and transportation policies and investments needed to make those communities flourish. CSG combines grassroots advocacy with policy expertise, media communications, and relationships with elected officials to advance smart growth. After many years of effort, CSG helped reform ADU zoning restrictions for DC in 2016, and since then has worked to bring down the barriers to building ADUs.

CONTACT: 
Lauren Kannry
lkannry@thorpesearl.com
202.491.1001

ADU DC Initiative Presentations

 

CSG in the News: What It Takes To Build Accessory Dwelling Units (And Why Some People Oppose Them)

Posted on by Cheryl Cort
Thursday, Jul 25 2019 • 12 p.m. (ET)The Kojo Nnamdi Show

What It Takes To Build Accessory Dwelling Units (And Why Some People Oppose Them)

Listen to the Kojo Nnamdi Show, WAMU 

On the Kojo Nnamdi show, CSG’s Jane Lyons joins the discussion on the the Montgomery County Council’s decision to reduce restrictions for accessory dwelling units (ADUs) despite some residents voicing opposition.

Guests

  • Rebecca Tan Local reporter, The Washington Post; @rebtanhs
  • Hilary Phillips-Rogers Executive member of the Greater Olney Civic Association
  • Jane Lyons Maryland Advocacy Manager, Coalition for Smarter Growth; @janeplyons
  • Ileana Schinder Washington, D.C. Architect; @IleanaSchinder

Listen to WAMU’s Kojo Nnamdi show here.

CSG testimony in favor of Montgomery County housing legislation

Posted on by Emily Maurer

July 12, 2019

Montgomery County Council

Council Office Building

100 Maryland Ave

Rockville, MD 20850

Bill 18-19 — Landlord Tenant Relations — Relation Expenses (Support) and Bill 20-19 — Landlord Tenant Relations — Licensing of Rental Housing — Fee Exemption (Support)

Testimony for July 16, 2019

Jane Lyons, Maryland Advocacy Manager 

President Navarro and Councilmembers, thank you for the opportunity to speak today. I am here to urge your support for two bills, both of which advance the Coalition for Smarter Growth’s mission of creating more inclusive, livable communities. 

First, Bill 18-19 requires that if a tenant’s housing is condemned as unfit for human habitation, a landlord must make a relocation payment to the tenant and provide a tenant with right of first refusal. Given the current housing crisis, low-income tenants often have few choices but to locate in housing that is substandard but affordable. When that housing is condemned due to poor conditions for which the tenant is not responsible, the tenant must then face the expensive task of moving, possibly to a more expensive home. 

Further, the right of first refusal provision ensures that tenants have the option to return to their homes after repairs. To truly have mixed-income, inclusive communities, we must protect renters, especially those at the highest risk of displacement due to health and safety violations. This is common sense legislation that would make Montgomery County a more welcoming place for low-income renters. 

Next, Bill 20-19 is linked to a familiar issue: accessory dwelling units. CSG and partner organizations that care about providing a diverse and affordable supply of housing have highlighted the numerous benefits of ADUs. One of the greatest benefits is allowing individuals with disabilities to live closer to caretakers or relatives – whether that be parents, siblings, children, or extended family. Similarly, individuals with disabilities can also benefit from the lower rents often offered for ADUs. 

One of the biggest barriers to providing ADUs as a housing option for disabled individuals is the cost of licensing and constructing an ADU. Exempting the license fee for ADUs occupied by disabled individuals will help lower the overall cost of providing an ADU. In addition, we hope that the Council will pursue opportunities to assist homeowners, especially low-income homeowners, with ADU financing. Financing assistance can include partnering with banks, providing interest-free loans, and creating a financing guide. 

This is a population that stands to benefit the most from ADUs; therefore, I urge you to help incentivize ADUs as a housing solution for individuals with disabilities, while also enabling greater integration into neighborhoods and community life. 

Thank you for your time.