Three bills aimed at increasing production of housing that’s affordable.

In January, we broke ground on the Geneva, an office-to-residential conversion delivering 532 new homes – including 60 permanently affordable units – in Ward 1. It’s not only the largest conversion project in DC history, but also the largest Powering Affordable Clean Energy (PACE) deal for green energy financing in the country’s history.

And last fall, we celebrated the opening of the first phase of the Park Morton and Bruce Monroe project, which will bring over 450 units of housing, more than half of them affordable, to Ward 1 — something I’ve fought for during my entire tenure as a Councilmember.

At a time when it is popular to lament the apparent slowdown in new housing and the shortage of affordable housing, these and other projects provide evidence that D.C. remains a viable and attractive place to develop new housing. In fact, one developer who is actively doing projects in the District and Ward 1 recently told me they love doing work in D.C. – that it’s easier than elsewhere.

There is still more that can be done.

I’m using my final year in the Council to find as many ways as possible to increase the number of affordable homes in the District. I have three pieces of legislation working their way through the Council to do just that.

One would replace the existing Housing Production Trust Fund with a more robust and modern financing mechanism for investing in new housing, subsidizing deeply affordable housing, preserving existing affordable housing, and helping tenants who want to buy their buildings. 

Another sets ambitious targets for affordable housing in all parts of the District and updates them every five years, making sure that targets are met all around the District, not just in some areas. And the third allows for more and larger housing units to be built in small buildings by eliminating the requirement for a second staircase without sacrificing fire safety.  

The first two will be heard in the Committee on Housing on Monday, March 30 at 10 a.m. I encourage you to come and testify or submit written testimony. The third is expected to come before the full Council for a vote as soon as early April.

Meanwhile, the Office of Planning has just released a proposed update to the District’s Future Land Use Map. It’s disappointing: it makes minimal changes to neighborhood designations that impact allowed density. If adopted as is, it would stand in the way of developing more housing and would block the scale of development needed to address the current shortage of affordable housing. I have a lot of questions for the Office of Planning, and the Council will have a lot of work to do to get the map on track for building housing everywhere that we need it.

I’m excited about the tremendous progress we’ve made in creating more housing in Ward 1 – in fact, the planning area that includes most of Ward 1 has exceeded the housing targets set back in 2019 by 50%. To keep up and increase the momentum, we must continue to address the obstacles and create pathways to housing that make financial sense to private and nonprofit developers.