There is a massive housing crisis in DC. Landlords have raised rents rapidly since the end of the pandemic rent freeze, eviction filings are spiking, and thousands of our neighbors are sleeping outside. Meanwhile, developers continue to construct luxury buildings that few DC residents can actually afford. This crisis and the displacement it causes disproportionately impact Black and working class District residents.
The GND for Social Housing would create government-owned, mixed-affordability housing as a bold solution that would work to meet our housing, economic, and climate needs in one go. It is a legislative proposal that would create union jobs to create and maintain zero-emissions buildings with deeply affordable units in Washington, DC.
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“Social Housing” means that housing buildings/units would be owned and managed by the DC local government. Unlike public housing – where all units are reserved for people under a certain income – this model of housing creates an opportunity for people of all incomes to live within the same community. Thus, these buildings would be mixed-income, where families who can afford market-rate rents and families who can afford affordable housing rates can live together and be equally represented. The market-rate rents are used to cross-subsidize the affordable rents – meaning that, instead of going to someone’s pocket, all “profits” go right back into making the units affordable. This model ensures that everyone pays a fair share, without compromising the quality of housing that lower-income families have access to. After all, we all deserve healthy and safe places to live and grow.
AFFORDABLE UNITS: To create equal amounts of accessible housing, this bill would set aside ⅓ of units in a building for families making at or below 30% area median income ($30,000 a year), ⅓ at 50% area median income ($50,000 a year), and ⅓ is market rate to help subsidize affordability of affordable units.
PEOPLE OVER PROFIT: Because the building is government owned, there is no separate “landlord” or corporate interests at play. Rent would be used to maintain the buildings themselves and ensure safe and quality housing for all. Additionally, any rent that is left over (surplus rent) goes towards further deepening affordability and creating more social housing buildings, instead of profit for landlords.
GREEN BUILDINGS: To ensure that these buildings are constructed to withstand the worsening climate crisis (like the recent floods in Ward 5), these buildings would have net-zero emissions (meaning they are not contaminating the environment), would be transit-oriented (meaning they’ll be located near public transport when possible), and sustainable
TENANT LEADERSHIP: We’ve heard for years that public housing doesn’t meet the needs of tenants who often feel disempowered or without a voice. This bill has built-in tenant protection clauses that empower tenant leadership to oversee building management and maintenance.
PUBLIC OWNERSHIP: For years, DC has been “giving away” surplus public lands to developers for one dollar. These kinds of deals do little to encourage the creation of affordable housing and result in a net-loss of funds for the DC government. By prioritizing the use of public land to create social housing, this bill makes it easier for DC government to own and buy land for the creation of affordable housing - rather than relying and hoping on developers and landlords to do the right thing.
AGENCY OVERSIGHT: A common issue in DC Housing has been the lack of oversight over landlords and developers that allows them to keep raising rents. This bill establishes a new agency within DC Government – the Office of Social Housing Development – to be specifically responsible for the construction, maintenance, and growth of social housing. Rather than going through a specific management company or DCHA (which is not managed by DC government directly), residents can go to this new office to make sure they’re safe in their housing.
The GND is a framework is a package to address economic, racial inequality to tackle the climate crisis across different economic sectors. The lack of affordable and accessible housing plagues all of DC, and we believe that the Green New Deal offers an opportunity to not only create affordable housing, but to also create the jobs that back the creation and management of buildings. Because we believe in the intersections between race, class, and opportunity, we believe in tackling multiple social problems at the same time – not approaching them as piece-meal solutions. Why? Because we know that it’s the same people who are struggling to pay the bills, feed their kids, and get a good quality education. The Green New Deal became a clear framework of opportunity for the now AND the later.
We sure think so! In November of 2023, the DC Council – led by Chair of the Housing Committee, Councilmember Robert White – held a ‘round-table’ meeting with experts across the housing production industry in DC. What we heard from the experts was a resounding YES.
The key questions that Council was seeking to tackle is how we can ensure that creation of these buildings are actually affordable and self-sustaining (meaning that they won’t need more money to keep operating after an initial, sizable investment). The conversation represented people both from the for-profit and non-profit housing sectors, including developers, renters, community leaders and policy experts alike. Many pointed to the fact that cities all over the world – including our neighbors in Montgomery County – have flourishing and stable Social Housing buildings that meet basic housing needs for their communities. On the other hand, some developers raised concerns that too much funding would be needed to even create these units in the first place – taking money away from other programs that they say are on-track to meet Mayor Bowser’s affordable housing goals almost exclusively through the private market. To that, renters and public housing residents uplifted the fact that “affordable” housing in DC is still too costly, as it fails to meet the needs of families in the 30%-50% Area Median Income bracket, which is mostly represented by Black DC families, and that the quality of affordable housing available is too poor and unsafe.
It’s clear that work still need to be done to get everyone in alignment about the possibility of creating Social Housing in DC. And, it is also clear that the people know what they need and their representatives are listening. In 2022, over 150 DC residents testified in support of the Green New Deal for Social Housing bill which itself was co-sponsored by a majority of the DC Council. Since 2022, our coalition has grown to include over a dozen of community organizations, all of whom bring their different perspectives and goals to the table.
The way forward includes people like you joining our efforts, calling your Councilmembers, and making sure that your neighbors, tenant unions, congregations, ANCs, and family know that there is an opportunity to create Green, Affordable housing in DC and that the Council is already half-way there.
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Last Update: May 2024