The future of affordable housing in D.C. won’t be confined to the usual neighborhoods, D.C.’s mayor said Tuesday.
Mayor Muriel Bowser released the District’s Housing Equity Report, which will create 36,000 new homes by 2025, 12,000 of which will be affordable to low-income residents.
But they won’t be bunched together in the typical areas where you see low-income housing; they will placed to change the way things have been for a long time.
”What we see in D.C., especially in housing, are the long-lasting impacts of policies that were created to disadvantage specific populations, especially African Americans,” Bowser said.
Those disadvantages are evident, she added: “The life expectancy of a resident living in Ward 8 is 15 years shorter than a resident living in Ward 3.”
In attempt to try to level the playing field for all residents, the new low-income housing will be integrated throughout the District’s eight wards, giving those in lower income brackets access to the same transportation opportunities and amenities as those of higher income levels.
The mayor’s office said in a statement that D.C. would become “among the first cities in the nation to create area-specific goals for affordable housing and dedicate an entire initiative to examining the barriers and opportunities within each area.”
Bowser admits there will likely be push back from the plan. “Will there be tough conversations? For sure. But will we have a fairer and more just city in the end? For sure.”
The mayor also released a proposed draft of a new Comprehensive Plan.
The public review period of the plan runs through Dec. 20.
