Ward 4 Dems of DC

@Ward4DemsDC

The Ward 4 Democrats of Washington, DC provide information & forums that are of interest to the 52,000 registered Democrats who live in Ward 4 of Washington DC.

Washington DCJoined September 2013

220 Following

1,188 Followers

Ward 4 Dems of DC’s Tweets

Pinned Tweet

Ward 4 Dems of DC

@Ward4DemsDC

Jun 29, 2022

Join us Saturday, July 9th at 11am for the first event in our housing forum series! We'll be focusing on understanding the current state of housing in DC & Ward 4, and learning what needs are going unmet. Register to join on Mobilize! mobilize.us/dcdemsward4/ev

Show this thread

Ward 4 Dems of DC Retweeted

Candace Tiana Nelson

@candacetiana

Oct 20, 2022

Another night Phone Banking! The

@Ward4DemsDC

are phone banking every Wednesday night up to Election Day. Many thanks to my Core Team, and I am so proud of our impressive coordinator,

@gabriske

. She is the future! I too got my start in high school. mobilize.us/dcdemsward4/ev

Laurence B. Minor II and 3 others

Ward 4 Dems of DC

@Ward4DemsDC

Sep 6, 2022

Social housing was a popular topic at our July housing forum. Tomorrow night ANC4B's housing justice committee will be providing feedback on proposed social housing legislation in DC! twitter.com/Ward4DemsDC/st

This Tweet is unavailable.

Ward 4 Dems of DC

@Ward4DemsDC

Jul 19, 2022

Recording of "Housing Needs, Met and Unmet, In DC" now available! - mailchi.mp/2a0e50871ecf/r

Ward 4 Dems of DC Retweeted

Thanks to

for having me to discuss my views on social housing as a way forward to solve the affordable housing crisis in DC. Was a great conversation with fellow panelists. Below is a detailed thread that captures our discussion if anyone is interested.

Quote Tweet

Ward 4 Dems of DC

@Ward4DemsDC

Jul 9, 2022

And we're kicking off! Let's begin by meeting our panelists. twitter.com/Ward4DemsDC/st…

Show this thread

Ward 4 Dems of DC

@Ward4DemsDC

Jul 9, 2022

And that's a wrap! Thanks so much to our panelists: Drew Hubbard, Sheldon Clark, Beth Mellen, and Will Merrifield. Thanks also to moderator James Wright, and to Anita Bonds for jumping on to answer questions about the Green New Deal. And thanks to all of you who attended!

Beth Mellen: We never want tenants to end up in landlord-tenant court. But if your neighbors end up in that situation, please reach out to us at Legal Aid. Landlord Tenant Legal Assistance Network 202-780-2575 probono.center/LTLANintake Learn more here: dccourts.gov/sites/default/

Show this thread

Ward 4 Dems of DC Retweeted

Geeking out with my

at this morning’s housing forum! Glad to hear

@AnitaBondsDC

agree to hold a hearing on

@CMLewisGeorgeW4

social housing bill!! And always grateful for the expertise and wise counsel of

Sheldon Clark!

Drew Hubbard: In October, a new program comes into effect called an Heirs Fund that helps people whose parents die without a will with the financial and legal burdens that result. This will help long time DC residents keep homes in their families.

Councilmember

expects more than 100 witnesses at the hearing and is looking forward to learning more on social housing. She thanks panelist Will Merrifield for his work on the issue.

Now

hops on the call. She says that recess is coming up, and they don't hold hearings during recess. Once the legislative session starts in the fall, she plans to hold a hearing on the Green New Deal bill. The specific date will come through the secretary's office.

Q: Has the Mayor's Administration responded to the Green New Deal bill by

@CMLewisGeorgeW4

which includes social housing? Will there be a hearing this session? Drew Hubbard: Once the bill is further through the process, the Admin will respond.

Sheldon adds: we need to support stewardship activities. We need to help coops maintain their buildings and stay solvent as orgs. And we need to ensure that affordable housing isn't flipping to market rate at 40 years.

Sheldon calls out the importance of preserving existing affordable housing, not just new construction. After 40 years buildings can revert to market rate. There's 1000s of units at risk in the next five years. And if there's no sale, there's no way to intervene like thru TOPA.

Beth: Regarding oversight, the HPTF often doesn't provide enough info for the community to oversee. We have a hard time figuring out how much $ the govt pays in subsidies. This year, the council put some HPTF transparency measures into the budget, which may help some.

Beth: During the pandemic, small landlords were constantly calling council members to say "we're struggling, people aren't paying rent". Renters need to be turning to the city council for help too, they can't just be hearing from landlords.

Drew (cont): These tax credits get renewed every 15 years, and the Trust Fund gets renewed every 40 years. We track income levels and make sure they're matched. We also check building conditions. We help ensure that these buildings are in compliance.

Q: What kind of oversight exists for these programs that are meant to ensure affordable housing? Drew Hubbard: A lot of our projects involve low income tax credits. Developers/owners of projects have to report back to the federal government when they use those tax credits.

More about the green new deal bill:

janeeseward4.com

Introducing Green New Deal Legislation to Create Social Housing and Remove Lead Pipes in DC -...

Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George and five other Councilmembers introduced the Green New Deal for Housing Act to revolutionize how the District produces and preserves affordable housing by...

's bill on social housing, which was mentioned earlier - what's the status of that? A: The bill has seven cosponsors, included

@AnitaBondsDC

who is in the audience. The next step is a hearing.

About 15-16 years ago, National Harbor was being developed. When our moderator James Wright asked, he was told, "We will not have low income housing here!" He wonders, are we heading in the same direction with sites like Walter Reed?

Q: In Ward 4, we have the big Walter Reed development. Could low income people even afford to move there? Drew Hubbard: Walter Reed is a big project w/ lots of sub-projects targeting a mix of incomes. We fund affordable housing on those sites. The market handles higher incomes.

Our own Renee Bowser adds the following stat into the chat: A family of 4 at 30% median family income (MFI) can afford monthly rent of about $1000. There are 49,639 households in DC at 30% MFI.

Beth: We work with people facing eviction. And the problem is rent is too damn high. They need subsidies, but subsidies can feed into the problem. Vouchers help the rent stay high. Beth urges the gov't to pursue "rent reasonableness" so vouchers don't give landlords a profit.

Beth: In Ward 4, there are 84,000 people in the ward. 40% black, 32% white, 25% latinx. Average value of owner-occupied housing is just over $850k. Median income in Ward 4 is $108,810. And 6% of families in Ward 4 have income below the federal poverty line.

Will: Average market rent in DC for a two bedroom is $38k. The average worker makes $31k. So there's gotta be subsidies somewhere, whether it's the government or someone else. There's a subsidy wait list, usually through vouchers. People die waiting for subsidies.

Q: What are the number and % of households in Ward 4 at these various MFI levels? A: Ward 4 is representative of the city, with ppl at a variety of income levels. If you look at rent burden, almost half in DC are rent burdened. So I'd guess half of ward 4 is rent burdened.

Sheldon: The gov't is accountable to people through elections, but people want control of their community on a day-to-day basis. He believes that in addition to gov't run social housing, we need to use "all the tools in the toolbox". Wants a mix of public + private.

Will: Ward 4's own

has proposed a bill as part of the Green New Deal to establish social housing.

To learn more about social housing, Will Merrifield recommends looking at the example of Vienna: huduser.gov/portal/pdredge

Will (cont): More than $200 million of prime real estate in Southwest DC was given to a for-profit developer for $1. Goldman Sachs'-funded developers built luxury housing. And now rents and cost of housing in Southwest DC has skyrocketed. It profits Wall St, not DC residents.

Will (cont): Social housing is economically efficient. It cuts out the developer, because the government is leading development. "Social housing is deeply affordable, mixed income housing that pays for itself." It decommodifies housing and removes it from international markets

Will: What DC is doing is not social housing. Social housing is when the government builds housing. It's mixed income, with people at all levels of income paying no more than 30% of their rent. Because social housing is mixed income, it pays for itself.

Drew says the main program is the Housing Production Trust Fund. Developers come to the Fund to get extra $$ they need. This comes with a 40 year covenant to ensure affordable housing. Notes that the Trust Fund hasn't funded new construction over 50% MFI in the last 5 years.

Q: What can the mayor do about housing costs? Drew Hubbard offers a few resources: frontdoor.dc.gov dchousingsearch.org

frontdoor.dc.gov

Front Door for Your Home | Government of the District of Columbia

Explore DC Government resources for the place you call home.

Sheldon: Some people think about housing as an investment. But a lot of people really need housing *as housing*. We need to prioritize the people who need housing as housing. We need to think about pegging housing appreciation to income. This is the limited equity approach.

Beth: The median rent for a 1 bedroom in DC is over $2,000 a month. You need two adults with jobs and often that isn't enough. Also, speculators can offer all cash to buy+flip homes. They beat out people who have to work with banks + government programs for help with mortgages.

Will: The median home cost in DC recently crossed the $1 million mark. A problem in DC and across the country is the way we're producing housing. DC is attracting Wall Street investors who want to build luxury properties to maximize profits. But that's not what DC needs.

Show this thread