Can DC Avoid Becoming SF?
D.C. Is Rapidly Gentrifying and the Fate of its Affordable Housing Hangs in the Balance
This week I published a feature story in Washington City Paper looking at the future of housing in D.C. I spent the last month trying to make sense of the dizzying number of promises, plans, and research studies flying around about housing affordability here.
It’s a cliché but not an exaggeration to say D.C. is at a crossroads. It’s become one of the most expensive cities to live in, it tops the national charts when it comes to gentrification and displacement of low-income residents, and it also has a booming economy and higher-paying jobs compared to many other cities—so people increasingly want to move here.
In some ways D.C.’s challenges are unique, but in other ways they are not, and many places are trying to figure out right now how to handle the pressures of building more housing and accommodating population growth, with ensuring that existing residents can survive and thrive in the communities they’ve long known and dedicated themselves to.
D.C. leaders need to figure out what kind of city it wants to be, and who it will be a city for. I worked to include a lot of different perspectives in this story, from politicians and policymakers to activists and developers and researchers.
You can read the story here