Put housing over every government building

Back to Basics on building housing over libraries and more

On July 11th, D.C.’s Zoning Commission approved changes to zoning at 1617 St NW that would allow for multi-family residential housing to be built over top of a reconstructed Fire and EMS station. This is a fantastic idea; one that the D.C. government should continue pursuing with (re-)development of other public facilities like libraries and schools. If we go back to basics, we see multiple benefits of putting housing on top of or on the campus of public facilities. With projects like these, we increase the supply of housing, push higher the percentage of new units that are affordable, maximize our ability to coordinate transit and bike connectivity, and reduce displacement of pre-existing residents when improvements attract new residents.

Advocacy opportunities on D.C. local issues - Week of July 29, 2024

• By August 12, email D.C.’s transportation department to support proposed safety changes on Montana Avenue NE, south from Rhode Island Avenue down to the 18th/W St NE intersection. 

• By August 16, complete this survey for placement and features of a new D.C. Public Library in the Edgewood/Eckington area of Northeast D.C. ANC 5F’s Library Task Force is pushing for a location near the Met Branch Trail and other walkable amenities in the MBT corridor.

• Through early August, complete DDOT’s South Dakota Avenue NE survey and add comments to their virtual map [Public Mtg Video | Suggested Comments]

• The DC Department of Energy and Environment is accepting public comments through July 31 on the final draft of its Anacostia River Corridor Restoration Plan. Released this month after two years of community and stakeholder engagement, the document proposes ways to restore fish and wildlife habitat, improve water quality, adapt to climate change, and increase equitable public access to the waterfront.

Washington, D.C. should put housing at libraries, schools, and other public buildings

Today, D.C.’s Mayor declared victory on her goal to build 36,000 units from 2019 through the end of 2025. The initial goal was for one-third of those to be affordable, as defined by percentages of D.C.-area median household income. In 2022-23, 100% of D.C.’s median income for a family of four was $142,300 – and it may be surprising that a plurality of units in many development projects gives their “affordable units” to families making as much as 80% of that threshold, $113,850. In the end, only about 9,800 of that 36K housing production was counted as affordable. D.C.’s Office of Planning told reporters today that there are approximately 2,500 affordable units that should open up before the December 2025 deadline. Despite this milestone, D.C.’s housing construction record is at best a mixed bag.

First, we know that D.C.’s housing construction boom in the 2010s held rent prices down. Tenant residents probably pay less for their apartments today than if D.C. hadn’t built all those new buildings—even though most have market-rate prices with deceptive “luxury” marketing terminology. Apartments are taking longer to lease out because there’s more competition holding rents lower. A pernicious myth of gentrification is that new apartment buildings increase the cost of other apartments nearby. That’s not borne out by the research. Those new buildings probably hold the rent of nearby residents down.

Second, D.C. has facilitated the construction of those thousands of new rental and for-purchase units in only a very small percentage of the District’s land area. Readers know these neighborhoods already, most in enclaves planned out for these land-use changes in the 1990s and early 2000s: NoMa and Union Market, Mt. Vernon Square/Penn Quarter, Shaw, Columbia Heights, The Wharf, Navy Yard, Buzzard Point, and Walter Reed. Despite 2021 amendments to D.C.’s Comprehensive Land-Use Plan, the District has held most of its land area captive to very expensive, very politically powerful single-family home neighborhoods. D.C. Council should start working on a fully refreshed Comp Plan next year, so think about that with your votes this November.

None of the neighborhoods listed in the previous paragraph are east of the Anacostia River, so it’s worth discussing Wards 7 and 8. We’ve been shoving most of the new affordable housing units into neighborhoods EOTR with much less economic opportunity and many more public safety threats. Of D.C.’s 10 housing plan areas, “far southeast and far southwest” plus “far northeast and far southeast” account for two of the top three zones for new affordable housing. The neighborhoods west of Rock Creek Park – dominated by single-family-only zoning, the best public schools, and the most tree canopy for public health – have produced only 330 affordable units. That’s paltry as a portion of the District-wide housing production, and it also misses the already-low goals the Mayor’s administration set for new homes West of the Park. D.C.’s residents are rightly pissed about this geographic imbalance.

Our last bit of context comes from the housing production record of the whole D.C. region. Most people, even in cities, want to eventually buy a home –whether condo, townhouse, or standalone – and to do so, an increasingly high percentage of them have to leave walkable neighborhoods for car-dependent suburbs and exurbs as far as Frederick or Prince William Counties. This is true despite our nationally notable transit offerings and the rare gem of stellar planning in Arlington’s Orange Line corridor.  While those homebuyers may find more raw numbers of housing out in the lands of “drive until you qualify,” those new developments are less likely to be affordable by law. D.C. proper tops the region with a low 16% of new construction being covenant protected.

Washington, D.C. has failed in its previous ambitions to build affordable housing in neighborhoods with high economic opportunity. Given that, we should embark on a bold strategy to put housing on top of or next to government-owned or operated facilities. This strategy accomplishes our goals of producing affordable housing to rent and own, doing so in neighborhoods with economic mobility opportunities, locating that housing near public services like schools and transit, and leveraging the full value of land in neighborhoods where land is a huge portion of construction cost. It’s great when we can convince commercial real estate developers to put housing over low-rise commercial buildings, but the numbers mostly don’t work out. Public facilities can offer a different math.

Putting housing over public buildings is not unprecedented. D.C.’s fire station at 501 4th St SW was built with a hotel above it. The DCPL location on Georgia Avenue in Shepherd Park has new housing. The lead picture of this post is many floors of housing above Arlington County’s Fire Station 10 at 1535 Wilson Blvd. The building also includes office space and a new location for healthcare provider One Medical. There are new protected bike lanes, improved sidewalks, and a bikeshare station one block away – all of which could come to U Street in walking distance of the fire station in question.

What places are key to an attractive neighborhood and that more people would like to be able to walk to? All of them should have housing! Put housing on top of the Tenley-Friendship Neighborhood Library and atop the upcoming Edgewood/Eckington Library! Build a library on Kennedy St NW and put housing on it!

The ridiculous neighbor opposition to putting housing on top of the fire station at 1617 U Street NW is emblematic of the fact that local elections matter. Ward 1 Councilmember Brianne Nadeau is a major reason why the project continued moving through approval despite years of small but organized neighbors lobbying bad faith attacks. Her exhaustive FAQ offers better responses than I could muster and I want to amplify this part of her statement in reaction to the reduced unit numbers from D.C.’s planning office going into the Zoning Commission’s vote:

These potential housing developments place people with limited mobility closer to their essential destinations and the streetscape changes improve their safety. Yep, even those bike lanes.

DISCLAIMER: All opinions and analyses in this newsletter are those solely of Gordon Chaffin and do not represent his employer or community groups with which he’s affiliated.