{"id":38,"date":"2021-01-11T17:46:40","date_gmt":"2021-01-11T17:46:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dcfeedback.com\/whj\/?p=38"},"modified":"2021-01-11T17:48:23","modified_gmt":"2021-01-11T17:48:23","slug":"unmasking-dcs-affordable-housing-policy-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/dcfeedback.com\/whj\/2021\/01\/11\/unmasking-dcs-affordable-housing-policy-i\/","title":{"rendered":"UnMasking DC’s Affordable Housing Policy I"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A major element of today’s DC Affordable Housing policies and implementations are based on a flawed and even corrupt model incubated years ago in Ward 1.   This model is the basis of most development deals past and present emanating out of DMPED, Inclusionary Zoning (IZ) and the current Comp Plan Bill B23-0736. <\/p>\n

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In approximately 2001, DC adopted an affordable housing development model based on the write-down of the value of public land contributed to private development deals.  The model proffered that the value of the contributed public land would pay for the production of affordable housing; therefore, the city would not have to investment public dollars in the creation of affordable housing.  Instead the market would pay for the development of affordable housing.<\/p>\n

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The first test of this model was the awarding of two publicly owned  14th Street Columbia Heights urban renewal parcels to developer Donatelli & Kline, today Donatelli Development<\/a>.  The parcels today host the Kenyon Square and Highland Park I and II developments.  Donatelli’s proposal was accepted by the city based on this write-down premised in his proposal including the fact that “NO”<\/strong> additional city money or resources would be required to achieve affordable housing and other public\/community benefit goals with these projects.  In fact Donatelli & Klein went further saying they still pay for the public land. <\/p>\n

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At the time of the Donatelli & Klein award other developers and professionals warned that Donatelli’s proposal was not viable, but the award was made.   And the city passed legislation making Donatelli’s proffer city law, public land value write-down would pay for 20% affordable housing with no additional public investment.    The only exception from Donatelli’s proposal was the use of federal low income housing tax credits, LIHTCs.<\/p>\n

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By 2004, Donatelli was already hedging on their proposal and by 2009 would request a bailout of a property tax abatement valued at $8.5M<\/a>.   They would also stall for time, ask for additional zoning relief, cheat the affordable housing requirements<\/a> (per DC Auditor), reduce ADU unit size, steal public land and homelessness resources.   The Donatelli model collapsed in failure<\/a>. Yet today, this model remains the hart and soul of DC housing policy including the New Communities Initiative (NCI), and OP’s Comp Plan amendments currently before the City Council.<\/p>\n

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Behind the mask of growth and density which is the current front for DC Affordable Housing policy is a reality that underlying policy never worked from the beginning.  Starting in Ward 1 Columbia Heights in 2001 thru today in Ward 1’s Park Morton New Communities Initiative project today on Georgia Avenue.   In 2021 its time to strip away DC’s affordable housing mask and reveal a displacement model of greed and discrimination under cover of smart growth.<\/p>\n

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William<\/p>\n

http:\/\/dcfeedback.com\/whj\/<\/a><\/p>\n

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  A major element of today’s DC Affordable Housing policies and implementations are based on a flawed and even corrupt model incubated years ago in Ward 1.   This model is the basis of most development deals past and present emanating out of DMPED, Inclusionary Zoning (IZ) and the current Comp Plan Bill B23-0736.    In approximately …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-thoughts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/dcfeedback.com\/whj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/dcfeedback.com\/whj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/dcfeedback.com\/whj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dcfeedback.com\/whj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dcfeedback.com\/whj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/dcfeedback.com\/whj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/dcfeedback.com\/whj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dcfeedback.com\/whj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dcfeedback.com\/whj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}