The majority of D.C.’s affordable housing has benefited single people and couples, not large families

Washington, D.C.’s Inclusionary Zoning (IZ) program launched in 2009 with the goal to build more affordable housing in the city. The program requires developers to set aside 8 to 10 percent of the units in many new projects for low-income households. By late 2012, none of the IZ units were rented or sold, but it looks like progress has been made since then.

The D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), which oversees the IZ program, released a new report that tracks the hundreds of affordable units that have been created. Washington City Paper reported that the program gained 191 new IZ units (73 percent rentals, 27 percent for-sale units) between October 2015 and October 2016. Currently, there are a total of 402 IZ units.

The majority of the IZ units that have been created have served couples or single people rather than large families. 41 percent of the IZ units have been registered to single-member households, while 29 percent have been registered to couples.

Three-quarters of the IZ units created have been for households earning between 51 and 80 percent of the area median income, which is about $56,000 and $87,000 per year for a family of four, as reported by Washington City Paper.

For more data, be sure to check out Washington City Paper.

Image via Department of Housing and Community Development

• D.C. Affordable Housing Program Begins Seeing Results [Washington City Paper]