City to share housing and development survey results at September 21 meeting

Mayor Muriel Bowser’s administration will hold a community meeting next month to discuss the findings of an ongoing city survey about where residents believe more affordable housing should be built. The Office of Planning (OP) and the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) have scheduled the meeting for September 21 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at Ron Brown High School, situated at 4800 Meade Street NE by the Deanwood Metro station.

Bowser has said the District must see 36,000 new units of housing, including 12,000 below-market units, produced by 2025 to help keep the city affordable. (Those numbers come from population projections by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.) The city’s survey is open through August 30 and in a statement, OP director Andrew Trueblood notes that residents can comment on development strategies at the meeting. “We will incorporate this discussion into recommendations we will present to Mayor Bowser in the fall,” he says.

As of 2018, there were about 51,000 below-market units across D.C., according to the city. Around half were east of the Anacostia River, while only 1 percent were west of Rock Creek Park. District officials are currently working to update the Comprehensive Plan, D.C.’s main development and growth framework. Lawmakers are anticipated to vote on it a second and final time later this year, and have prioritized affordable housing in their proposed changes.

D.C. government