Oh, Chevy Chase (DC affordable housing)!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why would low income families WANT to live in CC, Bethesda or Potomac?

The public transit is pretty poor and they are quite sleepy.

The metro is less than a mile away and 90 seconds via capital bike share.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love Dave Chapell, but what I like best about him is his refusal to allow a developer and politicians bring section 8 housing to his community. Why? He, as a black man, who came from poverty and section 8 neighborhoods, he said he worked hard to get away from that life and was not going back. He understands the culture and history better than most, how did he stop it? He purchased the land the developer was going to use and kept it for himself and his community. I don't care what you call me, and I do not live in Chevy Chase, but I would fight it with all my might. I with Chapelle on this, difference is I am not afraid to say it, as he was not.

Please show me where anyone said that this would be Section 8 housing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unpopular question: is there a neighborhood that has been positively impacted by affordable housing?

All across the country, there are positive affordable housing stories. What a naive question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just curious—do any of the subsidy programs give preference to those that work for schools, police, fire? (Or even any DC goverent employment?).

Yes, there are District programs around this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why people can't separate out the issues of affordable housing with development of the library/community center. Many of us want both - We want the city to do their job and refurbish the library and the community center as publicly owned assets. And develop affordable housing in Ward 3.

The rub is - why does it all have to be on the same lot? In case you haven't been around DC recently, the development boom over the last decade has been astounding and yet the pace has not kept up with demand, and growth in Ward 3 lags the other 7 wards significantly There's plenty of other housing being developed. Does City Center have affordable housing? yes What about all the development in Tenley/Friendship Heights? yes, there are IZ units in the new buildings on Wisconsin Ave Or the many other aging apartment buildings on CT avenue that constantly have a "vacancy" sign out front. some of those take vouchers, but you cannot force a private building owner to accept them Set the zoning to require set-asides of affordable housing units. this is already being done I'd even prefer the city buy one of these other buildings [or just units in one of these other buildings] and develop the whole thing into affordable housing. it is better to defuse affordable units across several buildings and neighborhoods rather than concentrating them But basically by combining the two and giving away public land to a developer, the City is basically giving away these public resources. they aren't "giving the land to a developer- they are paying them to build the public facilities and incorporating some affordable and market rate housing with it, the city still owns the land

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why people can't separate out the issues of affordable housing with development of the library/community center. Many of us want both - We want the city to do their job and refurbish the library and the community center as publicly owned assets. And develop affordable housing in Ward 3.

The rub is - why does it all have to be on the same lot? There's plenty of other housing being developed. Does City Center have affordable housing? What about all the development in Tenley/Friendship Heights? Or the many other aging apartment buildings on CT avenue that constantly have a "vacancy" sign out front. Set the zoning to require set-asides of affordable housing units. I'd even prefer the city buy one of these other buildings [or just units in one of these other buildings] and develop the whole thing into affordable housing. But basically by combining the two and giving away public land to a developer, the City is basically giving away these public resources.

I just want to make sure I understand. You want the city to pay to improve your community center? And then you also want them to buy a building somewhere else for affordable housing? And you think this a good use of public funds, or just a good deal
for your neighborhood? Are you actually for real?

Narrator: yes they are for real

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I honestly don’t understand why poor people think they are entitled to live in rich people neighborhoods.

Not just "poor" people - teachers, police, nurses. These people used to be able to buy in the neighborhood. In fact many of the current retirees living here are former DC government employees. Now they can't afford to live anywhere in DC. Some of us don't want to live solely amongst rich and entitled snots.

If you were building housing reserved for cops, firefighters and nurses, no one would object.

LOL, but they ARE objecting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It has become even worse in the most recent years: I have 30-something trust-fund babies living on both sides of me (everything is paid for by mommy and daddy). They are really difficult to live near, and they have created a large culture clash with all of the other residents.

Why? Because they support things like new affordable housing and bike lanes and you don't?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I honestly don’t understand why poor people think they are entitled to live in rich people neighborhoods.

Not just "poor" people - teachers, police, nurses. These people used to be able to buy in the neighborhood. In fact many of the current retirees living here are former DC government employees. Now they can't afford to live anywhere in DC. Some of us don't want to live solely amongst rich and entitled snots.

Then move further out or to other neighborhoods. What makes you think you, or anyone, has the RIGHT to live in areas where people worked and saved for decades to afford.

There are many options other than areas where the avg income is 300k + and median homes 1.5M +. It’s a fish out of water scenario, like it or not.

I don’t live in Normanstone because I can’t afford. I bought in Rockville early on, and moved up to CC.

At this point they have to move so far out they might as well start working for other jurisdictions. I will remind you that we have both a pretty severe shortage of teachers and police. Don't you read the news?

+1

Most of our first responders live in Shenendoah and West Virginia. If we really want a cohesive community, then we need to be welcoming to the people who our very lives may depend on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Chevy Chase strip has a small town, nostalgic feel. You can see the sky. The mom and pop shops and smaller buildings create a unique, neighbor-specific vibe that distinguishes CC from other DC neighborhoods.

This development will change that.

And....we live in a city and things change. The community fought against being a historic district, so clearly the nostalga isn't important enough to preserve.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:“If the complex was for firemen, cops, nurses and /or teachers ONLY it would be no complaints.”

This, 100%.

The city has shown that it cannot manage crime around low income housing - gang shootings, drug sales and other serious crimes are always clustered around that. Like well over 90% of the city’s serious crimes are either in the vicinity of the housing or come from gangs based around the area.

THIS ISN'T SLATED TO BE "LOW INCOME HOUSING" - there is a difference between section 8 and some slightly subsidized for working class residents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As I understand it the (now reduced to an) 8 story building will offer a mix of affordable housing and luxury units. The presumption is the affordable housing residents will use public transit (though is this always the case?).
Where will the residents of the luxury units park their multiple vehicles?

So you think there won't be parking on site for all of the grandma's driving to the library each day to play pickelball?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As I understand it the (now reduced to an) 8 story building will offer a mix of affordable housing and luxury units. The presumption is the affordable housing residents will use public transit (though is this always the case?).
Where will the residents of the luxury units park their multiple vehicles?

I’m sure they will figure it out. The rest of the city has.

The rest of the city has access to public garages. The CC area does not. They will park in the surrounding neighborhood.

And? The streets are mostly empty. I live on the CT Ave block on my street and other than Chevy Chase Day, my street is never parked up. Plus, all of the adjoining streets have alleys, so the houses all have garages or spaces to park. People are not entitled to subsidized parklng in front of their houses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know if the plan proposes what level of income is required for the Affordable units? I think that piece is missing from this conversation. People keep saying this is “low-income” housing but in many mixed-income complexes, you need to make 50-70k per year to afford your share of the rent. This is actually more “middle-income” than “low-income.” It’s also possible that there will be a spectrum of units and some will have deeper levels of affordability. Does anyone of this has been proposed yet?

This would be part of the RFP process, but the community can certainly weigh in via the ANC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s funny how these proposals go after neighborhoods that aren’t even that particularly wealthy. You will never hear this type of proposal in actually wealthy neighborhoods — Georgetown, Woodland, etc.

This isn’t true. We’ve already linked to the affordable units at City Center. If a new building goes up in Georgetown, it will have them.

What new residential buildings have gone up in Georgetown in the past, oh, 30 years? There's plenty of city-owned land there. We should be building housing there, too.

LOL, Georgetown predates the District of Columbia. Please identify the "city owned" land there.