Reply to Soooo, how is high-density looking to everyone now?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It seems rash and reckless to push this now in the midst of a global pandemic. Density is not desirable right now. [b]The fact that the mayor is going full steam ahead on this suggests to me that she is in the pocket of the developers.[/b] Not a good look, especially during a time of crisis when leadership is so important.[/quote]

Ding ding ding...we have a winner.[/quote]

Just when you thought that the mayor couldn’t be any more shameless her zeal to, uh, please and service her favored developer clients, now her proposed budget includes up to 40-year tax abatements for Big Development in Ward 3, among other affluent areas.  To qualify, a developer has to build a large project of at least 350 units, 30% of which should be considered “inclusionary zoning”.  And ultimate discretion in choosing projects rests with the mayor.  This means that someone with an area median income (AMI) of 80% could qualify for the IZ units, so they really would not be affordable housing for low income residents.  Tax abatements and some more incentives are often criticized. But when they are used it is typically to incentivize and reduce risk for development in marginal neighborhoods, not in more affluent areas.  In 40 years is considered a very, very Long time for a tax eLong time for a tax abatement.  Apparently it is not enough to provide potential windfall opportunities to developers through comp plan changes to add lots of height and density in Ward 3.  Now Bowser proposes to subsidize (effectively through revenue raised from other taxpayers) her developer cronies.

According to the Washington Business Journal,

“This looks like a developer giveaway that will ‘count’ as affordable housing investment [without] actually meeting the need,” Amber Harding, a staff attorney at the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, tweeted Tuesday.

But City Administrator Rashad Young assured the council the program’s provisions are designed to be generous enough to attract interest from developers. With less of a tax incentive or more onerous requirements, the program won’t make a difference in these neighborhoods, he said.

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