Reply to We need to build more: gentrification caused by blocking housing construction (not the opposite!)

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Why are we looking for more apartments in DC? There is a glut of available apartments. Walk to ANY complex and you will see units available. Why are we building more and more, when you can get insane deals on the ones that are here? Has anybody seen a sign on a building saying "sorry, no units available"?[/quote]

That’s because they are too expensive. We have a ton of half empty luxury condo buildings in the city, but then thousands of families in inadequate housing because all the development goes to high end apartments. Yes, those buildings will offer deals to get people in units, but after a year or two the deal disappears and the rent goes way up (the leases are structured to enable them to raise the rent as much as they want year to year).

That’s great if you are a transient professional in your 20s or early 30s. You live in a luxury building for a year or two, and then go to grad school or move to a new luxury building or move up in your career and afford to buy or rent at the pricier rate.

None of that helps middle class families who need space, proximity to schools, and communities of other families. They don’t want to move every year or two— it would be hell on their kids. They need actual homes. Of which there are far too few in the District.

So yes, we need to build more housing. But we need to build the kind of housing that is actually in demand, which the big developers have all decided isn’t profitable. So instead we get luxury micro-units and co-living “dorms for adults”. [/quote]

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