Reply to Expansion of Housing Choice Voucher Program in Ward 3?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Not only are voucher program units exempt from rent control, but if a landlord accepts vouchers for a rent controlled unit, it effectively converts the unit to non-rent controlled status going forward. So it’s a nifty deal for certain landlords: higher rents and a permanent reduction in rent controlled units.

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It's also a nifty deal for DC which ultimately is pro development, not pro rent control..it's awful to see them use vouchers to undermine existing rent control.[/quote]

Yes, this is very clear unfortunately.  Bowser’s Office of Planning tries to [b]ignore rent controlled units and refuses to acknowledge that they are part of an affordable housing strategy for the District.  [/b]Instead, their main focus is building ever more dense market rate housing, and they cite the relatively small number of IZ units that would result as “affordable.”  It’s really just a pretext for Upzoning neighborhoods.  Meanwhile the mayor and OP undermine and reduce the stock of rent controlled housing, the the most significant affordable housing component in expensive areas like Upper NW.  They are undermining rent controlled housing through the voucher program and recent DC Comprehensive Plan amendments that incentivize the tear down or conversion of older buildings which contain much of the affordable housing stock.  Consequently Bowser’s professed priority to create more affordable housing is definitely one step forward, three steps back.[/quote]

I've never understood this - it's such a good solution for low income and low middle income workers . Why isn't the city sympathetic to them? They feel they should love in the boonies. City only cares about very rich and very poor? Rent control is wonderful for teachers, single parents etc.[/quote]
Rent control constrains incumbent real estate investors, so they don't like it. The city is strongly oriented towards satisfying incumbent real estate investors.[/quote]

I know someone who lives in a rent controlled NW apartment. They are exactly the kind of person people say they want "affordable housing" for. At least one of the prototypes - hard working, responsible,.service type job,.could not afford it otherwise, definitely appreciative and add to our city.[/quote]

Exactly.  And rent controlled housing exists today - it needs to be nurtured, preserved and even expanded.  Ward 3 today has the second highest number of rent controlled units in the District, with access to good schools, etc for working class families.  Yet when one brings up the importance of rent controlled housing with OP and their allies in the DC Smart Growth industry they get incredibly defensive.  They only want to talk about more development and the (paltry) resulting number of IZ units (that aren’t really affordable).  It’s like “affordable housing” is just a pretext for them, to build more dense upmarket mixed use in high profit areas of DC.[/quote]

And there is a reason for that which is that rent control units are not income screened nor are their numbers growing nor is there a mechanism to grow them.  It is worth adding one of the other reasons landlords love to convert them to vouchers is because it effectively allows them to raise the rent without investing any money in them - if you've ever checked out any rent controlled buildings most of them are in abysmal condition because the landlord has no incentive to do more than the bare minimum to keep them legal.

What is interesting is that the price for rent control units in Ward 3 at least is not much lower than the market rate for units in older buildings that aren't near Metro - it is not unusual to find a 1 bedroom in an older building on Upper CT or in Glover Park for $1400 a month.

IZ through new construction actually puts new build units into an income restricted program while also delivering badly needed market rate units which reduce the pressure to convert/upgrade existing units.

The problem is that because of NIMBYs hardly any new units are getting built in affluent areas but if they were IZ could relatively quickly catch up to the modest number of rent control units which is actually about 8% of the city total so it is not a high bar.[/quote]

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