Reply to New Cleveland Park library is a missed opportunity

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]GGW incorporating as a non-profit is a relatively recent thing because they received an offer from a foundation do do advocacy for affordable housing.

Just because developers want more density and are willing to take on more affordable housing - thus aligned goals, doesn't mean GGW is in the pockets of developers.

There are a lot of environmental, tax policy, transportation policy and other quality of life issues that make more density attractive. A lot of people want it, an the fact is, land is a finite commodity, so why not use land in the smartest way possible?

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Big developers advocating for 'affordable housing' is just another argument thrown against the wall to get more density and height than the comprehensive plan allows.  It's just like the 'smart growth' mantra.  Whatever sticks.

The reality, however, is that Big Development and the GGW amen corner want to up zone a number of rent controlled properties in various wards, including Ward 3 in upper Northwest.  This would have the effect of substantially decreasing the number of more affordable properties.  "Inclusionary zoning" in new projects would not make up for the number of rent controlled units lost, nor would it pack the same affordable economic impact to renters.[/quote]

OMG enough with this rent control argument - you guys think you are so clever but you are not.  I believe 8% of the rental apartments in Ward 3 are rent controlled and while that is the highest percentage in the city it is a tiny percentage of units in both the Ward and the city.  And there is no income screening for these units nor is there a centralized way for anyone low income to even find an available rent controlled unit. Also as I understand it rent control units have very low turnover rates. Or to put it another way those units have almost zero impact on the cities affordability for lower income residents.

And the argument that upzoning will eliminate this handful of scattered units (and they are scattered) is also absurd - there are almost zero examples in DC of existing apartment buildings being torn down for new ones - in most cases upzoning enables an owner to go at most 4 stories above what is already there and in most cases less than that so it isn't even going to be economical to tear down an existing (and likely paid off building) to get a bigger building and thus shedding a few units.

But since the proposed changes to the Comp Plan are all currently part of the public record perhaps you can provide a specific example of a proposal to upzone an existing apartment building and you get a bonus if you can provide evidence that the building has rent controlled units and the number of those units.
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