Reply to Oh, Chevy Chase (DC affordable housing)!

Forum Index » Real Estate

Reply to "Oh, Chevy Chase (DC affordable housing)!"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I live a few blocks from the proposed site and read the listserve regularly. Granted the listserve may not be a fully accurate representation of how neighbors feel, but the article’s claim that  “Most residents agree the site needs to be updated,  but the addition of affordable housing has proved divisive” Is absolutely misleading in the most unfair, nasty and self-serving way. That is not at all the way people in the neighborhood feel. [b]What we are sensing is that the city is hiding behind a purported objective of increasing the number of affordable housing to give giveaways to developers, and, in the process, sacrificing the existing positive attributes of the site (mainly open space).[/b] The key here is how many affordable units will the neighborhood actually get in exchange for a massive building on the community center site. My understanding is that in practice we will only get a handful. So why don’t we just build those few affordable units and not build the remaining luxury units that the developers salivate over (or build fewer of them) and keep the open space instead? That’s the approach that would satisfy me at least. [/quote]

This is the tin-foil hat call out that the Chevy Chase Listserv moderator won't let others call out. The process for having the city put out an open RFP for public, private and non-profit developers respond to is open and transparent. The city will still own/control the land, the DCPL will still operate the library and DPR will still operate the Community Center and related facilities. What changes is the addition of some number of units, to be determined by the proposing entities, because one proposal may be for 100 one bedroom apartments, while another may call for 35 3 BR apartments - only the proposers will know based on market conditions at the time they submit to the city.

As to the question, why not build a handful....that isn't how it works. You need the money that would come from the market rate to cover the costs of the affordable units. That is how the city gets the private sector to cover the costs.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics