Reply to "We don't really have housing options." Other cities have proactive land policies

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Reply to ""We don't really have housing options." Other cities have proactive land policies–DC needs them too."

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Bump. I guess no one wants to address the elephant in the room?

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This is such a cutting off your nose to spite your face situation. I do not understand anyone whose position is not "DC needs tons more housing, including a lot more subsidized and affordable options." Like it's a shortsighted, indefensible position. The city literally will not function if we can't find a way to do this. Who do you think is going to wait tables and tend bar at the nightlife you enjoy? Who will teach you kids? Who will clean your teeth at the dentist? Pick up your trash? What about civil engineers who work in the public sector? Do you think all the people who do these jobs are conveniently married to a Big Law attorney? No. This city only operates with its working and middle class intact, and they need a place to live.

We need more housing. We need more family housing, specifically. That doesn't have to mean SFHs, and in fact that's the least efficient way to do this. You can keep your SFH, it's fine. But there are lots of housing arrangements that are used all over the world to accommodate families that take up less space while still being functional. Courtyard buildings, for instance. I'd happily live in a courtyard building with my family! I don't mind living in an apartment. But where would I find one? I cannot -- DC doesn't build these. It doesn't build 3 bedroom apartments, actually. It's almost impossible to find them, even though if you had them, it would become a viable option for lots of families. We wanted to buy a 3 bedroom condo a few years back and we could not find one for less than 500k. And that was a few years back -- now it would probably be more like 700k.

I don't understand the opposition. No one wants to take your house. We want to make sure people have places to live. Do you really want the entire working and middle class population of the city to be commuting in from exurbs? Because by the way, close in suburbs, including PG county are increasingly out of reach for us as well.

The truth is, if DC doesn't figure out housing, families like mine (which includes two public servants doing work you need us to do, FYI) won't move to the burbs. We'll just move. To another city. With cheaper housing. The end. You'll miss us a lot more than you think.[/quote]
You should question your assumptions. DC only needs a certain type of housing. If it had produced that type of housing over the last decade it would be fine. Fortunately there is an opportunity to produce that type of housing at RFK. You should be the first to support it and yet you arguing for something different which would only have negligible impact and over a long period if time.

Even your bible agrees that the impact is negligible. “ This kind of piecemeal density does add to DC’s housing stock, but not nearly as much as multifamily housing construction.”
https://ggwash.org/view/81599/what-the-middle-finger-building-tells-us-about-dcs-housing-construction-debate

In the meantime, a whole new neighborhood with thousands of new housing of all types that people want and need could be produced within the next 3 years and you are not even interested. [/quote][/quote]

I am the original PP here and I honestly don't know what "elephant" your talking about, nor do I know what "bible" you refer to here. I would be extremely happy to see RFK developed with a bunch of new housing. I support almost any proposed new housing in DC.

I don't know what you think I'm arguing for, but what I'm arguing for is more affordable and subsidized housing. And that 100% includes multi-family housing, with an emphasis on multi-FAMILY. Most new apartments in DC are one and two bedrooms, priced for young professionals or DINKS. We do not have enough housing for families. We need more, a lot more, for working class and middle class families who are essential to the city's functioning but all but ignored when we actually construct new housing.[/quote]
The elephant in the room is that everything you’ve written is based on assumptions that don’t hold up to scrutiny. [/quote]

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