December 19, 2024 Ward 3 Affordable Housing News Digest
Government Activity
District of Columbia
Zoning Commission Delays Final Action on Connecticut Avenue Rezoning in Chevy Chase
Although the issue was on the agenda for its December 19 meeting, the D.C. Zoning Commission (ZC) postponed until its next meeting on January 9 taking final action on its proposal to rezone the Chevy Chase Civic Core and surrounding blocks of Connecticut Avenue. Chairman Hood explained that one of the commissioners (Imamura) was absent, and another (Wright) is new and had not previously participated in the issue.
At its December 9 meeting, Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3/4G (Chevy Chase) had passed a resolution by a vote of 4-1 (with one abstention and one absent) regarding the proposed rezoning.
Back on April 25, the ANC had passed a resolution by a 4-3 vote that called for numerous revisions to the Office of Planning’s rezoning proposal, including:
Eliminating the distinct NMU-4/CC2 zone for the Civic Core site;
Limiting the maximum allowable height in the NMU-4/CC1 zone (the commercial strip along Connecticut Avenue) to 60 feet, including any penthouses and incentive bonuses; and
Limiting the maximum lot occupancy throughout the NMU-4/CC1 zone to 60%.
At the ZC’s public hearing on May 23, the ANC’s representatives requested until June 13 — after the next ANC meeting — to present the ZC with a proposed compromise between the Office of Planning’s proposal and the ANC’s April 25 position. But the ANC was unable to muster a majority for a new resolution, and the June 13 deadline passed with no further filing from the ANC. The ZC proceeded to approve (unanimously) a notice of proposed rulemaking based on the Office of Planning proposal, and published it in the D.C. Register for public comment for a 30-day public comment period, which closed on December 1.
In its December 9 resolution, the ANC “reaffirm[ed] the major elements of its April 25, 2024 resolution,” but made some revisions “in hopes of striking a reasonable compromise with the District’s Zoning Commission.” In particular, the ANC increased its position on the maximum allowable height in the NMU-4/CC1 zone from 60 feet to 65 feet. It also acceded to the Office of Planning’s position on lot occupancy limits.
A cover letter from ANC Vice Chair Peter Gosselin asserted that:
. . . much of the community and many ANC members not supporting the
resolution take a much dimmer view of change than is reflected in the document. We believe that pursuing a middle path such as is proposed in the resolution is the most effective way for the District and any potential beneficiaries of new development to get what they want without further debilitating, public acrimony and long legal delays. We hope you will consider our proposal as you take the next steps in this process.
The Office of Planning (OP) filed a response rejecting the ANC’s position, to the extent it differs from OP’s own.
At its December 19 meeting, the Zoning Commission also considered Case No. 24-09, Wesley Theological Seminary’s petition for a text amendment to permit Landmark Properties REIT to build a 9-story student apartment building on Wesley’s campus and to modify Inclusionary Zoning (IZ) requirements for the project. The Commission voted 4-0 (with one absence) to take proposed action that would allow Wesley to move forward by funding at least the minimum amount of IZ units at an off-site location elsewhere in Ward 3.
Recount Confirms ANC 3/4G Election Result, While Errors Mar ANC 3E Race
On December 12, at the request of candidate Mark Rooney, the D.C. Board of Elections conducted a recount of the votes for Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3/4G’s SMD-05. The recount confirmed that Karrenthya Simmons defeated Rooney by just 2 votes, 564-562.
Meanwhile, it appears that errors by the Board of Elections (BOE) marred the voting for ANC 3E’s SMD-07 on the American University campus. AU’s residence halls are divided between SMDs 07 and 08, but they all share one AU mailing address. At least some student voters living in SMD-07 were mistakenly given ballots for SMD-08. Some wrote in the name of sophomore Adah Nordan, who had run a vigorous write-in campaign for the SMD-07 ANC seat, but votes cast on SMD-08 ballots weren’t counted towards the SMD-07 race.
The BOE declared that there was no winner of the SMD-07 race. At Washington City Paper, Alex Koma reported that Nordan has asked the D.C. Court of Appeals to review the BOE’s ruling. And The Washington Post reports that BOE has agreed, asking the court for a do-over:
D.C.’s election board on Thursday [December 12] asked a court to void results and redo elections for two Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner seats that comprise American University’s campus after admitting that some students appeared to receive the wrong ballots, supporting the claims of a sophomore student [Adah Nordan] who has said the mistake cost her a win.
The board requested that the court void the election results of both AU districts before January 2, when the winners of the election are required to be sworn in. BOE also agreed to conduct outreach ahead of the special election to ensure that student profiles are updated and that voters receive the right ballot this time. The D.C. Court of Appeals has granted a motion to expedite the case.
In a campaign post on social media, Nordan said her platform includes “fighting for affordable housing, unhoused people, rent control, and tenant power.” Nordan told The Eagle, “I've had so many friends who don't have access to affordable housing and I have friends who have had to switch colleges. . . . Having a role in ANC, being able to elevate student voices that often go unheard, it's a really special opportunity.”
D.C. Is Only Issuing Ten Housing Vouchers a Month
Carolina Bomeny at Street Sense reports that:
For the last few years, D.C.’s homeless services system has given Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) vouchers to dozens of people each month, helping them move out of shelters and off the street into apartments. But this winter, as the fiscal year 2025 budget cuts kick in, only 10 to 11 individuals experiencing homelessness will be matched with a voucher each month — the result of the lowest funding for PSH since the District passed its first strategic plan to end homelessness in 2015. Service providers expect this change to strain an already overburdened system.
The District only has 148 PSH vouchers for individuals in the 2025 fiscal year, a fraction of the 1,260 vouchers advocacy groups pushed the city to fund. This is the third consecutive year the city has decreased the budget for PSH vouchers for individuals.
And a shortage of vouchers is not the only challenge. Long processing times delay the ability of voucher recipients to move into housing. As of October, 1,197 individuals with PSH vouchers remained unhoused. The amount of time it takes between being matched with the PSH program and moving into housing has decreased since 2022, from 506 days to 241 days on average. But hundreds of people who have vouchers are still homeless.
D.C. Plans New Emergency Men’s Shelter
Urban Turf reports that the District’s Department of General Services has filed for approval of a planned unit development (PUD) and zoning map amendment for a new emergency men’s shelter at 1201 New York Avenue N.E. (Zoning Commission Case No. 24-24). The new shelter will have 407 permanent beds, plus space for an additional 80-100 cots for hypothermia needs. The application said the project will have five distinct programs: low barrier shelter housing, work program housing, senior housing, respite, and hypothermia housing. It will replace an existing emergency men's shelter located further down New York Avenue.
Called Green Court, the city hopes to open the new shelter in 2026, according to Street Sense. The Ivy City shelter is part of the last phase of the Department of Human Services' plan to add more than 500 shelter beds over the next four years.
Virginia
Arlington Issues Expanded Housing Option Report
Arlington County’s Department of Community Planning, Housing & Development has issued its annual data report on the Expanded Housing Option (EHO, a.k.a. “Missing Middle”).
During FY 2024 (July 1, 2023 – June 30, 2024), no EHO developments were completed. The County issued 37 EHO zoning permits, but only two EHO developments received building permits authorizing construction. 126 building permits were issued for single-family houses in EHO-eligible zoning districts.
57% of approved EHO permits are for 2- or 3-unit projects. The data showed that, on average, permitted EHO buildings are 1.3 feet taller than permitted single-family houses, but single-family detached units average 3 times more square footage than individual EHO units. Overall, main building footprints are comparable for EHO buildings and single-family houses.
The single-family houses permitted ranged from 4 to 8 bedrooms, with 5-bedroom houses the most common. EHO projects authorized included 1 to 5-bedroom units, with 3-bedrooms most prevalent. The average household size in Arlington is 2.1 people, while the average family size is 2.96.
On September 27, 2024, a Circuit Court judge hearing a lawsuit challenging the EHO zoning changes ruled against the County on four counts, overturning the zoning amendments. On October 25, the judge issued a partial conditional stay of the judgment, allowing property owners with approved EHO permits to move forward with development.
Alexandria Approves Office Conversion with Affordable Units
ALXnow reports that on December 14, the Alexandria City Council approved sweeping plans for the first phase of the redevelopment of the 10-acre Victory Center site at 5001 Eisenhower Avenue. The plan calls for the conversion of the 11-story Victory Center building from office to residential.
The development will include 377 units, including 82 units at 50-60% of area median income (AMI), 189 units at 80% AMI, and 106 units at 100% AMI. A second not yet-approved phase would include 80 townhouses in the area, and a third phase will be a multifamily building.
Maryland
Maryland DHCD Proposes More Requirements for Low Income Housing Tax Credits
The Baltimore Banner reported earlier this month that “Maryland’s housing agency wants to attach more requirements to financing for affordable housing projects, and developers say the changes could make it more difficult to pull together already complicated deals.”
Maryland’s Department of Housing and Community Development is proposing a rule change that would ask awardees of low income housing tax credits to make five units or 15% of all units — whichever is larger — available to people experiencing homelessness. The state would pay for rent and social services for those households. The Banner says the “proposal has roiled the affordable housing development community. Business owners and company representatives said their work, which relies on very thin profit margins, would go bust if Maryland Gov. Wes Moore approves the new language.”
Montgomery County Posts Video of Friendship Heights Planning Sessions
Montgomery Planning has posted videorecordings of the December 3 virtual kickoff event for the Friendship Heights Sector Plan Update. Building on the recently completed Friendship Heights Urban Design Study, the sector plan update will consider existing conditions and ultimately make recommendations on zoning, land use, housing, transportation, parks and open space, the environment, schools, economic development, and more.
Staff plans to bring the proposed scope of work for the plan update to the Planning Board in early 2025.
Federal
RFK Stadium Site Transfer in Limbo as Stopgap Funding Measure Stalls
On Tuesday (December 17), multiple news outlets reported that a continuing resolution to fund the federal government until March 14 included a provision to transfer the 174-acre RFK stadium campus to the District. Tuesday’s District Links had the details. By Wednesday afternoon, prospects for passing the continuing resolution had collapsed after it came under criticism from President-elect Trump and Elon Musk.
Last month, when a Senate committee voted 17-2 to advance stand-alone legislation that would lease the campus to the District for 99 years and allow the site's redevelopment, Mayor Bowser praised the committee's action, describing it as "a pivotal moment in our efforts to unlock the potential of the RFK Campus by transforming this underutilized space into a vibrant hub of affordable housing, world-class recreational facilities, green spaces, and economic opportunity for District residents and visitors alike." The stadium bill was then rolled into the 1500-page continuing resolution during negotiations.
The Washington Post reported that Musk’s social media posts railing against the stopgap funding bill included false information about the stadium legislation:
“This should not be funded by your tax dollars!” Musk tweeted, reposting an incorrect post about the RFK legislation from Mario Nawfal, a conservative social media influencer, who said the spending bill contained “$3-BILLION FOR … A NEW NFL STADIUM IN DC.”
But the RFK legislation does not include any federal funding for a stadium. In fact, it prohibits it. The provision only transfers control of the land to D.C. and allows the city to redevelop it for a host of purposes, including a sports stadium.
Current funding for the federal government expires at 12:01 a.m. Saturday (December 21), meaning there will be at least a partial government shutdown just before Christmas if no funding bill is passed. Trump is now calling for the House to pass a more streamlined bill “WITHOUT DEMOCRAT GIVEAWAYS.” Late on December 19, House Republicans released a slimmed-down 116-page bill to keep the government running and provide disaster relief. It would also suspend the nation’s debt limit from January 1, 2025 to January 30, 2027. Washington Business Journal [subscription req’d] and The Washington Post reported that the new bill did not include any RFK provision. In any event, it went down to a quick defeat on Thursday evening, 174-235, showing that House Republicans cannot pass a funding bill on their own.
The RFK legislation garnered significant bipartisan support as it wound its way through Congress this year, but there is now insufficient time to pass a stand-alone bill before this Congress adjourns. At The 51st, Martin Austermuhle explained that it “remains to be seen whether the RFK bill will be reintroduced next year as a stand-alone measure.”
White House Report: Rent-Setting Algorithms Cost Tenants Billions
A new report from the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) estimates that apartment rents set with the assistance of algorithms cost renters an extra $3.8 billion in 2023, according to Bisnow. The report estimates that tenants pay roughly $70 more per month in buildings where software tools are used to maximize rental rates. It found that rents are inflated by roughly 4% nationally for units that are algorithmically priced. In Washington D.C., the report estimated that price coordination added $112 a month to rents for units using price-setting software from RealPage.
Algorithmic pricing weakens competition because it can facilitate price coordination among landlords who would otherwise be competing. When algorithmic recommendations are based on profit-maximizing prices for a set of landlords collectively, the algorithm will recommend prices that are higher than the profit-maximizing price each landlord would set independently. CEA’s analysis indicates that if price coordination was eliminated, there would be an economically meaningful decrease in price mark-ups for rental units using pricing algorithms.
News/Commentary
District of Columbia
Shakespeare Theatre Scraps Apartment Project in Southwest
Bisnow reports that the Shakespeare Theatre Co. and its partner Erkiletian Development have scrapped plans to build a campus at 501 I Street, S.W. that would have had rehearsal studios, administrative offices, a costume shop and multifamily housing. The project, called The Bard, was originally planned with 131 apartments.
The project was approved in 2019, and then put on hold during the pandemic. In 2022, the development team submitted a revised plan that reduced the size of the project and requested a two-year extension of its approval. Now, the development team is selling the property to a homebuilder, which plans to develop rowhouses that fit within the site's existing zoning.
Maryland
Affordable Senior Housing Planned for Capitol Heights
Dan Brendel at Washington Business Journal [subscription req’d] reports that developers have won final entitlements for a $94 million multifamily project along Metro’s Blue Line corridor in Capitol Heights. On December 12, Prince George’s County land-use regulators approved a site plan calling for two 62+ senior living buildings, totaling 293 units — all income-restricted affordable units.
Brendel says the financing “pencils out through a complex layer cake of public and private contributions,” including low income housing tax credits and and a below-market land sale price from the county’s redevelopment authority, which currently owns part of the site, home to former public school facilities.
The senior living units are part of a larger project that will include renovated space for Mission of Love Charities Inc., a nonprofit that assists homeless and low-income households, and 56 market-rate townhouses aimed at the “workforce” income band, between 80% and 120% of the area median income.
Virginia
New Potomac Yard Plan Includes Affordable Units
According to Bisnow, JBG Smith has unveiled plans for three of its parcels in the emerging Potomac Yard neighborhood in Alexandria. The developer is proposing to build more than 750 multifamily and townhouse units at the site, including 100 affordable units. The project would include two 7-story apartment buildings alongside 116 single-family townhome units. Potomac Yard nearly landed a new $2 billion entertainment district for D.C.’s hockey and basketball teams before that plan died in March.
Nationwide
Decreasing Household Size Is a Key Driver of Housing Demand
At the blog The Corner Side Yard, Pete Saunders explains the “real reason” for America’s housing crisis: decreasing household size means demand for housing units is growing faster than the population. He points out that Chicago reached its highest number of occupied dwelling units in 2023, even though Chicago’s population fell by 900,000 between 1960 and 1990, and another 150,000 since 1990.
Nationally, average household size in 1960 was 3.38 people. By 2023 that number fell to 2.55 — a 25% drop. Translating that into housing demand, back in 1960, with an average household size of 3.38, 100 people could be accommodated by 30 housing units. In 2023, a new generation of 100 people with 2.55 per household would want 39 homes. That means housing demand increased 32%, even with the number of people remaining equal.
Saunders says one result is a mismatch between what the homebuilding industry is still building and what consumers want: “I’d say the nation is still overproducing homes for the traditional family arrangement that characterized American post-WWII society, and underproducing homes for the smaller families, singles, couples, and others who want homes scaled to their needs.”
Developers Building More Housing at Shopping Malls
CNBC reported that more Americans are living at shopping malls as real estate developers knock down department stores and construct apartment buildings in their place. As of January 2022, at least 192 U.S. malls planned to add housing to their footprint, and at least 33 had constructed apartments since the pandemic began.
For example, the Lafayette Square Mall in Indianapolis is slated to open 1,200 apartment units, including affordable housing in a former Sears building, beginning in 2025. But conversion of malls and department stores isn’t easy:
While living at the mall is a unique opportunity, it comes with challenges and hurdles. Construction costs are high, and developers need to navigate a maze of zoning laws and antiquated lease agreements to get projects off the ground because malls aren’t typically zoned for multifamily developments. Plus, the shape of a typical mall and department store almost always requires a complete teardown to bring in housing.
Build Trump Towers Across America?
In an opinion column in The Washington Post, Heather Long notes that the U.S. needs to build about 2 million homes a year to keep up with a growing population, but we’ve only been building about 1.4 million. “For this picture to improve, Americans need to be sold on smaller homes and ‘cookie cutter’ designs.”
Long profiles Michigan roofer Bryan DeHenau, who thinks Donald Trump’s talent for marketing could help. “Trump can take anything from the left that the right hates and make it cool,” DeHenau said. “Call it ‘Trump housing’ and the right will like it.”
DeHenau says it’s critical to limit home designs to no more than 10 options. Standardization makes it easier to expedite the approval process, the supply chain and the construction. Everyone in the process knows what to expect. “Some people may cry that this is communism. But is the current situation really better?” DeHenau asked. “We need to erect a lot of homes quickly.”
Fannie Mae Panel Expects Home Price Inflation to Ease
A Fannie Mae survey of over 100 housing experts predicted home price growth to decelerate to 3.8% in 2025 and 3.6% in 2026, following an average expectation for national home price growth of 5.2% in 2024. A majority of respondents cited continued high mortgage rates, rising for-sale housing inventory, and slower wage growth as the main drivers of deceleration.
Mark Palim, Fannie Mae Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, said, "We share our panelists' view that home price growth is likely to decelerate next year, as the mix of continued elevated mortgage rates and the run-up in home prices of the past four years will likely continue to strain affordability and remain an impediment to many would-be homebuyers."
Despite the expectation of decelerating price increases, Terry Loebs, founder of Fannie Mae’s survey partner Pulsenomics, added that “the panelists' annual average projected price increase through 2029 is still well above expectations for economy-wide inflation, suggesting that they expect affordability problems to persist well beyond 2025."
Will Upzoning Compromise Affordability?
Some critics of liberalizing housing construction are concerned that looser zoning rules could make existing houses more expensive. Writing in Governing, Emily Hamilton says this worry is overblown.
Hamilton says the root cause of housing affordability problems is clear: “Local land-use regulations and byzantine approval processes for new housing construction are constraining housing supply, leaving too few homes to go around at a decent price. The solution is to roll back rules that are standing in the way of more housing, as well as those preventing less expensive types of homes from being built.”
Critics of liberalizing housing construction are concerned that, at least in the short term, looser zoning rules could make existing houses more expensive and exacerbate the affordability challenge. That’s because upzoning increases a property owner’s rights to build on their land, which could increase that land’s value.
Hamilton researched the effect of two-phase lot size reform in Houston in 1998 and 2013, providing a dramatic reduction in minimum lot sizes. Comparing land values in the second phase to land values inside the first phase, where the current minimum lot size rules were implemented 15 years earlier, she found no evidence that the 2013 reform increased land values or reason to think it worsened the affordability of existing housing.
Together, Houston’s 1998 and 2013 upzonings facilitated the construction of about 80,000 houses on lots smaller than the old minimum of 5,000 square feet. “Small-lot development has allowed for less expensive housing than could otherwise be built and created opportunities for more people to live in desirable neighborhoods close to job centers.”
Empty Nesters Moving on Won’t Solve Housing Affordability Challenges
Nationwide, there were roughly 20.9 million empty nest households in 2022, about 16% of the total. Some have suggested that empty nest households downsizing could eventually flood the housing market with homes and help make homes more affordable. A report from Zillow concludes that a large proportion of these empty nesters are already located in more affordable Midwest and Southern markets, and therefore are unlikely to meaningfully lower house prices where it may matter most.
Locations popular with Gen Z and millennial households have the fewest empty nesters. This mismatch means that empty nesters are unlikely to significantly improve housing affordability in high-demand areas.
The impact of a future increase in supply coming from the existing housing stock owned by older individuals would likely have a smaller impact on affordability in expensive high demand coastal markets. Rather, the fix for affordability challenges remains a strong supply expansion coming from newly built homes. Zillow research shows that housing shortages were the most severe in markets with more land use restrictions.
Nationwide, Rents Lowest in 2.5 Years
Bisnow reports that the “rental market is showing continued signs of cooling, with record levels of supply contributing to tenants seeing lower prices than they have in more than 30 months.” Citing a report by Redfin, Bisnow says median asking rents fell 0.7% year-over-year in November, with rents down 1.1% on a month-over-month basis. The $1,595 median national asking rent is at its lowest point since March 2022, when a spike drove rents to their all-time high.
Record levels of construction have allowed rents to ease. About 508,00 units are expected to be delivered by 2025. Nationally, apartment completions surged more than 22% year-over-year in the second quarter, reaching the highest level in more than 12 years. Construction starts have since dropped, and delivery numbers are expected to significantly decline by 2026 and 2027.
For the Washington D.C. metro area, the Redfin report shows median asking rents down 0.3% from October to November, but up 9.4% compared to a year ago — tied for third highest increase in the country. Sun Belt metro areas saw the most significant declines in median rents, led by Austin, TX (down 12.4% year-over-year), and Tampa, FL (down 11.3%).
Other States
New York City Council Approves “City of Yes” Zoning Changes
The New York Times [gift link] reported that, on December 5, the New York City Council approved the ambitious “City of Yes” zoning plan “that could make way for 80,000 new homes over the next 15 years, the most significant effort to address the city’s housing crisis in decades.” The plan passed with a narrow majority of 31 votes in the 51-member body.
Mayor Eric Adams won over skeptical lawmakers by agreeing to spend an additional $5 billion on affordable housing and infrastructure projects and by scaling back some of the boldest proposals. “Opposition was fierce in neighborhoods on Staten Island and in Queens that have many single-family homes, with residents objecting to the prospect of new high-rise apartments,” the Times said.
Many housing experts and elected officials said that the plan was meaningful progress, but that the city had to go further to build more housing quickly.
Zellnor Myrie, a state senator from Brooklyn who is running for mayor, has released a housing plan that calls for building or preserving one million homes over the next decade.
North Carolina Dramatically Restricts Downzoning
On December 11, the Republican-controlled North Carolina Legislature overrode Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper's veto of Senate Bill 382 — an omnibus bill that paired hurricane relief funding with restrictions on the powers of incoming elected Democratic state officers. Reason’s Christian Britschgi reports on his Rent Free blog that the bill also includes a short provision that gives North Carolina property owners perhaps the nation's strongest protections against local governments tightening zoning regulations on their land.
The relevant provision says, “No amendment to zoning regulations or a zoning map that down-zones property shall be initiated, enacted, or enforced without the written consent of all property owners whose property is the subject of the down-zoning.” The law defines “downzoning” as any decrease in the allowable density of development, any reduction in permitted uses, or any creation of a "nonconforming" use, lot, or structure.
Britschgi says that, “In effect, if you have a right to do something or build something on your land right now—whether that's operate a gas station or build an apartment complex—S.B. 382 says you'll always be allowed to do that unless you give express written consent to the local government to take that right away from you.”
The origins of the provision are mysterious:
"It showed up there without any notice to anybody," says Scott Mooneyham of the North Carolina League of Municipalities. The League wants to see the new downzoning ban repealed.
"We didn't ask for this provision. I'm not really sure where it came from," says Steven Webb of the North Carolina Home Builders Association, which supports the provision.
What everyone does agree on is that this is a far-reaching restriction on local governments' ability to regulate development.
The provision may have unintended effects. A planner who is also involved in local YIMBY activism said S.B. 382 could prevent zoning code rewrites that on net allow more housing construction, because when cities do comprehensive zoning code rewrites, that often involves some mix of downzoning and upzoning.
New Laws Open Doors to Affordable Shared Housing Arrangements
An article from Pew Charitable Trusts says that
A growing number of states are considering reforms to allow residents to lower their housing costs by sharing homes, a shift that promises to boost the supply of rental housing and improve affordability. Shared housing was common for most of American history, but it declined sharply over the past 70 years as local zoning codes became more restrictive.
In 2024, the list of states seeking to reverse that trend grew by three as Colorado, Hawaii, and Washington passed legislation to enable shared housing.
Hawaii and Washington passed laws requiring local governments to allow microunits, in which residents have private rooms but share bathrooms, kitchens, and common living areas. Oregon passed a similar law in 2023. Colorado, meanwhile, passed a reform that removes local caps on how many unrelated people can share a home, joining Iowa and Oregon.
Short Takes From Around the Country
After years of deliberations, the California Coastal Commission approved a new 120-unit affordable housing development on city land in the Venice neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. But the Los Angeles Times reports that the commission's approval comes a day after the city government voted not to transfer the land to the project's developer after all. “The fate of a large proposed affordable-housing development along Venice’s famed canals remains murky . . . after one regulatory decision cleared the way for final approval just as another left it all but dead.”
An article in Governing reports that Rhode Island voters last month approved $120 million in bonds for affordable housing — for planning, land acquisition, construction, and preservation of housing for low- and moderate-income people. Up to $10 million of that money could also be used to support public housing development, and advocates think that creating a public development entity, like Montgomery County’s Housing Opportunities Commission, could be the answer.
Calendar
January 9 — The D.C. Zoning Commission will hold a public meeting to consider final action on its proposal to rezone the Chevy Chase Civic Core and surrounding blocks of Connecticut Avenue. 4:00 p.m., online. The 30-day public comment period on the proposal closed on December 1.
January 9 — Next regular meeting of ANC 3E (Friendship Heights & Tenleytown), 7:30 p.m., online.
January 13? — Next regular meeting of ANC 3/4G (Chevy Chase), 7:00-8:30, in person at the Chevy Chase Community Center and virtually via Zoom.
January 14 — Next regular meeting of ANC 3F (Van Ness), 7:00-9:00 p.m., online.
January 21 — Next regular meeting of ANC 3C (Cleveland Park and Woodley Park), 7:00-9:00, online.
January 21 — Next regular meeting of ANC 3A (Middle Wisconsin Avenue), 7:00 p.m. in person at the McLean Gardens Ballroom and virtually via Zoom.
To let us know of something we should add, please email christopher.vaden78@gmail.com.