May 14, 2025 Ward 3 Affordable Housing News Digest
Government Activity
District of Columbia
ANC 3E Endorses Housing at Chevy Chase Civic Core; ANC 3/4G Tries to Get Its Act Together
At its meeting on May 8, Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3E (Friendship Heights, Tenleytown, AU Park) voted unanimously to approve a resolution supporting the inclusion of dedicated affordable housing in the redevelopment of the Chevy Chase library and community center — facilities that serve many ANC 3E residents.
The resolution says, among other things:
This project is a rare opportunity to utilize a publicly owned piece of land to deliver below market rate housing units. . . . ANC 3E doesn’t believe the best use of these new units at the [Civic Core] would be to dedicate them to seniors. We instead urge DMPED to choose the project that delivers the best mix of unit sizes to a range of tenants at income thresholds below 60 percent of AMI, with the caveat that if a larger project that includes some market rate units is able to still include a commensurate number of units below the 60% AMI threshold, such a mix of units should also be considered.
Meanwhile, on May 12, three-quarters of the way through the 60-day public comment period on the development team proposals for the Chevy Chase Civic Core, ANC 3/4G (Chevy Chase) voted to put out a survey seeking community input on the various development proposals. In order to allow adequate time to publicize the survey, give people time to respond, tabulate results, and have a special ANC meeting to consider a resolution based on the survey results, ANC 3/4G intends to ask DMPED for an additional 45 days (until mid-July) to submit its comments.
Bowser Unveils “Transformational Growth Agenda”
On May 5, Mayor Muriel Bowser issued the economic growth agenda that will be included in her Fiscal Year 2026 budget. As relevant to housing, the plan would:
Increase new office-to-housing conversions by expanding the Housing in Downtown program to Georgetown and Mt. Vernon Triangle.
Reform zoning procedures to speed up reviews of new development projects.
Encourage new investment in housing production by reforming the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA).
The announcement offered few specifics on the proposed zoning reforms. Ben Peters at Washington Business Journal [subscription req’d] reports that Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development Nina Albert said the changes would place “guardrails” on who can appeal zoning actions. Appellants would have to meet certain criteria and a threshold to challenge a project. Mayor Bowser said the reforms would make the zoning appeals process “more predictable and fair,” saying the process currently delays projects and the taxes they generate.
The Mayor’s agenda would also allocate $1.5 million to develop a master plan to reimagine the Southwest Federal Center into a “new mixed-use community that maximizes its proximity to the National Mall,” Bowser said. That area contains a number of obsolete federal office properties, including several targeted for disposal by the Public Buildings Reform Board and General Services Administration.
On April 30 Mayor Bowser had announced that her Fiscal Year 2026 budget proposal will include a $100 million investment into the Housing Production Trust Fund (HPTF). That announcement came at the ribbon cutting of Riggs Crossing Senior Residences, a new 93-unit senior affordable housing development that was supported in part with $25 million from the HPTF.
Riggs Crossing Senior Residences includes 52 apartments for households with incomes at or below 30% of the Median Family Income (MFI) and 41 apartments for households between 30% to 50% MFI. Ten apartments are designated for Permanent Supportive Housing. True Ground Housing Partners, in partnership with EYA, is lead developer on the project.
Mayor Bowser’s RFK Plan
Under Mayor Bowser’s proposal for the RFK Stadium site, the entire campus is expected to create approximately 5,000-6,000 housing units, including at least 30% affordable housing.
The presentation slides show that the overall site will be divided into six districts, three of which — the Plaza, Riverfront, and Kingman Park Districts — would include housing. The presentation says that the “Kingman Park District parcels will be offered for development through the District’s process,” suggesting that any housing in the Plaza and Riverfront Districts will be controlled by the Commanders or other master developer.
Councilmember Lewis George Introduces Social Housing Bill
On March 24, Councilmember Janeese Lewis George introduced B26-0202, the Housing Development Growth Amendment Act of 2025. No longer labelled the “Green New Deal for Social Housing,” the bill would establish an Office of Social Housing Developments to foster the construction, maintenance, and growth of District-owned residential properties designed to be mixed-income housing, with not less than 2/3 of a building developed as family units and not less than 2/3 of units rented as permanently affordable units for extremely-, very-, and low-income households.
It would establish a framework for tenant governance, environmentally conscious building standards, and street-level amenities at social housing developments. The bill would also authorize investments in District-owned social housing developments and require that District-owned real estate that is no longer required for public purposes be evaluated for conversion into social housing developments before any disposition. The bill has five co-sponsors and has been referred to the Committee on Housing, with comments from the Committee on Business and Economic Development.
Schwalb Sues Former Director of H Street Housing Program and Secures Rent Refunds from Slumlord
The Washington Post reported that D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb on May 12 sued the former director of the H Street Community Development Corp., Kenneth J. Brewer Sr., alleging he pocketed more than $1.2 million in funds that were earmarked for the neighborhood’s nonprofit housing group. The nonprofit was created to manage and grow affordable housing for low-income District residents. Washington Business Journal [subscription req’d] also has a story.
The lawsuit alleges that Brewer “improperly” transferred funds from the nonprofit to its for-profit subsidiary to finance annual bonuses for himself. The community development organization already sued Brewer in D.C. Superior Court last year for abusing his position of authority and misappropriating nonprofit funds.
Separately, Schwalb recently announced that his office had obtained a $6.8 million judgment against A.J. Edwards Realty and Adolphe Edwards for forcing tenants to live in dangerous and illegal conditions at nine apartment buildings in Wards 4 and 8. The court found Edwards responsible for more than 1,400 D.C. housing code violations and more than 7,200 violations of District law protecting tenants from toxic lead paint. The court has now ordered Edwards to pay rent refunds totaling $1.5 million to nearly 100 tenants, as well as $5 million in civil penalties for breaking D.C. law, and over $300,000 in fees and costs.
Chevy Chase Voice Lawsuit Delayed
Earlier this year, the anti-development group Chevy Chase Voice refiled its lawsuit challenging the Zoning Commission’s decision to rezone the Chevy Chase Civic Core site, Chevy Chase Voice, Inc. v. Anthony Hood, Case No. 2025-CAB-000883 (D.C. Superior Ct.). The case was set for an initial scheduling conference for May 16, but on May 12, Judge Robert Okun issued an order recusing himself from the case, and indicating that it would be reassigned to Judge Carl Ross. The scheduling conference has been postponed to August 8.
Meanwhile, also on May 12, the parties filed a joint motion to vacate the initial scheduling conference and set a briefing schedule for the District’s anticipated motion to dismiss the case. The parties proposed that the motion to dismiss be filed by June 27, and plaintiffs’ response by July 21.
Federal
Administration Wants to Slash Federal Funding for Housing
The Washington Post [gift link] reported that the Trump Administration budget proposal released on May 2 calls for $26.7 billion in cuts — roughly 43% — to Section 8 vouchers and other housing assistance programs. The remaining funds for these programs would be reallocated to a State Rental Assistance Block Grant for states to develop their own rental assistance programs.
The cuts would affect tenant-based and project-based rental assistance programs, as well as public housing, housing for the elderly and housing for people with disabilities. The proposal also would shift more of a share of responsibility to states, though housing experts were doubtful that smaller governments would have either the capacity to or a vested interest in making up the difference.
The White House proposal also would institute a two-year cap on rental assistance for able-bodied adults to “ensure a majority of rental assistance funding through States would go to the elderly and disabled.”
According to a spokesman for the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials, the cuts to federal housing programs would affect about 3.8 million people and worsen the country’s housing crisis. “We are obviously in a significant housing affordability and supply crisis right now, and now is the time to support affordable housing programs,” he said. “Devastating cuts like those proposed in the budget [for] public housing or to Section 8 would directly hurt families, communities and local economies.”
The Trump administration is expected to release its full budget proposal for fiscal year (FY) 2026 in the coming weeks.
60,000 People Will Lose Federal Housing Assistance Prematurely
A May 13 article in The Washington Post [gift link] says that nearly 60,000 people around the country will lose their federal housing assistance years earlier than anticipated, placing them at imminent risk of eviction and potential homelessness.
The emergency housing vouchers initiative was slated to last through 2030, granting recipients housing security through the decade with the expectation that they would have the time and resources to wean off the assistance. But in late April, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) wrote to the nation’s public housing authorities — which administer the federal program — to say the money is running out early. The remaining funds are likely to support families for another 18 months at most.
President Trump also proposed this month drastically chopping funding for federal housing programs that could serve as alternatives for families who prematurely lose their emergency housing vouchers.
News & Commentary
District of Columbia
D.C. Homeless Count Drops 9%
On May 12, the District’s Department of Human Services (DHS) announced the results of the 2025 Point-In-Time (PIT) Count, the annual census of individuals experiencing homelessness (i.e., living on the street or in temporary shelters). This year’s count took place on January 29, and showed an overall 9% decrease from 2024, including an 18.1% decrease among families.
The Washington Post says the latest census found 478 fewer unhoused people in the District than the year before, for a total of 5,138 unhoused individuals. That’s also a 19% decrease from the 2020 count, taken just before the start of the Covid pandemic. The number of unhoused people in the city had risen in the previous two years, part of a regional increase fueled by high inflation and the end of pandemic-era federal assistance.
Neighborhood Rundowns
Urban Turf gives thumbnail sketches of 3 development projects in the NoMa neighborhood, including two that contemplate significant amounts of dedicated affordable housing.
Ribbon Cutting for Affordable, LGBTQ Senior Housing
May 8 saw a ribbon cutting for Mary’s House for Older Adults, a newly built three story building in the Fort Dupont neighborhood in Southeast. The building provides 15 affordable apartment-style units designed specifically to help support members of the LGBTQ+ community with housing, health and wellness programs. WTOP and WJLA have the story.
Jair Lynch Seeks Additional Flexibility for Reservoir District
Washington Business Journal [subscription req’d] reports that developer Jair Lynch has asked the Zoning Commission for the flexibility to downsize a planned grocery store at the Reservoir District, the mixed-use redevelopment of the 25-acre former McMillan Sand Filtration Plant. The approved PUD contemplated a full-service grocery store of more than 50,000 square feet; Jair Lynch says it has been unable to find a tenant for that large a store, but may be able to find a grocery chain interested in a store in the 10,000 to 22,500 square foot range.
Jair Lynch also wants leeway to add more residential or lodging units to the building to compensate for the smaller grocer space, and shift the project's affordable housing to a second building to make the development easier to finance.
Instead of 196 market-rate units and 85 senior affordable units, for a total of 281 units, it wants the ability to build 324 residential units and for all of those units to be market-rate, with the affordable units — between 88 and 142 of them depending on D.C. subsidies — shifted to another building.
D.C. Metro Area
Financing Issues Delaying Housing Construction
Urban Turf reports that Hoffman & Associates has asked the Zoning Commission for a 2-year extension of design approval for a mixed-use project near Audi Field that is slated to have 445 units of housing. “Like many developments in the works around the region, the project is having difficulty securing financing.” The plan includes 110 senior units affordable to households earning up to 30% and 50% of area median income (AMI), and 29 of the other 335 apartments would be affordable to households earning up to 60% of AMI.
"The Project requires a significant amount of private financing for the market-rate commercial and residential portions of the Project, and the Applicant has been unable to secure such financing due to uncertainty in the financial markets that has led to hesitation from investors," the extension application stated. "The resulting delays have also resulted in the lapse of the awarded public financing."
According to ARLnow, the developer has abandoned a planned 88-unit multifamily development project at Columbia Pike and Walter Reed Drive in Arlington. A project architect said rising costs on imported construction materials like cement and steel began to affect the project’s outlook “It’s my understanding that the prices were coming in too high,” she said. “I think it seems to be happening with a lot of projects these days, so I’m not surprised.”
Government Layoffs Starting to Affect Area Housing Market
A May 5 weekly housing market update from Bright MLS says new listings of homes for sale are up faster in the D.C. region than in other parts of the Mid-Atlantic. During the week ending May 4, new listings increased 15.2% over the same week a year ago. The increase “could be a signal that Federal government workforce cuts and return-to-the-office mandates are having an impact on the region’s housing market,” but the analysis found no signs of a “substantial impact” from federal workforce reductions. More sellers are dropping their asking prices, but there “is still strong buyer interest in the D.C. area housing market.”
Citing a Redfin report, Axios had a more dramatic take on current trends, saying that “DMV home listings soar amid federal layoffs.” By this account, the number of active home listings in the Washington metro area during the four weeks ending on April 27 jumped 25% compared to the same period last year. Listing increases were bigger in suburban jurisdictions than in D.C. itself. Nationwide, the increase was only 14% during the same period. Still, strong demand for homes in the DMV is keeping prices steady.
Washington Business Journal [subscription req’d] presented a more nuanced view, suggesting the increase in inventory isn't creating a flood of homes for sale; it's just helping to rebalance what has been an extreme shortage of supply and accompanying rapid price growth. The spring market across D.C., Northern Virginia, and suburban Maryland is beginning to look more normalized than it’s been in the past couple of years, some experts say.
A May 9 Washington Post story [gift link] reported on a new poll finding that more than 1 in 5 D.C.-area residents say they are seriously considering moving away in the next 12 months. That rises to 45% among those who say a household member has been laid off from the federal government or a federal contractor.
Area Tenants Need Income of $91,000 to Afford Median Rent
Citing a Zillow report, Urban Turf says an annual income of $90,730 is needed to be able to afford the median rent of $1,850 a month on an apartment in the D.C. Metro area. To rent a median single-family home in the area, tenants need an income of $119,540.
Urban Turf also reports that the median sale price for a detached house in the area hit a new record of $873,000 in April.
Developers Find Creative Ways to Make Affordable Housing Projects “Pencil Out”
Reporting on Bisnow’s DMV Affordable Housing Summit in late April, a Bisnow article says, “Development of any kind is an uphill battle right now, and affordable housing is one of the steepest climbs. But some developers are finding creative ways to cut costs and make projects pencil against all odds . . . .”
Nationwide last year, affordable housing starts fell by 28.7% to 66,000, the fewest since 2020. Market-rate starts fell by 47%. This year, “developers say financing has become increasingly precarious as the Trump administration cuts federal housing funds.”
To make projects economically feasible, affordable housing developers need to find ways to cut costs, and some have turned to saving money on land acquisition and parking requirements as a key strategy. The article gives multiple examples in the D.C. area of land acquisition cost savings through partnerships with local jurisdictions or mission-driven organizations that own properties.
Speakers also said flexibility on zoning and planning can go a long way. Some jurisdictions have allowed increased density in exchange for an increased number of units or a commitment to make a certain number of units affordable.
D.C. Area Has High Number of Private Equity-Owned Apartments
Axios reported last month that the D.C. area has one of the highest numbers of private equity-owned apartments out of all the country's metro areas. The DMV has the fourth-highest number of properties and apartment units owned by private equity, with 277 properties totalling 92,722 units.
Axios cites a multifaceted report authored by watchdog nonprofit Private Equity Stakeholder Project, which says that in communities where investment companies own a significant share of housing, residents have often seen lower affordability, "large rent hikes," and "aggressive evictions." Tenants at private equity-owned properties have also had issues with "hidden fees, poor maintenance and repairs," and "lack of responsiveness to tenant concerns."
Maryland
REIT Won’t Invest More in Montgomery County Due to Rent Control
According to Washington Business Journal [subscription req’d], Chicago-based real estate investment trust (REIT) Equity Residential says it probably won’t invest more in Montgomery County, citing MoCo’s 2023 rent control law.
The company’s CEO said Montgomery’s “political climate has become quite poor from a landlord perspective.” In contrast, in Virginia “they're encouraging housing production, you see that housing production occurring . . . . And in a state like Maryland, that's become increasingly hostile to housing providers. You see the amount of investment in those markets, whether it's Baltimore or Washington, D.C. metro, decline."
This kind of capital flight is exactly what opponents of rent control have warned about, a principal of Bethesda-based developer Stonebridge told WBJ. He and others argue that constraining returns harms owners’ and developers’ ability to attract investment and lending, and thus to build and sell rent-controlled buildings.
Montgomery County passed permanent rent control in 2023. Units are exempt for the first 23 years, then annual rent increases are capped based on a formula tied to local annual inflation, up to a maximum of 6%. County Council Vice President Will Jawando said, “The majority of residential landlords have historically done very well raising rents at rates far below what our law prescribes, so anything substantially beyond that is just greed, and driven by speculation.”
Virginia
Affordable Housing Plan Moves Forward for Franconia Governmental Center
FFXnow reports that the Fairfax County Planning Commission voted 10-1 on May 7 to recommend that the Board of Supervisors advance a contentious plan that would allow affordable housing on the current Franconia Governmental Center site.
The vote recommends that Supervisors approve a Comprehensive Plan amendment for what is known as the Franconia Triangle. Though the plan amendment will make other land use changes, about the only part that has drawn community opposition is the placement of affordable housing on the 3.26-acre governmental center site. The proposed development would have up to 120 units reserved for households earning 30 to 80% of the area median income.
Arlington Board Approves 309-unit Clarendon Apartment Building
ARLnow reports that on May 10, the Arlington County Board unanimously approved Carr Properties’ plan to demolish an existing office building in Clarendon to make way for a 309-unit apartment building.
The building will include only 8 committed-affordable apartments, split evenly between one-bedroom and two-bedroom units, but Carr will also provide $950,000 to the county’s Affordable Housing Investment Fund.
Nationwide
Faltering Economy Affecting the Housing Market
A Washington Post article [gift link] says, “The faltering economy is starting to become a drag on the housing market.” Slower growth “means interest and mortgage rates will probably stay high for the foreseeable future. Stock market swings and flagging consumer confidence are pushing buyers out of the market. President Donald Trump’s trade war is adding thousands to construction costs for new homes and remodels.”
Existing-home sales in March saw their biggest monthly drop in more than two years, falling almost 6% during what is normally the spring selling season. Construction spending fell broadly in March. And housing starts fell more than 11%, with borrowing costs and a tight labor market slowing new construction. In a survey, 60% of builders said their suppliers have already increased or announced increases on materials prices because of tariffs.
A May 1 report from Redfin said, “Monthly Housing Costs Hit All-Time High Amid Economic Uncertainty, Keeping Buyers on the Sidelines.”
Urbanist Reading List
Ryan Puzycki at City of Yes and Diana Lind at The New Urban Order jointly posted “An Urbanist Reading List” — a useful list of more than 80 Substack publications that cover housing policy, real estate, urbanism, transportation, and urban politics. Check it out.
America’s Public Housing System Was Designed to Fail
Writing in The Washington Post [gift link], architecture critic Philip Kennicott reviewed The National Public Housing Museum, which opened last month in Chicago. His takeaways:
Redlining, which made it difficult or impossible for people of color to obtain mortgages and insurance in many neighborhoods, concentrated poverty and excluded many families from the wealth-building benefits of homeownership. Other federal policies built into housing programs since the 1930s, including the noxious “neighborhood composition rule,” dictated that new public housing not alter the racial balance of a neighborhood, which was effectively a way to maintain segregation for decades. There were also top limits on income levels for public housing, making it in some cases the housing of last resort for the poorest families.
Racism, disinvestment in urban centers and policies that subsidized homeowners through mortgage interest and local property-tax deductions created a downward spiral for many public-housing projects.
***
If there’s a housing crisis in America, and if that housing crisis is a factor in our current political malaise and dysfunction, it’s because of disinvestment, bad policy, neglect and fear. Anyone who visits this new museum will immediately see it wasn’t about bad design or architecture. It was about the rules of the game, which we made increasingly unwinnable for the people most dependent on public housing.
Around the Blogs
At The Post-Suburban Future blog, Andrew Burleson argues that “We don’t need zoning.” He says, “the basis of modern zoning is ‘I don’t like the kind of people who live in apartments and I don’t want them near me.’ I think that’s anti-democratic, un-American, and certainly not the role of the government.” He goes on to make the economic case that instead of trying to micromanage the local economy, cities should regulate externalities directly, through spatial buffers and performance standards, rather than exclusionary zoning.
Ryan Puzycki writes at City of Yes that “All Zoning Is Exclusionary.” Responding to arguments that states should withdraw zoning power from localities, especially when local law has been captured by neighborhood NIMBYism, Puzycki argues instead that the question isn’t who should control zoning—but whether zoning should exist at all. Modern zoning codes, he says, “are not meant to protect people from smokestacks; they’re a smokescreen for ‘protecting’ people from other people.” He argues that a “better approach is to regulate effects, not uses. Nuisance-based codes—measuring impacts like noise and pollution—are far more flexible and future-proof.”
At The Urban Condition, Benjamin Schneider looks at “What the Democrats can learn from Canada's Liberal party on housing.” In his housing platform, new Prime Minister Mark Carney calls for a new government entity that will “get the federal government back in the business of building homes.” This entity, Build Canada Homes, would directly develop large-scale affordable housing projects on public lands, and provide grants and loans to other developers.
Carney also proposes a number of tax and administrative changes to improve affordability. He calls for halving municipal development charges that drive up construction costs, creating new tax breaks for multifamily housing developers, and incentivizing landlords to sell their buildings to the government or affordable housing providers.
M. Nolan Gray explains in The YIMBY City Planner “How Proposition 13 Broke California Housing Politics.”
When you create a system that makes homeowners—the most powerful interest group in local politics—demand endlessly higher home prices, it turns out that you will get policies that result in endlessly higher home prices, and all the devastation this entails. This is the mess Proposition 13 created.
At Slow Boring, Matthew Yglesias made the case that “The government shouldn’t tell people where to live,” and that “Housing belongs where the demand is.”
In DC, where I live, I think city policymakers grew accustomed to low interest rates and high demand for living in the city, during which time developers were essentially willing to build wherever they were allowed. This dynamic, which coincided with a series of conceptually pro-growth mayors, has actually gotten us a ton of new housing during the time I’ve lived here.
At first, a lot of that was built in my neighborhood, with apartments going up on vacant lots left behind by the 1968 riots.
But we also got whole new neighborhoods in places like Navy Yard, NOMA, the Wharf, and Union Market that were previously home to distressed industrial spaces. The problem the city has run into now is that financing costs have gone up, the demand for city living has taken [a] blow, and the most obvious vacant sites have already been taken. And yet, it’s not like nobody would be willing to build anything in the city, even under worse circumstances. It’s just that to keep generating new units — and the jobs and tax revenue that they support — the city has to open up the most in-demand parcels, which are in the most expensive parts of the city.
At Momentum to Build Community, Ryan Kilpatrick cites research to debunk 6 myths about housing density: that higher density housing will reduce property values of nearby homes; density always means high-rise apartment buildings; higher density will create unsolvable traffic problems; denser housing attracts crime; density is environmentally harmful; and higher density overburdens infrastructure and public services.
In a separate essay in Momentum to Build Community, Ryan Kilpatrick responded to a New York Times article, Why America Should Sprawl, by Conor Dougherty. Dougherty had argued that the only way we will be able to build an adequate supply of new housing to meet demand is if cities across North America continue to expand outward. Kilpatrick explains why that’s wrong, saying we shouldn’t “double down on the very same approach that has contributed to the crisis we’re in today.”
Calendar
May 17 — Walking tour: Reinventing Friendship Heights. The Coalition for Smarter Growth, Ward3Vision, and Friendship Heights Alliance are sponsoring a walking tour of Friendship Heights “to see new residential buildings and animated public spaces designed to foster a more welcoming place for residents and visitors. We’ll discuss new market-rate and affordable housing, placemaking, and how to improve the pedestrian environment.” 2:00-4:00 p.m., starting at the Plaza at the Shops at Wisconsin Place, 5310 Western Avenue. RSVP here.
May 19 — Next regular meeting of ANC 3C (Cleveland Park and Woodley Park), virtual, 7:00-9:00 p.m. Agenda with Zoom registration link here.
May 20 — Next regular meeting of ANC 3F (Van Ness), 7:00-9:00 p.m., online. Agenda with Zoom meeting link here.
May 28 — Deadline to submit comments to the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) on the eight proposals to redevelop the Chevy Chase Library and Community Center site and add affordable housing.
June 9 — Next regular meeting of ANC 3/4G (Chevy Chase), 6:30-8:30, virtually via Zoom.
June 12 — Next regular meeting of ANC 3E (Friendship Heights & Tenleytown), 7:30 p.m., online.
June 17 — Next regular meeting of ANC 3A (Middle Wisconsin Avenue), 7:00 p.m., at the McLean Gardens Ballroom and virtually via Zoom.
To let us know of something we should add, please email christopher.vaden78@gmail.com.
Has anyone put the 8 proposals for the Chevy Chase civic core redevelopment into a spreadsheet to easily compare them? Or otherwise offered recommendations for people seeking to submit comment?