ANC2C02 Forum

Up and coming, transitioning, gentrifying, revitalizing, progressing . . . no matter the moniker for the transformation of a neighborhood's residential landscape, affordable housing is always a point at issue. Affordable housing has a few key elements: income eligibility, rent ceilings based on income, and actual rent payments which varies depending on whether the housing is subsidized (section 8 or local District rental subsidies) or unsubsidized. The last paragraphs of a previous post to this Forum adequately address those issues in the case of parcel 42 at 7th and R Street NW.

The facts below provide statistical highlights by which you can decide what exactly is meant by affordable:

• Income Gap in DC: Recently released Census data from the American Community Survey show a vast difference in median income in 2006 - $91,631 for non-Hispanic whites and $34,484 for blacks. The gap is the second-widest in the U.S. based on race, behind Atlanta's. Almost 80 percent of Washington's 108,100 residents below the poverty line are black. DC has the second highest poverty rate in the nation among states.
• Low income residents: For the East of River neighborhoods of Barry Farm/Park Chester, the median income is $21,483 per annum. The waiting list for low-income Section 8 vouchers in DC totals over 56,000. 300 families are in need of emergency housing/shelter.
• Public servants: "Workforce housing" is often a buzz term promoting housing developments which are affordable to the police, firefighters, teachers and other public servants. According to at-large Councilwoman Carol Schwartz, 41% of District employees live in DC compared to 48% that live in Maryland. This presents a more than 10% decrease of District government employee residency from the later 1980s.
• Area Median Income (AMI): It is widely reported that the 2007 DC region AMI is $94,500 for family of 4. Affordable housing eligibility in DC proper is based on the DC region AMI. The Housing and Urban Development (HUD) DC region calculation is based on DC plus 11 counties including 5 of the 10 richest counties in the US - Loudon, Fairfax, Howard, Montgomery and Prince William counties. Contrastingly, the DC proper median income was $47,500 for a family of 4 in 2005-2006.

• "Affordable Housing" in DC: The Office of Zoning (DCOZ) defines affordable housing as "housing where the occupant is paying no more than 35% of gross income for gross housing costs, excluding utility costs." Furthermore, DCOZ defines low-come households as those where the incomes do not exceed 80% of AMI and moderate-income as households whose incomes are between 81%-95% AMI. In actual numbers that calculates to be $75,600 and $76,545 - $89,775, respectively. Developers often establish incomes of 60% - 80% AMI or below as the eligibility benchmarks for "affordable housing." This calculates as $56,700 - $75,600.

  In Shaw, the median household income ranges from $38,367 to $50,581 based on households 0 - 0.5 miles from 8th and P Streets and 0 - 3 miles from 8th and P Streets, respectively. Shaw's range of median income translate as 41% - 54% of the AMI, which is below much of the affordable housing proposed in Shaw.