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It's not accurate to say they're "pulling the plug" on public housing; what they're doing is pulling the plug on large-scale public housing complexes--the "warehousing" of poverty, as rlchurch mentioned. The recent movement has been to intersperse subsidized housing units with market-rate units (a system not entirely dissimilar to what is done in the UK). Montgomery County is advocating for this method, as an example, as is Arlington.
Wasn't that also part of the plan for the new developments near Potomac Ave and the Nats Stadium as well? When one of them was completed (Capitol Row? Capitol something?) I thought I remembered reading that a certain amount was set aside for low-income housing. I may have heard something similar about some of the new buildings in the Watefront too, but I'm not sure.
Wasn't that also part of the plan for the new developments near Potomac Ave and the Nats Stadium as well? When one of them was completed (Capitol Row? Capitol something?) I thought I remembered reading that a certain amount was set aside for low-income housing. I may have heard something similar about some of the new buildings in the Watefront too, but I'm not sure.
I believe it's actually a codified requirement for new residential developments in DC that a certain percentage of units in a particular development over a certain size be below-market rate (in MoCo they call it "workforce housing"). So it's likely the Potomac Ave. development has this requirement.
There are some problems with this, of course. The % of required below-rate housing is probably too low to sufficiently meet the needs of the populace. Also, in MoCo developers can essentially buy their way out of the requirement--which most are electing to do--thus defeating the purpose.
It's not accurate to say they're "pulling the plug" on public housing; what they're doing is pulling the plug on large-scale public housing complexes--the "warehousing" of poverty, as rlchurch mentioned. The recent movement has been to intersperse subsidized housing units with market-rate units (a system not entirely dissimilar to what is done in the UK). Montgomery County is advocating for this method, as an example, as is Arlington.
Thankfully, I believe the days of cramming hundreds of units of Section 8 HUD huts together are past.
This is exactly the point. I see zero political interest in the District for pulling the rug out from under the poor. In the old days there used to be a "color" line at Rock Creek Park. Today the city is much more heterogeneous than that and planners have accepted that many small scale low income units scatter among the community are a much better solution to the challenge of dealing with poverty.
For the poster who seems to think the city is on a slow slide toward Houston, you ought to go to Houston and ask yourself if you really want to live in that environment.
It's not accurate to say they're "pulling the plug" on public housing; what they're doing is pulling the plug on large-scale public housing complexes--the "warehousing" of poverty, as rlchurch mentioned. The recent movement has been to intersperse subsidized housing units with market-rate units (a system not entirely dissimilar to what is done in the UK). Montgomery County is advocating for this method, as an example, as is Arlington.
Thankfully, I believe the days of cramming hundreds of units of Section 8 HUD huts together are past.
Doesn't Montgomery County require new developments to set aside housing for section 8?
For the poster who seems to think the city is on a slow slide toward Houston, you ought to go to Houston and ask yourself if you really want to live in that environment.
While I certainly don't want to live in area as conservative as Houston there is something to be said for Houston restrictionless zoning or better yet the complete lack of zoning. It encourages free enterprise and may be part of why the cost of living in Houston is so much lower than DC. I've never been to Houston so can only say so much about it.
The whole getting rid of projects is not just a big city thing. They're doing this is in small towns too. My little hometown just tore down the largest and most notorious housing projects. They did this at a smaller housing project with success and tearing down the latest housing project certainly marks the end of an era. The question remains whether or not this will bring actual prosperity to a challenged part of town that can rival DC's worst SE and NE neighborhoods.
When they first started doing this there was controversy. People were being displaced and communities torn apart. They talked a woman who had lived in the same apartment since the projects were built in the 30s or 40s. Her family lived in the same projects and now they were being scattered across the city. It was a sad picture but now I've changed my mind. Projects aren't supposed to be permanent homes, they're supposed to be temporary stopping points on the way to prosperity. So maybe projects were multiple generations reside and never leave the wrong impression and leads to poverty begatting poverty. With that said as a society we can't forget our poor. So I don't know don't have all the answers but definitely get rid of those projects.
Doesn't Montgomery County require new developments to set aside housing for section 8?
They do...it's called "workforce housing". It depends on the size of the development, but it's generally around 10% of units that fall under this category. The problem in MoCo, like I mentioned, is that there is a clause that basically lets developers buy their way out of the requirement by controbuting towards a County fund meant to provide housing services to the less well-off. Unfortunately, it's not really working.
While I certainly don't want to live in area as conservative as Houston there is something to be said for Houston restrictionless zoning or better yet the complete lack of zoning. It encourages free enterprise and may be part of why the cost of living in Houston is so much lower than DC. I've never been to Houston so can only say so much about it.
Only if you want a strip joint next to a middle school or your house. Houston is a total mess.
As for the cost of living. It might well be a desirability factor. Awful climate - redneck population - flat as a tabletop. All great quality of life factors.
For the poster who seems to think the city is on a slow slide toward Houston, you ought to go to Houston and ask yourself if you really want to live in that environment.
Dude, you must have failed Reading Comprehension 101. Allow me to reprint my original quote, highlighting the parts you obviously missed:
Quote:
I'm not saying that new residents will turn DC into Red-City Houston overnight (heaven help us).
Perhaps you should try actually reading posts instead of skimming over them and jumping to conclusions.
Really? So there's actually gentrification taking place in Anacostia (by this I mean anywhere in Southeast DC on that side of the Anacostia river) already? On how large a scale?
To me, this is the one major part of DC I simply can't see getting gentrified on a large scale. Northeast DC I can see becoming somewhat gentrified, but not this area.
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