“We do not have enough of the share of affordable housing across other communities, and because of that, we put a tremendous burden on others,” ANC 4C commissioner Jonah Goodman said earlier this month. It’s spicy, but also true, and not exclusive to Petworth, where 4C is located: The District’s development landscape is uneven and unfair.
Affluent neighborhoods, which track closely with parts of the city zoned for single-family residences, rarely see new development at all. When it happens, it’s either teardowns of smaller single-family houses, replaced with larger single-family houses, or large, mixed-use projects. Meanwhile, rowhomes in DC are never going to cost $200,000 ever again, and it’s extremely challenging to build the sort of mid-sized apartment building that eventually filters down to costing slightly less than new construction. It’s vexing, and the solutions are piecemeal.