Making Social Housing a Reality

in the District

Click HERE to read our article, Social Housing in the United States- An Idea Whose Time has Come. This is the final article in our four-part series seeking to examine the root causes of the affordable housing crisis and offering social housing as an alternative development model to solve that crisis. To read the entire four-part series from the beginning, click HERE

Key Points from the Article:

•  The concept of social housing is gaining traction across the United States. Along with the bill proposed in the District, there is also proposed social housing legislation in Maryland as well as California.

• While these legislative proposals are working their way through various state and local governments, maybe the most concrete groundwork for social housing is being laid in Montgomery County, Maryland via their Housing Authority known as the Housing Opportunities Commission of Montgomery County (HOC).

• As reported by Vox, HOC has shown the power of the government to develop highly efficient ways to produce publicly owned/mixed-income housing. Recently, HOC delivered 268 units of affordable mixed-income housing.

• The District should learn from existing social housing models to implement its own social housing program as the foundation of a broader progressive economic development policy. The goal of this policy would be to produce publicly owned mixed-income and sustainable affordable housing while creating jobs and investing resources into District residents and their communities.

•  If DC were to act now, it could put itself on a path to be a leader in showing how alternative development models can transform municipalities by investing in both affordable housing and strong public institutions that lay the groundwork for healthy communities.