PRESS RELEASE AND NEW REPORT FROM AUDITOR’S OFFICE ON INCLUSIONARY ZONING

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This November 20, 2024, report by the Office of the Auditor on DC’s Inclusionary Zoning program is an indictment of the Smart Growth urbanists who say that building more luxury housing with a required handful of IZ units would be an answer to our unaffordable housing crisis.  The numbers in the official report below show quite the opposite.
 
WE NEED AN ALTERNATIVE THAT DECOMODIFIES HOUSING AND AFFIRMS THAT HOUSING IS A HUMAN RIGHT!
 
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Part of the IZ failure is because the so-called YIMBY urbanist originators of this alleged “affordable” housing policy chose to never highlight the lack of accountability and enforcement of their developer real estate friends in any of their testimony to the Zoning Commission and to the Council over the years.
 
For more than a decade now, IZ has been used as the soapbox for YIMBYs to cheer on upzoning such as at 1617 U Street.  IZ has been the guise for luxury overdevelopment since 2009 and destroyed affordability in the District by setting the definition of “affordable housing” so high as to be out of reach of most working people and families in our city.
 
Resources/Background:
Below find my highlights from the Auditor’s Report including the two big takeaways showing the dire and acute need for an alternative like social housing:
  • 18,000 people on the waitlist for 2000 IZ units!
  • Of the 2000 IZ units, 1300 of them are for single individuals (65%).
  • Most of the IZ waiting list consists of family-sized households needing 3+ bedrooms.
  • Some of the current IZ participating households are spending 50% of their income on housing costs (this is unlawfully not affordable).
  • IZ units are allowed to sit vacant allowing the developers to gain luxury density while keeping empty the pitiful handful of IZ units they are required to fill.
  • Of the IZ units that are being filled, it takes an IZ participant on average 13 months to move-in to the unit.

The Auditor’s press release was rosy compared to the actual underlying data, see screenshots of major findings directly from the report:
 
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On Fri, Nov 22, 2024 at 7:48 PM Debby Hanrahan <debbyhanrahan@yahoo.com> wrote:
Hello all,
The only thing I can say after a quick read of this City Auditor’s new report is that the inclusionary zoning (IZ) program is as bad as we have suspected and have witnessed on an anecdotal and individual project basis. The financial abuses of the program were not highlighted, but I hope that will come soon. After you have a chance to read this, I hope you will feel free to walk into your nearest IZ-participating project and ask about subsidized units.
Best,
Debby
—– Forwarded Message —–
From: Patterson, Kathy (ODCA) <kathy.patterson@dc.gov>
To: Debby Hanrahan <debbyhanrahan@yahoo.com>
Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2024 at 12:56:46 PM EST
Subject: FW: New report: Stronger Oversight Needed for Inclusionary Zoning Program to Reach Housing Goals

Just posted; thanks for your interest!

Kathleen Patterson  |  D.C. Auditor

she/her/hers

Office of the D.C. Auditor

1331 Pennsylvania Avenue NW 8th Floor

Washington D.C. 20004

Direct: (202) 727-8982  | Office: (202) 727-3600

Email: kathy.patterson@dc.gov

Website: www.dcauditor.org

From: Shinn, Diane (ODCA) <diane.shinn@dc.gov>
Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2024 12:48 PM
To: Shinn, Diane (ODCA) <diane.shinn@dc.gov>
Subject: New report: Stronger Oversight Needed for Inclusionary Zoning Program to Reach Housing Goals

Good morning. Attached please find our newest press release and report entitled Stronger DHCD Oversight Needed for Inclusionary Zoning Program to Reach Housing Goals.

Despite a lack of enforcement that has enabled a culture of non-compliance at some of its properties, the District’s Inclusionary Zoning program—

one of the many pathways toward the city’s affordable housing goals—has already implemented or is implementing many recommendations of a new audit published today by the Office of the D.C. Auditor (ODCA).

The IZ program’s purpose is to use market-rate development to increase affordable unit production and ultimately create a full range of long-term housing choices for each District household regardless of size and income. Mayor Muriel Bowser is aiming to achieve the affordable housing goal of producing 12,000 new affordable units for D.C. residents by 2025.

Actions taken by the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) included enforcement action against an IZ provider following a Management Alert issued by ODCA in June.

“We were pleased at the immediate action the agency took earlier this year,” said D.C. Auditor Kathy Patterson. “We are pleased with DHCD’s concurrence with nearly all 17 of ODCA’s recommendations aimed at improving the IZ program’s efficacy, including efforts to meet the 102-day target to fill IZ units from what an ODCA sample found was an average of more than 13 months.”

Findings in the report include that during the audit’s scope DHCD did not:

•            Ensure that annual reporting requirements were enforced, which meant they were not able to track which units were vacant or who was living in occupied units.

•            Ensure that IZ tenants’ incomes were recertified annually which potentially allowed participants to remain in IZ units for which they were no longer eligible because their income exceeded their units’ income requirement.

•            Ensure that properties submitted renewal leases annually. Of the IZ properties in the report’s sample, only one of 16 properties was found to have completed lease renewals in a timely manner. At six of the properties, some renewed leases were found and those, on average, were dated 147 days (five months) after the previous lease’s expiration date. The remaining properties had not renewed any leases at the time of ODCA’s site visits, putting the tenants into a month-to-month status on an expired lease.

•            Initiate enforcement action against property owners who violated IZ development covenant requirements and DCMR.

Please let me know if you’d like to speak to the Auditor about this report. Thanks for your interest in ODCA’s work.

 

 

Diane Shinn | Director of Communications

Office of the D.C. Auditor

1331 14th Street N.W., Suite 800 South

Washington, DC  20004

Direct: (202) 727-8991 | Office: (202) 727-3600 | Cell: 202-255-6717

she/her/hers

diane.shinn@dc.gov

dcauditor.org

Auditude

@ODCA_DC

 

 

YIMBYs and the continuation of the colonial project

Question: What Is a YIMBY? (Hint: It’s Not Good)

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A series of articles, resources, and videos discussing the so-called YIMBY-class of build-more activists.
What Is a YIMBY? (Hint: It’s Not Good)

By Patrick Range McDonald, Housing is a Human Right, July 14, 2021, Link: https://www.housingisahumanright.org/what-is-a-yimby-hint-its-not-good/

YIMBY Movement Is Not the Answer to Housing Crisis, Grassroots Activists Say

The answer to the U.S. housing crisis is simple and widely adopted elsewhere: more public housing.

By Laura Jedeed & M.K. Hawthorne,     Truthout, Published September 19, 2021, Link: https://truthout.org/articles/yimby-movement-is-not-the-answer-to-housing-crisis-grassroots-activists-say/

YIMBY, White Privilege, and the Soul of Our Cities

A common narrative being promoted about why there is a housing crisis ignores history and serves to assuage new residents’ guilty feelings. But we can craft a new narrative together.

By Fernando Marti, Shelterforce, Published: February 19, 2019, Link: https://shelterforce.org/2019/02/19/yimby-white-privilege-and-the-soul-of-our-cities/



Don't Fall Down the YIMBY Pipeline

By Radical Planning, Published February 8, 2022, Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHigcXE9ZzE

YIMBYism Is Code For Gentrification w/ David Fields

By Real Progressives, Published October 16, 2024, Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YMd0HZA4CE

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YIMBY policies rooted in the royal “my” and paternalism is not new to the battle for equity in DC

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Taken from the Adams Morgan listserve here >>
https://groups.io/g/adamsmorgan/message/66398 

———- Forwarded message ———
From: William Jordan via groups.io <whj=melanet.com@groups.io>
Date: Sun, Nov 17, 2024 at 4:20 PM
Subject: Re: [adamsmorgan] What Do YIMBYs and Donald Trump Have in Common?

 

I’m an amateur genealogist, in building my family tree and working to better understand the stories of my ancestors, I’ve found complex and extensive connections to DC going back to the 1860/70s. 

 

In my genealogical journey, I’ve discovered as with my family, my ancestor’s lives generation after generation lives have been negatively impacted by some form of YIMBY-ism.  YIMBY-ism built around Black family displacement and the I-know-it all paternalistic hubris of the political and bureaucratic elite.   

 

Nadeau’s YIMBY policies rooted in the royal “my” and paternalism is not new to the battle for equity.

 

The attached November 21, 1854 article from the Evening Star features Ezekiel Cunningham my first cousin 3-times removed and DC SW shopkeeper describing 1950s version of YIMBY-ism as a “Passel of Joy and Sorrow”.   

 

Not only are there many parallels between YIMBY-ism of the 1950s and 2020s including the rationalizations, but some of the same Black families which were marginalized and displaced from SW to make room for out of town developers are some of the same families being marginalized by Nadeau’s Ward 1 policies for similar interests.

 

Source file: https://tinyurl.com/bddn5wnw

So we can debate Nadeau’s NW YIMBY-ism and Trump, there is little doubt about Ward 1’s YIMBY-ism roots in S.W.. 

 

William

 

—–Original Message—–
From: whj@melanet.com
Sent: Sunday, November 10, 2024 8:56pm
To: adamsmorgan@groups.io
Cc: adamsmorgan@groups.io
Subject: Re: [adamsmorgan] What Do YIMBYs and Donald Trump Have in Common?

YIMBY-ism for the most part is nonsensical rebranding of government backed Gentrification which is a  rehash of Urban Renewal/Negro Removal.  In particular it’s designed to con mainly younger people who are seeking progressive solutions to community ills into supporting big capital via high rents and consumption. Comparing this YIMBY-ism con to Trump is just an attempt to wake us up a little.

Under the very approaches so called YIMBY’s are pushing for 1/2 of Ward 1’s Black population has been displaced since 2000 and the racial equity gap has increased, especially the Black-White one primarily as a result of government policy/corporate-corruption.

Many YIMBYs are likely good people, who have been conned or mislead by people like CM Nadeau who know YIMBY-ism doesn’t work as touted.

William

 

 

ERAP Changes: City Council “Seeking a balance” on the backs of DC tenants

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B25-0994 – Emergency Rental Assistance Reform Amendment Act of 2024 :: https://lims.dccouncil.gov/Legislation/B25-0994

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City Council Cmte on Housing, Chair Robert White, Hearing on November 15, 2024 :: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOdUfzpr45Q

Theme of the hearing from the Chair –> “Seeking a balance” on the backs of DC tenants.

Here’s an abridged list of those who spoke in opposition to changes to the ERAP law that would allow landlords to evict DC residents faster with less protections despite ERAP applications that may be in process.
< Opposition speakers > 

2. Mr. Daniel del Pielago, Housing Director, Empower DC: https://www.youtube.com/live/IOdUfzpr45Q?feature=shared&t=1879

3. Ms. Andria Chatmon, Housing Organizer, Empower DC: https://www.youtube.com/live/IOdUfzpr45Q?feature=shared&t=2073

5. Mel Zahnd, Legal Aid Society of DC:https://www.youtube.com/live/IOdUfzpr45Q?feature=shared&t=2614

8. Damiana Dendy, DC Jobs with Justice: https://www.youtube.com/live/IOdUfzpr45Q?feature=shared&t=6715

9. Amanda Eisenhour, Tenant Support Specialist at the DC BAR Pro Bono Center: https://www.youtube.com/live/IOdUfzpr45Q?feature=shared&t=6995

10. Ms. Makenna Osborn, Policy Attorney, Children’s Law Center: https://www.youtube.com/live/IOdUfzpr45Q?feature=shared&t=7237

13. Adam Marshall, Neighborhood Legal Services Program: https://www.youtube.com/live/IOdUfzpr45Q?feature=shared&t=3397

21. Mr. Ed Lazere, Director of Legislative Advocacy, United Planning Organization: https://www.youtube.com/live/IOdUfzpr45Q?feature=shared&t=16317

28. Ms. Sierra Ramirez, Eviction Defense Committee Delegate, Woodner Tenants’ Union: https://www.youtube.com/live/IOdUfzpr45Q?feature=shared&t=26706

35. Mx. George Lander, Sr. Tenant Support Coordinator, Bread for the City: https://www.youtube.com/live/IOdUfzpr45Q?feature=shared&t=20852

40. Sunny Desai, Legal Counsel for the Elderly: https://www.youtube.com/live/IOdUfzpr45Q?feature=shared&t=21144

41. Saunya Connelly, Legal Counsel for the Elderly: https://www.youtube.com/live/IOdUfzpr45Q?feature=shared&t=21408

47. Joshua Drumming, Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless: https://www.youtube.com/live/IOdUfzpr45Q?feature=shared&t=4220

49. Natasha Bennett, Esq., Supervising Attorney, Bread for the City: https://www.youtube.com/live/IOdUfzpr45Q?feature=shared&t=8262

63. Tamira Benitez, Public Witness: https://www.youtube.com/live/IOdUfzpr45Q?feature=shared&t=12786

65. Kymone Freeman, Co-Founder, We Act Radio: https://www.youtube.com/live/IOdUfzpr45Q?feature=shared&t=23942

107. Ms. Kate Coventry, Deputy Director of Legislative Strategy, DC Fiscal Policy Institute: https://www.youtube.com/live/IOdUfzpr45Q?feature=shared&t=22291

118. Mr. Kelechi Agbakwuru, Housing Justice Counsel, Washington Lawyers’ Committee: https://www.youtube.com/live/IOdUfzpr45Q?feature=shared&t=19462

124. Mr. Chris Otten, DC for Reasonable Development: https://www.youtube.com/live/IOdUfzpr45Q?feature=shared&t=22559

 

< ANC’s >

 

< DC GOVERNMENT WITNESSES >

 

— important to note — 

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Urbanist YIMBYs of course want to make evictions easier for the landlord-class, Cheryl Cort, Policy Director, Coalition for Smarter Growth :: https://www.youtube.com/live/IOdUfzpr45Q?feature=shared&t=12615


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UBI: DC Nonprofits get it, why won’t the Blue-Dems of DC?

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Universal Basic Income is an idea that has come to the fore in recent years but has yet to break through the ruling-class gatekeeping of our working families.

UBI is becoming more real in DC. A local non-profit is set to give UBI a go starting this week for the next year.

DC-area nonprofit combines 2 policies that will give low-income families thousands per month

The “Pathway to Economic Mobility, Prosperity and Family Wellness” involves 100 families scattered around D.C. who currently receive subsidized housing from the District. For the next two years, they’ll be receiving $1,000 per month. On top of that, parents will get $1,000 they can put toward an IRA or emergency savings account. Their children will also get $1,000 put into a 529 college savings plan and $1,000 toward a Roth IRA.

As the DC Council funds billionaires to build new arenas and give rich downtown landlords tax breaks and grants to turn unoccupied offices into unaffordable housing, there are some thought leaders turning to UBI as a real alternative to evictions, homelessness, and despair for rooted residents and families struggling to keep up.

DC Safety Net on Fire! Council Moves Quick on Social Welfare for a Billionaire Arena Owner While Longtime DC Families Left to Struggle to Meet Basic Needs

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Please take Action, use the Fair Budget Coalition social media kit among other resources out there to get the word out to friends, neighbors, loved ones: https://tinyurl.com/fbc-dc-2025-budget-toolkit


<press alert> DC for Reasonable Development, contact Chris Otten, (202) 656-5874

“The Safety Net Continues to Burn” as D.C. City Council Poised to Give a Billionaire Half-a-Billion Dollars in D.C. Taxpayer Dollars; Key Programs to Help DC's Families and Working Residents Remain Un- & Under-Funded

Washington, DC — The second vote on DC's 2025 Budget is upcoming this Wednesday, and it spells terrible news for DC's most vulnerable longtime residents and families. 

Here's what's at stake for DC's longtime families and residents struggling to survive in their city:
  • ERAP (emergency rental assistance to prevent eviction and housing insecurity) is funded at less than ½ of FY24 – yet the need has grown and the funds run out almost as soon as the portal opens each quarter. 

  • Housing vouchers for individuals and families experiencing homelessness are funded at less than 1/10th of the need, leaving us deeply worried about the trauma and hardship they will face in FY25 without housing. 

  • The Mayor is planning to evict 2200 families in the next 2 months (and another 1000 in FY25) from their housing in the Rapid ReHousing program. Without any housing solutions for where they will go, virtually no vouchers in the budget, and no way to pay market rate rent, these families are in immediate danger of homelessness. This is a horrific human tragedy awaiting the families and the city unless lawmakers take action.

  • SNAP benefits have not kept pace with the realities of struggling households. There were no new or improved investments in food/nutrition programs (outside of the schools) this year, even though several Councilmembers stated concern about senior hunger.


In contrast, social welfare for a billionaire (Ted Leonisis) was quickly made available by the Council who are primed to serve up half-a-billion taxpayer dollars for downtown arena funding.

“The safety net continues to burn, with the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP), housing vouchers to end homelessness, and nutrition assistance each horribly, shockingly underfunded. Thousands of housing-insecure families lack access to ERAP to prevent eviction, even as landlords have doubled the number of eviction filings compared to last year and rents have risen more than incomes. There are 3,200 families facing immediate homelessness with the Department of Human Services evicting them from the rapid rehousing program — 2,200 this summer, and another 1,000 starting in the fall. And unhoused individuals living on the street routinely face encampment clearance with no corresponding investment in housing and services to promote their health and well-being. DC’s seniors, both housed and unhoused, face the highest rate of older adult hunger in the country, yet their food assistance benefits are paltry, especially in the face of high, even rising, costs for food and housing.” –Niciah Mujahid is executive director of the Fair Budget Coalition.


Advocates for DC's working families and individuals making less than $55,000/year are asking the city to raise money on the classes of income earners who have gotten wealthier over the pandemic.

Chairman Mendelson's recently proposed property tax increase on high-value homes only raises $5.7 million in FY 2025, and while a step in the right direction, measured against all that is at stake residents are demanding the Council to improve the wealth tax proposal and consider higher taxes on those with incomes above $500,000/yr.

The budget vote is scheduled for Wednesday.

###

Please take Action, use the Fair Budget Coalition social media kit among other resources out there to get the word out to friends, neighbors, loved ones: https://tinyurl.com/fbc-dc-2025-budget-toolkit

More reasons to go SHIMBY and definitely not be a YIMBY or a NIMBY

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We want Social Housing in our Backyard as SHIMBYs.

Neither YIMBYs nor NIMBYs like social housing because it would decommodify shelter as we know it as human housing (hurting the pockets of the investor-class the YIMBYs serve) and bring in truly affordable housing (exposing the fragility of the racist & classist NIMBYs in their exclusive neighborhoods).

See the exploration below focusing on why YIMBYs are so dangerous to existing urban communities of working class families and neighborhoods of color.

YIMBYs & NIMBYs want the same thing!

YIMBYs & NIMBYs want the same thing!

What Is a YIMBY? (Hint: It’s Not Good)
By Patrick Range McDonald, July 14, 2021

 
Excerpts:

  • YIMBY stands for “Yes In My Back Yard.” It’s a clever twist on NIMBY or “Not In My Back Yard.” NIMBYs have a controversial reputation for fighting new development in their communities. YIMBYs try to capitalize on that by using a moniker that sounds inclusive and appealing. Don’t be fooled. 
  • YIMBYs embrace trickle-down economics or what’s now called “trickle-down housing” policy. As middle- and working-class people have long known, trickle-down anything doesn’t work — except to make the rich richer.

  • YIMBYs know developers built almost exclusively luxury housing, and that is okay with them. 
  • YIMBYs are NOT housing justice activists. But for political reasons, YIMBYs are desperate to own housing justice credentials. YIMBYs have co-opted messaging from the housing justice movement and joined housing justice coalitions. It’s a strategy that continues to this day. 
  • Despite their pro-gentrification agenda and clashes with housing justice activists, many Democratic politicians champion YIMBYism and the mainstream media too often touts the YIMBY cause. Why? Politicians take huge amounts of campaign cash from the real estate industry, and YIMBYism gives them political cover to deregulate land-use protections and allow developers to build more luxury housing — and to generate huge profits — under the guise of solving the housing affordability crisis 
  • “The YIMBY movement has a white privilege problem,” Anya Lawler, a policy advocate with the Western Center on Law & Poverty, told the Los Angeles Times. “I don’t think they recognize it. They don’t understand poverty. They don’t understand what that’s like, who our clients really are and what their lived experience is.” 
  • YIMBY leaders are consistently silent about the predatory practices of corporate landlords and developers. The silence speaks volumes.
 
 

2025 DC Budget Update — DC’s Continued War on the Working Families and Lower Income Residents of DC

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DC4RD — 2025 DC Budget Update tl;dr here: http://www.dcfeedback.com/fit2print/dc/3330

Washington, DC — May 23, 2024 — As workers who put their bodies on the line in the many capitalist wars get ready to relax one extra day before summer, the DC City Council is poised next week to take up Mayor Bowser's continued war on the poor and working residents and families (many of whom are veterans without a vote).


It was in April when the news of the Mayor's 2025 austerity budget came across newswires. The City Councilmembers remarks were stark in their analysis of what Bowser is trying to impose: http://www.tinyurl.com/dcbudget2025-take1


But, instead of lifting the burden off the backs of the working residents of DC, the Council seems to desire a shift of the pots of money around to make the hardship a tiny bit less bearable all while delivering a line of credit of half-a-billion dollars (that butts DC up against our loan ceiling) to be delivered to a billionaire (Ted Leonisis) so that luxury playtime “can save Downtown DC.” https://dccouncil.gov/council-approves-arena-funds-to-keep-teams-in-dc-receives-mayors-budget-proposal/

Numerous DC advocacy groups who care about working families and the lower-income DC residents are asking that the wealthy pay a much fairer share of the burden and the city make modest tax increases on millionaires, let alone billionaires.

The Council, at least the Chair, seem to be playing the dire need for human services to be maintained let alone increased against their understanding of a mostly apathetic DC voter base who are confused by the false propaghanda and spin. 


Officials appear to seek deflecting calls for raising taxes on the rich, again, despite overwhelming support as such: https://www.dcfpi.org/press-releases/dc-voters-strongly-support-taxing-wealth-to-raise-revenue-and-address-inequality/

Mayor Muriel Bowser, leading Phil Mendelson by the nose, all together are essentially telling the plebiscite that stadiums are far more important than the massive displacement of Black residents and the severe uptick recent evictions of longtime DC residents from their home and even from the tents.

► 'Homelessness numbers continue to rise in D.C. region, data shows.' WaPo's Kyle Swenson: “The number of unhoused individuals across the Washington region jumped by over 12 percent from 2023, marking the second year in a row that homelessness has increased, according to data released by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments this week. https://archive.ph/nuMMl

► 'D.C. clears major homeless encampment, but critical housing problems linger.' WaPo's Marissa J. Lang: “Dozens of homeless adults were forced to scatter this week to far-flung parks and slivers of turf around the District after the National Park Service and D.C. officials cleared out several sites in the Foggy Bottom area that collectively had become the last large-scale homeless encampment in the city. https://archive.ph/h94iD

If the Council truly cared would they not deploy the verve and fast action we've seen go to protecting Leonisis' Capital One Arena as we would for real DC people undergoing serious hardship as entire DC neighborhoods being emptied of their people and culture, replaced by expensive housing and homogeneity.

Perhaps this is a wrong read, but yet again this budget season, the Council and Mayor seem poised to keep the working-class under threat to unduly bear the brunt of an overall sluggish economy coming out of a global pandemic all while funding billionaires for more luxury play time.

If the veterans of past fought fascist dictators, their grandsons, and granddaughters, and great family are now being compelled into a class war by pitiful political policies that provide social welfare to the rich and downright brutal auerstry for the working families and lower-income residents of the city.

There are solutions — will the Council take them up this budget season?
— DC4RD 2025 BUDGET UPDATE, Chris Otten