DC is not even in the top 10 of the most anguished cities for “affordable housing”. Conversions from office space to residential sounds great, but has to violate about every code in the book to make it happen. Waiver. Variance. Exception. Yeah, OK. Except there’s a reason those codes “used to be” in place. The LIHTC and ELI resident is getting slammed — in the name of politics. Vertical caves and drug dens are not really a true solution to insufficient “affordable housing.“ This is unsustainable, to any logical moral person.
The 1986 CRA was meant to end the failing system of “government projects”. This legislation precipitated amongst other things, mixed income new build housing.
But the inevitable outcome of “government project housing” is a hard lesson to learn. Apparently.
You may remember Cabrini-Green? Ask ChatGPT about what “the lesson learned“ from that ongoing disaster might be, and how they hope to mitigate it going forward, again.
The real issue is not being addressed at all. Quality of life, a truly reasonable EMPLOYMENT career income for a family, emanating from a 21st century education for children and young adults (OPBEE.com) is how generations are saved by their contribution to the work world and society.
Something about a four-year election cycle makes solving the real problem less than interesting to politicians.
Here are the 10 worst large U.S. metros for extremely low-income (ELI) renters—i.e., households at or below the poverty line or 30% of AMI, the group most in need of LIHTC-supported units. The figure shown is affordable & available rental homes per 100 ELI renter households (lower = worse):
1. Las Vegas–Henderson–Paradise, NV — 13
2. Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land, TX — 15
3. Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington, TX — 17
4. Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford, FL — 18
5. Phoenix–Mesa–Chandler, AZ — 19
6. San Diego–Chula Vista–Carlsbad, CA — 20
7. Riverside–San Bernardino–Ontario, CA — 21
8. Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater, FL — 21
9. Los Angeles–Long Beach–Anaheim, CA — 21
10. Austin–Round Rock–Georgetown, TX — 21
Source: National Low Income Housing Coalition, The Gap 2024, Table 1 (50 largest metros).
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