In addition to Barbara McCann’s talk on Complete Streets and the Complete Communities planning exercise that took place at the recent Region Forward Coalition kickoff event, there was also an interesting panel discussion on preserving affordable, transit-oriented housing in metropolitan Washington.
Participants included Sam Zimbabwe, Director of the Center for TOD at Reconnecting America; David Bowers, Vice President of Enterprise Community Partners; and Rob Richardson, Development Manager of the National Housing Trust. Bowers and Richardson are working together on an effort known as The GreenPATH Fund (Green Preservation of Affordable Transit-oriented Housing) that, as its name implies, is aimed at preserving affordable, transit-oriented housing.
Housing is very expensive in the DC area. That’s simply a fact. It seems as though every day there’s a new report saying something to the effect of “as the rest of the country’s housing market plummets, DC’s prices continue to grow.” While that’s a great sign for the health of the region’s economy, it can put a tremendous strain on residents. And that leads to the core message of the panel: we need to be proactive in preserving affordable housing. Otherwise, we risk the existing housing stock being gobbled up by a hungry market.
Preserving affordable, transit-oriented housing is a key target of Region Forward and it’s much easier to do before an area becomes uber trendy. For example, we should be thinking now about strategies for preserving affordable housing near the soon-to-come Purple and Silver Lines, which will surely cause prices to skyrocket. Housing near transit is highly (and rightly) coveted, but if we wait too long to act, the market will consume the available stock. Econ 101 tells us that as demand rises, so do prices. With the DC area housing market as strong as it currently is, that leaves a very small window of opportunity for preservation.
Preserving existing affordable, transit-oriented housing is more cost-effective and can have a bigger impact than creating new affordable housing, participants noted. That’s why GreenPATH is seeking to raise $54 million to provide financing and support for the preservation of 1,000 or more affordable housing units near transit in metro Washington. Affordable housing isn’t just a matter of equity; it’s about economic competitiveness as well. A lack of affordable housing (in places people actually want to live) negatively impacts the attractiveness of the region for prospective businesses and their employees, and it reduces the quality of life for folks already living here.