"A DC Council committee voted…to require developers to include affordable housing any time they buy land from the city for residential development," reports Jenny Reed.
Reed, writing for the DC Fiscal Policy Institute, urges the council to approve the bill: "The Disposition of District Land for Affordable Housing Act of 2013…would allow DC land to be sold below market value to subsidize the costs of the affordable housing. This is a smart approach because it would use land value – rather than needing to use tax dollars – and because it would create mixed-income communities throughout DC."
A few of the details of the proposed bill, scheduled for consideration by the full council on Monday, July 14:
- "30 percent of the new housing would need to be affordable if it is built within a one-half mile of a metro stop, or one-quarter of a mile from a bus priority corridor or streetcar line. In other areas, 20 percent of the units would need to be affordable."
- "In housing built as rental, one-fourth of the low-cost units would be for residents making 30 percent or less of area median income (AMI) or $29,000 for a family of three. The rest of the affordable units would be for residents making 50 percent of AMI, or $48,300 for a family of three."
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