Developers Find Profit In Selling, Not Renting (washingtonpost.com)
A cause for some housing problems maybe?
Of course a question will be, what happens when these folks who normally rent decide they want to up and move? Will they be opened up for rentals?
And is it me or what, but is every new project I see a luxury condo? What about plain old condos? Anyone make any of those anymore?
Gentrification & me, issue 5
Posted a lecture (I won’t be able to get to because of a conflict in my schedule) titled “Housing Needs for the City and Region: Does the superheated housing market in Logan Circle contribute to concentrated poverty in Ivy City?” Wish I could go because it sounds silly (not to belittle anyone’s research) to me. This is a metro area, so the poor are not limited to Ivy City. There are perfectly good neighborhoods in PG County. What I gather she may mean is there are fewer neighborhoods for low income folks to relocate to so there is greater concentration in neighborhoods they can afford.
Yet I looked at some of her earlier research and there seems to be a lot of focus on neighborhoods that are predominately white and adjacent to predominately white neighborhoods. Another problem as mentioned in the report was high mobility rates of 62 percent for the District.
I’m wonder if the cure is as bad as the disease. On one hand you have low investment in areas, the housing stock is allowed to deteriorate (to the point of no return) and a negative growth rate for the District. When an area looks attractive profit-wise and investors invest, and people find it worthwhile to restore the housing stock, it becomes unaffordable to lower income families. Another problem I have is the income level. It treats a single mom making $30K the same way as a family of four. A household could be 1,2, 3, 4 persons. Income of $30,000 and one person, you could live in a Dupont studio apartment. The same amount for that single mom, doesn’t go as far, maybe a 1 bedroom in Brookline or the apartments at Mt. Vernon Sq. Same income for a family of four… I have no clue what you can do with that. Also the 25% of your income going to housing does not apply. For me it never applied, it was more like 40%-50% of my income going to housing.
Housing Needs for the City and Region:
Does the superheated housing market in Logan Circle contribute to
concentrated poverty in Ivy City?
A discussion with Margery Turner, Urban Institute
October 21, 2003
John A. Wilson Building
1350 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Room 412
6:30 pm, Refreshments; 7 pm, Program
A new study led by Margery Turner shows a troubling trend in the rise in
concentrated poverty in certain D.C. neighborhoods. Evidence suggests that
displacement of poor families from strong housing markets in neighborhoods
like Logan Circle might contribute to the concentration of poverty in
neighborhoods like Ivy City. What are the implications of these trends for
housing policy in the City and region? Join us for a discussion with
Margery Turner as she presents her findings and considers strategies to
address current challenges. See Housing in the Nation’s Capital 2003,
prepared by the Urban Institute for the Fannie Mae Foundation at:
http://www.fanniemaefoundation.org/publications/reports/hnc/2003/hnc2003.sht
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This effort builds on Ms. Turner’s earlier analysis on gentrification, and
how its negative consequences can be avoided if affordable housing is
preserved in areas facing high demand for homeownership. See: Leading
Indicators of Gentrification in D.C. Neighborhoods,
http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?ID=900461
RSVP (attendance only): WRN, 202/667-5445, or e-mail:
staff@washingtonregion.net. This event is free of charge. For more about
WRN, see: www.washingtonregion.net
__________________________________________________
This event is second in a series of four on Housing for the City presented
by the Washington Regional Network for Livable Communities (WRN). The Fall
2003 WRN Forum Series: Housing for the City focuses on the critical issue of
affordable housing in the District of Columbia. The Washington Regional
Network for Livable Communities’ Forum program engages activists,
decision-makers, and business leaders in discussions of state-of-the-art
practices for accommodating regional growth and creating diverse, livable
communities.
This series is sponsored by the Enterprise Foundation and the Fannie Mae
Foundation
Ghetto Marts
Yes, it is confirmed that the new little mom & pop is a ghetto mart. This is how the definitions go:
Quickie Mart- 7-11 or something like that. Prices high, selection low. Must have aisles, must have essentials like TP, milk, eggs, coffee or other hot food item, and mac & cheese.
Ghetto Mart- similar to the quickie mart, except it has one or several of the following traits: a fine varied selection of 40s; cashier in a plastic box to prevent any human contact; dark store with bad lighting.
The new store has the people in the plastic box. But they have eggs and milk so I will likely wander over despite the insulting people in a box set up.
Yes, I have a problem with the plastic box. I understand the plastic box, but I hate the plastic box. What I hate even more is plastic box with lazy susan feature, to take out all human contact. Such features run against my image of the neighborhood. The plastic box, along with the selection of 40s screams GHETTO. The plastic box say, I don’t trust none of you and this is a bad neighborhood. The 40s, say you just want to get drunk real quick, bunch of alcoholics.
October 20, 2003 — Garden Resources of Washington announces —
SPRING-BLOOMING BULBS ARE AVAILABLE FOR COMMUNITY & YOUTH GARDENING PROJECTS IN WASHINGTON, DC
What kind of bulbs? A mix of daffodils, tulips, crocuses, etc.
How many can we have? Depends upon the area you plan to plant.
When should they be planted? As soon as possible.
When will they bloom? At different bloom times, ranging from early March to late May.
Who can get bulbs? Groups engaging neighbors, youth, adults, club members, etc. in community & youth garden projects at diverse locations such as: parks, schools, community facilities, nursing homes, public housing, etc. These can be located in any part of the city, but priority will be given to projects located on Capitol Hill and projects benefitting low-income city residents.
How do we get the bulbs? Contact GROW (see details below) to place a request and to set up an appointment for bulb pickup.
How do we plant bulbs? GROW will provide easy to follow soil preparation and planting instructions.
What if we don’t have funds for soil preparation or tools? GROW may be able to provide these materials. Contact GROW (see details below) for simple application information on getting this extra help.
How to contact GROW: E-mail grow19@aol.com or call 202-234-0591 (don’t stop by the office; the bulbs are not there!)
Cancelled Party
I was planning a pretty good party. For All Saints Day, Nov 2, a few friends, a few copies of historical documents, some readings, & food.
But my contractor wants to start early. Party cancelled.
I got to clean out the dining room to make a staging area for the kitchen redo. Toss out some things, box alot of things, toss out the non-functioning CD player, and figure out how I’m going to live without a kitchen for nearly a month…. 2 words. Hot plate.
GOVERNMENT OF DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
ADVISORY NEIGHBORHOOD COMMISSION 5C
POST OFFICE BOX 77761
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20013
TELEPHONE: (202) 832-1965/1966
www.anc5c.org
PUBLIC MEETING NOTICES
Monthly Meeting
Invited guests include representatives from the following
organizations:
Metropolitan Police Department
Office of the People’s Counsel
North Capitol Neighborhood Development, Inc.
North Capitol Collaborative, Inc.
North Capitol Area Business Association, Inc.
North Capitol Main Streets
Where: Paul Laurence Dunbar High School
1301 New Jersey Avenue, N.W.
When: Tuesday, October 21, 2003
Time: 7:00 P.M. until 9:00 P.M.
__________________________________________________________
Monthly Forum
Where: Trinity College
125 Michigan Avenue, N. E.
When: Tuesday, November 4, 2003
Time: 7:00 P.M. until 9:00 P.M.
Ricky Raccoon
I heard him 3AM this morning kicking about in that crawl space between the ceiling and the roof. Did the one thing that I knew what to do in such situations, get up and turn on the bathroom fan, go back to bed. Apparently, the raccoon does not like bathroom fans.
DIE RACCOON DIE DIE DIE!!!
If this is an urban area why did I see a raccoon crossing Rhode Island Avenue at 6:40 AM this morning? Rhode Island is a 4 lane road, not counting street parking lanes, with an island. It crossed despite the cars. I was hoping one would hit it.
The Next American City: Gentrification October 15th, City Museum
It turned out better than I figured it would and when I left (a few minutes early) everyone was well behaved
It pays to get reservations. The event was sold out and the auditorium was packed to the gills with people, such as myself, sitting in the aisles. The crowd that came to hear the panelists was mixed. A few familiar faces from other neighborhood summits and events were littered among the sitting and standing.
If I were a good reporter, which I’m not, I’d say who exactly was on the panel. I’ll have to edit this information in later.
Abido of Abido contruction was there, as well as a woman from LA Casa Maryland, two fellows representing Arlington and DC Housing authorities, and a rep from Columbia Heights.
I made no notes from the DC housing speaker. However he did talk about managing the investment and growth coming into the city. He did try to provide some perspective on the problems that DC had in the early days. Back in the bad old days before gentrification you could not get investors (commerical/residential) into areas of DC even with incentives. Later in the quesiton and answer period he illustrated it a bit better. During the Mayor Barry years there was a lot of vacant housing stock, but DC was near bankrupt (think Control Board), and absentee property owners weren’t paying their taxes. DC did not have the money to buy these or any other property in order to rehab them for low income housing. Even if the city wasn’t on the cusp of bankruptcy, banks weren’t interested in investing in those areas. So basically DC didn’t have the power to get ahead of the housing problem. When the markets began turning around, those absentee property owners began selling their shells, banks got interested in investing, and by the time people realized what was going on, it was too late to make a major impact. My own notes, governement moves slow, markets move fast.
Abido, said he first got into development because of historic preservation. He also said, and it explained why he might have been so willing to participate in the forum, that he only develops shells and other places where there is no occupant to displace. He also mentioned that when he started banks were not interested in backing his projects, they weren’t interested in the neighborhoods where he was going.
The La Casa speaker defined gentrification as the replacement of one neighborhood with another. Her thing was with helping immigrants, some who have been in this country for 20 years.
The Columbia Heights speaker provided some examples of people being displaced due to gentrification. One example was of 20 lawyers decending on an apartment building, which intimidated the tenants. Even though the tenants had a legal right to fight what was going on, some just gave up and moved out. Regardless of your income level, lawyers are scary. He touched upon the issue of culture and gentrification. Newcomers describe problems as “those people” when “those people” happen to be the people who lived there before.
The speaker from Arlington gave a regional point of view of things. He threw out a figure of 294,000 units will be needed but are not available.
Good times.
