Ward 5 Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie Introduces DC's Three-Bedroom Bill

• March 7th 2017

by Nena Perry-Brown

On Tuesday, Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie introduced legislation that aims to ensure that more three-, four- and five-bedroom affordable units are built in the District.

The Family Unit Amendment Act of 2017 asks the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) to create a biennial assessment of the city’s need for family-size apartments, reporting on the quantity of large units in each ward, the number of very- and extremely-low income households in each ward occupying a family-sized unit and what government programs assist in creating large apartments.

The bill would also amend the Housing Production Trust Fund Act of 1988 to assist in construction of these new homes, requiring that 10 percent of the apartments created during each disbursement have at least three bedrooms.

“Despite our focus on affordable housing, people have felt left out, specifically families that already live in the District,” Councilmember McDuffie said in a statement when introducing the bill. “To date, our focus has been on Affordable Dwelling Units. We have judged our success based on the number of units we have created, with little emphasis on the size of the units being built.”

One need look no further than the development pipeline over the past several years to see that the abundance of units created have been two bedrooms or smaller, even where inclusionary zoning is concerned. However, the demand for larger units is clear and developers’ willingness to respond to that need is coming to the forefront, whether in the ANC-supported proposal to redevelop Parcel 42 in Shaw with a plurality of family-sized apartments or in the community’s prioritization of family-sized units when giving input on the redevelopment of Northwest One.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/ward_5_councilmember_introduces_dcs_three-bedroom_bill/12306.