Media Coverage

WASHINGTON — Violeta Torres cannot afford her apartment.

Ms. Torres, a 54-year-old nanny, pays $828 a month for a rundown one-bedroom that she keeps spotlessly clean, making the rent only by letting an acquaintance sleep on a mattress in the living room for about $400 a month.

DC has a rich history of housing cooperatives, in which each resident owns a share of the entire property, not just their unit. While relatively unknown, there are at least 120 co-ops in DC, many of which are a great source of stable, affordable housing.

Sunday’s Washington Post Magazine asks the question, “What kind of city does DC want to be?” Unfortunately, it doesn’t get at a core issue that is determining what kind of city the District is: the question of who is able to live and flourish there.

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About 20 to 30 people rallied outside the District’s Housing Authority on Friday in an outcry for more local funds for affordable housing.

Mayor Vince Gray has pledged a one-time, $100 million investment in affordable housing. If that sounds like a lot of money, well, it is. While it’s nowhere near enough to meet Gray’s goal of constructing and preserving 10,000 new affordable housing units, Gray also scoffed, with reason, when I suggested at a press conference that it was just “a small down payment.” It could be a big boost to affordable housing, yes—-but only if Gray makes a similar commitment in future years, which he’s not sure he’ll do.

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In a district where the median rent for a home is nearly double that of the U.S. average — and the average home value is double the rest of the country’s — the term “affordable housing” can feel like an oxymoron (especially for those of us paying rents and mortgages here).