Too many DC residents can't afford to stay in a city they've helped build. Housing here should be stable and attainable for renters, homeowners, and seniors alike.
After nearly a decade living and working here, I've come to know this issue from every angle — as a renter, as a budget and policy researcher, and now as a Councilmember. DC has real tools to make housing more affordable, including the Housing Production Trust Fund, which exists specifically to build homes for residents who need them most. But for years that fund has fallen short of its own legal requirements to serve the lowest-income families. Black and Brown residents who built this city are being priced out of it, and working families can't get to homeownership no matter how hard they try. As a Councilmember, I am not interested in accepting that as the status quo.
To bring costs down, I support building more housing across every ward, including duplexes and small apartment buildings in neighborhoods that currently only allow single-family homes, and converting vacant office buildings into places people can live. I want to fix the Inclusionary Zoning process so affordable units stop sitting empty while families sit on waitlists. For seniors who want to age in place, I will push for stronger investment in home repair programs that keep people in their homes without forcing them into debt. And for residents who are looking to purchase — yet are not wealthy enough to compete in this market on their own, and often just over the threshold for meaningful assistance — I will work to make the Home Purchase Assistance Program a real and reliable pathway.