The Coalition for Nonprofit Housing and Economic Development along with over 50 community partners joined D.C. (D), D.C. Council members, and local District leaders to celebrate the 1st Annual Community Development Week. Bowser issued a proclamation to officially declare Oct. 10-14 as Community Development Week in the District of Columbia, which kicked off with a celebration of the grand opening of the new track of affordable housing units at a Northeast site formerly overrun with crime and decay.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (AP Photo)
While the new Edgewood property, now named Edgewood Commons I, further solidifies Bowser’s commitment to maintaining reasonably priced rental units in the District, it also signals the need for additional units of family housing – units with 3, 4, or 5 bedrooms – to facilitate households with large numbers of kids or multiple generations.
“We not only wanted to extend affordable housing, but also provide supportive services on site for many of the failed properties in the District that were previously public housing units or held by private owners. We have worked tirelessly – with residents – in order to save them,” J. Michael Pitchford, president and CEO of the Community Preservation and Development Corporation, told the standing room only crowd. “Preserving family units has been a critical part of our renovations.”
The week’s events also included the launch of a new online database to help community leaders preserve existing affordable housing, free community events for residents, the grand opening of a small business resource center, and a celebration for closing a loan on a new childcare facility.
The development week comes just days after Bowser celebrated the “unprecedented investment” of $106.3 million in funding from the Housing Production Trust Fund. “When I took office, we set out to ensure that all residents – no matter their background, income, or zip code – could afford to live in the District,” Bowser said in a statement. “With over $106 million now fully invested to produce, preserve and protect affordable housing, we are helping to deliver on that promise. This amount of financial commitment – and the speed in which it occurred – has never happened in the District of Columbia. Because of our efforts, real money is getting out the door that will allow over 2,600 residents to call the District home.”
And while some residents of Edgewood remain leery of the quick and drastic shifts in the economic and cultural landscape of the city, others are pleased they have not been displaced. “It is important for Mayor Bowser and CPDC to announce that with each of these development deals that encourage young, White, singles to live inside the city and pay above market rate, the city pushes for at least 8 percent of the units be set aside for affordable housing,” Nan Fowler told the AFRO. “It makes me hopeful that the city leaders are actually looking out for the people who elected them.”