good morning. welcome to "viewpoint." affordable housing is vanishing. and advocacies continue to -- advocates continue to push and push for changes in the policies trying to keep low income residents from losing out. join me are sarah scrubs, director of outreach and at large council member chairs the housing and community development committee and the executive director of the coalition for nonprofit housing and economic development.

welcome to news4. >> good morning. >> news4's tom sherwood in his weekly blog recently wrote this, you see massive redevelopment. if you listen closely amidst all the development noise you will hear the cries of the poor and lower middle class who are losing their homes and hopes of ever finding other homes in the nation's capital. what's your response to that, miss barnes? >> you know, it's the truth in many instances. across the city, those persons who have been here long term are finding it more and more difficult to stay in the district of columbia. the cost of living is sky -- the sky is the limit now and particularly as it relates to home ownership. of course you know that many of our older residents still are renters and so as rents go up, they are greatly affected. thank goodness those that live in units that are west of

connecticut avenue are probably in a rent controlled unit and that helps a lot. and of course when they leave that unit the rent escalates 30%. >> the story changes. your response to that? >> the cries are real and they are there. i'm a fifth generation washingtonian. recently i gathered with some of my old neighborhood friends and families. the only ones of them who can afford to stay in the district are those who inherited a mortgage free home from their parents. i think that's a sad commentary on -- i mean, sad i think it's illustrative of the kind of changes that long term washingtonians face and it's reflective of the fact that the people that we need to help are broadening in nature. what we do know is if you're a young professional starting a career, if you're a senior trying to age in place, if you're a recent college graduate, if you're a very low

income person, it is difficult for you to afford to rent or buy in the district of columbia. >> the median price of a house in d.c. is close to half a million dollars. what's the average rent? >> the average rent for a one bedroom is around $2,000 a month right now. which is astro no, ma'am cal. we developed 300 homes in shaw and the majority of the home buyers are still there and unless you own a home there or living in subsidized rentals you are pushed out. that's the reality of what we are seeing. >> is the renaissance out of control? i guess it depends on how much money you make. >> yeah, perspective. we're all excited about the newness, but the newness has to incorporate people who have been here long term. it has to provide for newcomers as well. and as was stated earlier, when you look at the cost of one bedroom and you look at the

average salaries that are being made by newcomers, i mean, it doesn't compute. and so the renaissance is soaring and we are all hoping at the council especially and i'm sure in the mayor's office that we will be able to get a handle on this housing affordability issue in the district of columbia. >> is it now cheaper to rent or to buy? >> i think it's cheaper to rent but it depends. there are people who are more likely to succeed as renters than they are as buyers. i think everyone is challenged across the spectrum. i think current renters are challenged. i mean, if you look at the statistics and i brought a cheat sheet. 28% pay more than half of their income for rent.

so that means that if i get two paychecks a month one of my entire paychecks is going to pay my rent. and so you know, cheaper in contrast to what? it's easier to move to another location and i think to miss bonds' point there has to be a balance among our city leaders on attracting new residents who have higher wages who generate more revenue so the city can operate and sustaining it for existing residents. there's a place in the middle where we can do both. i don't know that we have done a great job of doing both in recent years and i'm really pleased to say that i think our current city leaders are aware of the problem. the housing was run which should be praised for, and as a result of that our city leaders, our mayor campaigned with a pledge of $100 million a year for four years and this woman has been a tenacious champion of new

legislation and for funding for the array of programs that are needed to help both renters and home buyers. so this is an issue of political will and right now we have good political will, but it must be sustained. we won't see immediate, overnight results. >> i know you want to respond to that, but we have to take a break. we'll talk to when we come right back. stay with us.

welcome back. we are talking about affordable housing in the district this morning. and sarah scruggs is with mana, inc. we were talking about whether it's cheaper to rent or to buy. he says it's cheaper to rent. do you believe that?

>> it depends on what part of the city and around sometimes -- and sometimes it is cheap tore -- cheaper to rent than own. and the reason is that people need assistance to be able to after fobld to buy -- afford to buy. we advocate for the home participation assistance program which offers up to $50,000 of down payment system so people can get into the market and find a payment that's cheaper than the rent they're currently paying. and the housing production trust fund that mana uses to board -- to build affordable homes. even people making as low as $30,000 a year. so when you're able to put together different resources then it works. and it's probably some of the best money in the district because people pay it back and future residents can use it.

>> ms. bonds when you consider the transformation in the district of columbia and you look around at all the booming development, has it become so profitable to build and sell here, that there is very little incentive set aside to set aside affordable units? >> that's true. but you know we are trying very hard to make sure that we have, you know, a bucket of money that is available and also we're looking at how we manage our land. for instance we did a bill recently that stipulates if you're going to build and you're going to build on government owned land if it's near a subway 30% of the units must be affordable. otherwise, 20% of the units must be affordable. since this is such a desirable community we feel that the development community will want to build. we also have resources if you want to renovate your property.

in fact, through the housing finance agency, there's a process called tax credits that are frequently used in the development world as it relates to housing and it gives affordability to a property for about 15 years so that a person who is of low income can actually find a unit and of course we have had on the books since 2008 and that's the i.z, inclusionary zoning requirements and that requires approximately eight to ten -- 8 to 10% of the units in the private sector to be set aside as affordable units. the problem has been with the housing production trust fund which is gaap financing again, which does have, you know, in fy-16 whether it's $109 million

we actually have in that fund now. but when you use that money and when you try to do your set aside, the problem is always trying to make sure that we are creating units across the city. making sure that we hold on to those units that are currently in the inventory and persuade the owners that received some sort of tax credit from hud 15 to 20 years ago that it would be to their advantage to keep the property affordable. >> well that leads to the other questions i was about to pose, and that is how do you enforce the set aside goals? there was a ground breaking a few weeks ago for a set of new units on "u" street. 112 units.

12 of them only 12 are designated a affordable units and some people have cried foul because they say that's not enough. >> i don't know the particulars of that development, but back to your initial point with ms. bonds. we have to know to both insent vise in the private sector and i think both are helpful and both are necessary. there are some for profits developers that get it that want to contribute. that want to be a part of the solution, but there are others that don't. and those are where we have to mandate that if they're going to use public land and dollars and get zoning permits and other things that they have to contribute. i just -- i have seen over the years that you need a healthy blend of both. we have a lot of tools. i would say compared to other jurisdictions around the country, d.c. probably has more tools than many other cities. our $100 million in the trust

fund per capita leads the nation. no other city in america that has per capita $100 million in their trust fund and in addition to that, though, the other policy supports and legislative enhancements that ms. bonds talked about earlier are equally important to the dollars themselves. so i think that we are paying attention. i think that we are alert. i think we have realized that we allowed unchecked renaissance to go for a while and now we capture some of the losses with emay have had. >> we'll continue our talk about affordable housing right after this break.

welcome back. ms. scruggs do you think the issue of rent control needs to be examined, revisited? >> i know there is some revisiting actually at the city council. there are several pieces of legislation introduced. manna is focused on the production and the programs related to that and this is the hot topic because we're losing a lot of affordable units. >> people come here because they like it and to make money. do you blame them? >> i don't know if you can blame them, but the reality is there's a lot of pressure that's being put on prices and people that have lived here for a long time and that don't make a lot of money. the reality is there are a lot of people coming in that don't make a lot of money and they're finding a difficult time finding a way to stay here. but often like me they're young and single so it's easier for them to make do and find a place. >> talk about the way of the

affordable housing crisis that's fueled the city's homeless crisis. >> well, you know, basically, it's very simple. if you cannot afford a place to live and you're in this city and you lose your unit for one reason or the other, loss of job, you can't pay the escalating costs, you can become homeless. and i think that is what -- that is what led to the rise in the number of families and that's really what has finally gotten the attention of the public. that we have -- it's no longer, you know, the single veteran, you know, male who's just wander wandering the streets. it's now the families. mom, particularly, our young women with babies and that's the highest increase. >> and you have said that the pool is bigger, that's part of the reason, the pool of people who need affordable housing has expanded. >> well, i think that there's some contributing issues on

homelessness, for example. d.c. is very compassionate with its shelter policies. we have policies that say you must house during both hyper and hypothermia. there are people who come from other jurisdictions because they know we have a very compassionate and assertive policy for providing shelter. the numbers are alarmingly too high and that's one of the reasons that cntd got the council to unanimously pass a resolution saying that we would end chronic homelessness by the year 2020. as of 2015, there were 72,000 homeless people counted in the district of columbia but 2,000 of them were children and that's tragically alarming. so to ms. bonds' point about the nature of homeless changing and becoming more family and children is something that i think we have to be very assertive about trying to address and i think that the

interagency interagency council for the strategic plan is trying to end chronic homelessness in this district. >> ms. scruggs, how do you at manna help these people that are losing their even likelihood of being able to become homeowners? how do you help pull them back into that pool? >> i would like to talk about the reality, we are playing a lot of catch-up manna as a nonprofit, because as the need was growing and as the wages were stagnating, there wasn't enough that was being produced and there weren't enough vouchers that were going on. we're playing catch-up on that. at manna we see instances of homelessness and we are referring them to other places that need services and then the reality is too we are seeing people that have been able to come out of homelessness and to transition -- into transitional housing situation, and they're not paying quite as much on the

rent. then they're coming to us because they have gotten to a more stable place and they are able to look at home ownership. they're able to look at getting their finances in order. and stepping into a market to buy an affordable home that we have built or something like habitat for humanity has built as well. that's the goal, having a continuum of housing that can support people where they're at. meet them where they're at, when their housing needs and help them to step up and move up along the way. >> you're not only helping them get into homes -- building homes for them, but you help them build equity. >> exactly. i think that's the important thing especially when you look at the racial wealth gap in the nation and in the city. yeah. that's our bread and butter. >> got to take a quick break and then i'll give you an opportunity to respond in a moment. stay with us.

welcome back. part of the strategy -- the comprehensive strategy has to address income. isn't that right? >> that's exactly right. with the skyrocketing cost of house, we must also couple all of the programs and subsidies we provide with strategies to increase individual and families' income. affordability should be subsidizing and holding down the cost of housing but also increasing individual and family incomes as well. >> ms. bonds, is subsidized housing going to become the only affordable housing if the city doesn't do more? >> i think it's on its way, yes. >> so what does the city need to do at this point? >> at this point, i think we need an omnibus plan. i think we need to all push up our sleeves and get busy understanding that the city is

only as viable as the people who live there. and if we want to continue we've get to make plans for everyone to have an opportunity to live here. whether you're a renter or a homeowner. and i think that we really have for years as was said earlier, for years we have forgotten about the housing. it is part of the fiber of a community. >> in fact, since '08, there's a law on the d.c. books that would allow the government to buy housing to preserve affordability. and to my understanding, the rules and regulations weren't written. >> well, i was corrected yesterday. i understand that dhcd, the department of housing and community development for the district government actually does have rules and regulations ready and they will be launching something soon. and so we're looking forward to that because we really need it.

there are a number of properties that we're very concerned about where people will lose their affordability. >> ms. scruggs what does the city need to do? >> the city needs to be really creative. there needs to be more creative financing opportunities and bringing in philanthropy and bringing in banks more. we need to create more. there need to be more creative partnerships between nonprofits that have been doing affordable development for a long time and some of the for profits too. then for profits that are new, some new revenues resources coming from those folks as well. and then an on going advocacy to campaign to make sure that the resources that we have now continue to be sustained. and that they increase. >> sarah scruggs of manna stephen gaude for economic development and council member anita bonds, thank you all for joining us. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. >> thank you for being with us. that's "viewpoint." i'm pat lawson muse. stay with us for "news4 today."

"news4 today" starts now. . >> and right now on "news4 today," it was a major inconvenience for those of you riding metro over the past 24 hours, but soon the headache on the red line will be over. and a petition growing by the hour. calls for the renaming of jefferson davis highway. how it's sparking another heated debate over symbols of the confederate south. we are done with the rain for a while, at least. >> that's right. we're hearing today that actually is going to be a perfect day. is that right, chuck? >> wait, where did you hear these rumors? >> is it not true? >> no, we were just talking about it in the makeup room, of course.