Affordable Housing

Public Housing

Public housing is crucial to the fabric of affordable housing in D.C, and is home to 20,000 District residents. After years of disinvestment and delayed maintenance, powerful organizing is needed to ensure DC residents can stay in affordable public housing that is well-maintained and dignified.
WIN has engaged in door-knocking and listening sessions in public housing to build the power necessary to ensure residents have a say over the future of their communities. We are fighting for both short-term emergency action and longer term investment and vision:- 1-for-1 replacement – The District needs all of the affordable housing it can get. No affordable units should be lost in the process of renovation.
- Build First – Build new units first before demolishing old units. This would prevent displacement that has been all too common in the past. Build First allows current tenants to stay in their neighborhoods during renovation and construction.
- Billions of dollars and public land for renovations and new construction. The bill for deferred maintenance has come due, luckily at the time when the District can afford to invest. The District’s financial position is the envy of the world. this is the time to invest in our public housing infrastructure.
- Immediate emergency repairs to stop issues like rodent, pest, and mold infestation, urgent security concerns, and other unsafe conditions.
Public Land
WIN envisions the use of public lands for an inclusive and affordable District. Public lands include Reservation 13, a 67-acre parcel of undeveloped land along the Anacostia River, just south of RFK stadium, and other smaller public parcels around the District. Reservation 13 Plans to redevelop Reservation 13 have been in the works for over two decades. A master plan for the parcel’s development, envisioning 3,000 units of housing and surrounding retail, services, parks, and amenities was passed by the DC Council in 2008. Consistent with this plan, WIN proposes:- 3,000 new units of housing, including:
- 1,000 affordable at <30% AMI (affordable to full-time minimum wage workers)
-
- 1,000 affordable at 30-60% AMI (affordable to firefighters, nurses, teachers, etc.)
-
- 1,000 market rate
- Community amenities such as affordable retail, healthcare and recreation facilities, parks and waterfront access.
- Living-wage jobs available for DC residents in construction and at ongoing industries at the parcel. The majority of the jobs created should be filled by District residents, with particular focus on hiring pipelines from high unemployment areas/neighborhoods in the District.
RFK Stadium Parcel
RFK is not currently under the District control. If Reservation 13 and RFK were combined, they would form 250 acres available for an affordable and livable community, accessible to residents of all incomes, with inclusion of affordable housing, community amenities and job opportunities. To prepare for the day the District gets a say over the future of the land, WIN is engaging thousands of residents to hear their priorities for the land.
Other Public, and Available Lands
WIN spent years organizing around Old Hebrew Home in Ward 4 and Temple Courts in Ward 6. With these campaigns, we brought about development plans that will make roughly 1/3 of the total units affordable for our lowest income neighbors, and another 1/3 affordable for our middle class neighbors. We want to replicate that success in all new development at public lands throughout the District, including the Reeves Center on 14th Street and DCHFA headquarters on Florida Ave.
We are also working to identify additional development projects that could unlock non-profit or congregational land for affordable housing through funding and support from the DC government.
Community Safety/Gun Violence

Immigrant Rights

Recent Campaigns
Jobs

Despite DC’s economic boom and DC’s recovery from the recession, studies show that Black unemployment in DC remains stubbornly high at 19.5%. In high unemployment zones of the District, like many neighborhoods east of the river and among youth and returning citizens, the rates can be even higher. In addition to high unemployment, the wages of DC’s lowest income workers have been stagnant or falling.
Recognizing this disparity, WIN leaders organized hundreds of unemployed and underemployed people and allies and demanded that the $2.7 billion Clean Rivers Project in DC produce jobs for returning citizens and DC residents living in high unemployment neighborhoods. Finally, in 2016, DC Water committed to a goal that 51% of new hires at DC Water would be local DC residents, to contribute $1.25 Million to open job training programs in DC, and to start a national certification for Green Infrastructure work. WIN and Metro IAF organizers in DC are continuing organizing to make local hiring, wages, and benefits, especially in jobs created by public and quasi-public entities, central issues in the District over the coming years.Transit and privatization (Streetcar and Circulator)

Our citywide effort to fight privatization of transit also led to a spring 2018 agreement for $500 million a year in dedicated funding for WMATA passed in DC, Maryland, and Virginia. This historic victory provides WMATA with dedicated funding for the first time ever, and it passed without the threatened mandates of a federal control board, privatization, or destruction of frontline workers’ retirement security.