Founded in January 2021, Ward 3 Housing Justice is an outgrowth of the DC Grassroots Planning Coalition and of Empower DC. 

 

• We are primarily Ward 3 residents, although we do include residents of other wards who might want to live here, or who are committed to our work. We advocate for policies and projects that enable residents at income levels of 0-80% Area Median Family Income (MFI), with a focus on 0-30% MFI, to stay in the city, and we advocate against those policies and projects that to date have resulted in the displacement of 60,000 Black residents from the city. 

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• We stand for dramatically increasing the numbers of affordable housing units (at 0-80% Area MFI, especially less than 30% MFI), including family units with 3-4 bedrooms, in Ward 3.

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• We believe in community-led development. In Ward 3, this would mean that current residents and future residents – members of the ‘should be’ community – must both be at the table planning for neighborhoods and housing developments.

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• We believe in mixed income housing developments and in increased opportunities to build housing equity and homeownership so that residents can thrive.

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• We believe social housing, limited equity co-ops, and community land trusts offer models for successful community development for mixed income.

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• Our vision of affordable housing is backed by research and spadework.  As members of the DC Grassroots Planning Coalition and Empower DC, we bolster our mission through our collaboration with affordable housing advocates from across the city.

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As affiliates of the DC Grassroots Planning Coalition, we are signatories of their Housing Justice Priorities and share those priorities in our work. ​