PRESS STATEMENT ON DMPED HEARING AT THE DC CITY COUNCIL
DC Residents Slam City Officials for Prioritizing Connected Developers and Luxury Playtime Over Black DC Families & Truly Affordable Housing
“No more excuses. No more lies. Stop selling out our city.”
February 5, 2025 – WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a fiery multi-hour oversight hearing before Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie and the D.C. Council’s Committee on Business and Economic Development, DC residents and advocates delivered scathing testimony about the Deputy Mayor’s Office of Planning and Economic Development (DMPED). They condemned the city’s failure to address the worsening affordable housing crisis, its reliance on the flawed & failed Inclusionary Zoning (IZ) program, and its public land, air rights, and financing giveaways to wealthy real estate speculators and sports team owners at the expense of working-class communities.
Speakers called out the city’s “profit over people” priorities, citing displacement, gentrification of vulnerable DC families and communities, and a lack of investment in truly affordable housing as urgent crises that must be addressed. They stressed that the status quo is failing working DC residents and Black and brown families, and offered solutions that can help and not continue the harm.
Key Themes from the DMPED Hearing
1. DC Is Prioritizing Developers and Billionaires Over Working-Class Residents & Black Families
• Rondell “Magic” Jordan [Ward 2 Council Candidate] (4:07:15): “We’re told there’s no money to build truly affordable housing, no money to keep longtime residents in place, no money to stop the displacement crisis that is devastating Black communities. But when billionaires come knocking, suddenly the checkbook is wide open.”
• Debby Hanrahan [Save DC Public Land: The 1617 Project] (4:51:56): “We learned with some shock that the city, which has no money for housing, suddenly has money for a $2.5 billion football stadium to benefit a billionaire team owner. How can that be?”
• William Jordan [Ward 1 Advocate] (3:54:46): “I’ve given up on DMPED. And that is something. I’ve worked with DMPED over the years. This is the first time I’ve ever really given up.”
2. The Failure of Inclusionary Zoning (IZ) Has Been Ignored While DMPED Uses IZ to Justify High-Density Luxury Redevelopment
• Andria Chatmon [Empower DC Community Organizer] (4:47:28): “Inclusionary zoning units exclude households earning below 50% AMI. The DC Auditor’s report notes that DC has a deficit of over 33,000 housing units at or below 30% AMI for extremely low-income families.”
• Kerry Kemp [Dupont Neighbor] (4:57:05): “The DC Auditor in November 2024 identified a number of the failures of the IZ program and called for much stronger oversight by the DC Council. [DMPED] is not even ensuring that developers abide by the covenants they sign when they get permission to build their luxury buildings.”
• Rondell Jordan (4:05:44): “The Inclusionary Zoning program, touted as a solution to housing affordability, has been nothing but a smokescreen for gentrification. IZ has done more to fuel displacement of Black residents than to stop it.”
3. Lack of Transparency and Minimal Community Engagement on Public Land Deals
• Robin Diener [DC Library Renaissance Project] (3:58:29): “The [Ward 1] Councilmember, Brianne Nadeau, whose district [1617 U Street] is in, with whom I have tried repeatedly and reasonably… to engage, refuses to meet with us.”
• Gregory Adams [Black Neighbors of 1617 U Street] (4:38:03): “DMPED made recommendations [about 1617 U Street] with no outreach to Black residents, churches, businesses, or organizations that would be affected by their decision. … DMPED is in need of [Council] oversight more than ever.”
4. Residents Demand Social Housing at 1617 U Street for Long-Term Voluminous Affordability
• Debby Hanrahan (4:53:56): “Social housing is a model that welcomes all incomes, limits rent to 30% of one’s income, is not destabilizing, does not displace residents, does not spur gentrification, and lowers the cost of living.”
• Andria Chatmon (4:49:36): “We urge the council to retain 1617 U Street and utilize it to pilot social housing. This will secure long-term affordability through public ownership and deliver 70% much-needed affordable units.”
Residents Want Action
Speakers urged the D.C. Council to take decisive steps, including defunding failed DMPED programs harming vulnerable neighborhoods, to halt public land & air rights gifting to private developers, and to invest in publicly owned, deeply affordable social housing to curb gentrification & displacement.
“This isn’t just negligence—it’s betrayal,” said Rondell Jordan. “We are subsidizing our own destruction. We are paying for our own execution. This must stop. No more excuses. No more lies. Stop selling out our city.” (4:07:33)
Watch the Full Hearing Here: YouTube Link to CM McDuffie Hearing
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For press inquiries, contact:
Save DC Public Land | The 1617 Project
the1617project@SaveDCPublicLand.org
Phone: 202-462-2054
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