Ward 3 Housing Justice | Wardman Hotel Strategy Team
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 4, 2021
Contact: Gail Sonnemann, 202-286-0845, gsonnemann@gmail.com
Ward 3 Housing Justice (W3HJ) and the Wardman Hotel Strategy Team (WHST) welcome Mayor Bowser’s pick of Drew Hubbard as the Interim Director of the DC Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) to replace retiring Director Polly Donaldson. Our groups look forward to partnering with Director Hubbard to bring a new sense of urgency to the bold and creative actions needed to make the most of the once-in-a-lifetime Wardman Hotel opportunity.
“We just met with Deputy Mayor Falcicchio and outgoing Director Donaldson and were both surprised and disappointed to learn that they have not been in contact with the presumed new owners of the Wardman Hotel, Carmel Ltd.,” said W3HJ convenor Margaret Dwyer. “What happened to the Deputy Mayor’s promise to negotiate for the maximum possible amount of affordable housing after the auction? The time to negotiate Wardman 2.0 for DC is now, not after the new owners have completed and announced their plans. Right now, the Wardman is our city’s best opportunity to create a new, affordable housing community in Ward 3, even if we are not going to control the whole property.”
Both activist groups are ready to participate in a community-led development process with DHCD and Interim Director Hubbard. “We can’t wait for developers to paint their vision of our communities and then find ourselves just reacting to their vision”, said William Jordan of WHST. “The Mayor has set a goal of 1990 new units of affordable housing in Rock Creek West (mainly Ward 3). We will never get there with traditional tools such as inclusionary zoning (IZ) that have done little to create affordable housing there or anywhere else in the city. Director Hubbard, we are counting on you to step up with a new, effective approach that engages communities before developers.”
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