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Washington region spins wheels on housing crisis

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Washington region spins wheels on housing crisis


Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios

All around the Washington area this month, housing drama has roiled leaders and the general public, from administration failures to debates over single-family zoning.

Why it issues: The controversies are drawing new consideration to the D.C. area’s rising pains, and the way its leaders aren’t appearing quick sufficient to satisfy demand.

State of play: Within the District, the D.C. Housing Authority, which manages public and sponsored housing, is in disarray, a federal report from HUD confirmed. Then the company’s deputy director abruptly stop this week, the Washington Metropolis Paper reported.

  • The HUD report — which amongst different damning findings stated that one in 4 public housing items in D.C. are vacant — lit a hearth underneath council members to lastly do one thing. On Tuesday, lawmakers took a primary swing at reform, partially requiring its board members and government director to obtain coaching.
  • Remarkably, the report discovered that director Brenda Donald “has no expertise in property improvement, property administration or managing federal housing packages.” Donald wrote to council members earlier than the vote that their laws was “reactive and overly burdensome.”

In Montgomery County, the influential planning board imploded final week after a office conduct scandal.

  • Subsequent week, the county council is poised to nominate non permanent members and approve the landmark Thrive 2050 plan, which goals to extend housing density, particularly round transit factors.

In the meantime, Arlington County is embroiled in an argument over a proposal to permit for the development of duplexes and residences to be in single-family-home neighborhoods.

  • The county board will take up the proposal this fall, the Washington Publish reported, amid fierce lobbying from each side.

The large image: These different headlines spotlight the challenges of constructing reasonably priced and equitable housing that meets the calls for of the area’s rising tech and life sciences workforce.

“The disaster has been constructing for a while,” Robert McCartney, the previous Washington Publish metro columnist who now hosts a podcast on regional points, tells me. He satirically welcomes a number of the latest dramatic developments “within the sense that they’re calling consideration to the issue” that’s “dry and sophisticated. … It’s not an attractive matter.”

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By the numbers: The Washington area must construct about 32,000 new housing items a yr to satisfy demand by 2030, in line with the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.

We ended the final yr constructing about 20,000 to 22,000 items, says Hilary Chapman, the group’s housing program supervisor.

  • A few of the new work being undertaken — such because the Thrive 2050 plan for Montgomery County and the proposal to ease zoning in Arlington County — are steps in the correct path, she says.

Sure, however: Eradicating zoning limits in Arlington County received’t imply multi-family items will merely develop like bushes. Observers and leaders assume builders will nonetheless discover constructing luxurious single-family properties to be extra profitable, even when given the choice to assemble denser buildings.

  • “This isn’t going to provide an enormous variety of new homes,” says Chapman.

💬 Proceed the dialog in particular person on the Axios D.C. celebration on Thursday. RSVP right here. City Talker is a weekly column on native politics. Drop me a line about what your folks are chatting about: [email protected]



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Washington, D.C

Four Seasons Hotel conman wanted by DC Police

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Four Seasons Hotel conman wanted by DC Police


D.C. police are asking for the public’s help identifying a man accused of committing fraud and theft at the Four Seasons Hotel in Georgetown. 

The incident occurred on Sunday, November 24, around 3 p.m. at the luxury hotel located on the 2800 block of Pennsylvania Avenue NW.

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Surveillance footage captured the suspect arriving at the hotel in a Porsche SUV. He was seen wearing dark pants and a puffy winter coat, carrying a backpack. The man entered the hotel and was observed speaking with an employee at the front desk.

According to police, the suspect then dined at the hotel’s restaurant, ordering various items and charging them to a room number he was not registered to. 

Following his meal, he proceeded to the hotel gym for a workout before leaving the premises and driving away in the Porsche.

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Detectives are urging anyone who recognizes the suspect to contact them. A reward of $1,000 is being offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction in this case.

Attempts to reach the Four Seasons Hotel management for comment were unsuccessful, as they declined to discuss the incident.

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Crime in the DMVWashington, D.C.Metropolitan Police Department



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‘I felt the boom': Burning building collapses in DC after car crash

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‘I felt the boom': Burning building collapses in DC after car crash



‘I felt the boom’: Burning building collapses in DC after car crash – NBC4 Washington







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Cal Thomas: Washington D.C.’s political Christmas tree

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Cal Thomas: Washington D.C.’s political Christmas tree


MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Thursday, December 26th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. Up next, WORLD commentator Cal Thomas on a bad Christmas tradition in Washington D.C.

CAL THOMAS: When Washington politicians speak of a Christmas tree this time of year, they are not referring to an actual tree. It means they’ve loaded up a bill with another kind of “green,” the kind that’s decorated with money.

The “bipartisan” bill passed just before midnight last Friday, minutes before a government “shutdown” would be an embarrassment to anyone but the politicians who voted for it. Like Christmas, this scenario gets played out almost every year with no regard for the growing debt.

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The first bill was more than 1,500 pages. Elon Musk denounced it and suddenly it shrunk to over 100 pages, but that was too little for the big spenders. What passed last week at 118 pages may take days to digest, but you can be sure of one thing: pork is part of it. Always is.

For the last ten years, Republican Senator Rand Paul has published what he calls a “Festivus” report on just some of the wasteful spending in which our Congress is engaged. His latest – and you should Google it to see it all – includes the following:

Some of the highlights – or lowlights as I like to call them — include funding for the National Endowment for the Arts to subsidize ice-skating drag queens and promoting city park circuses. Additionally, the Department of the Interior invested in the construction of a new $12 million Las Vegas Pickleball complex. Interior also allocated $720,479 to wetland conservation projects for ducks in Mexico. This year, the Department of State is featured eleven times, with expenditures including $4.8 million on Ukrainian influencers, $32,596 on breakdancing, $2.1 million for Paraguayan Border Security (what about security at our border?), $3 Million for ‘Girl-Centered Climate Action’ in Brazil, and much more!

Hey, it’s not their money, it’s our money.

At least this time a pay raise for members didn’t make it to the final bill. Members should be having their pay cut, not raised, for under-performing.

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Perhaps Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk can do something about the misspending that has led to the unsustainable $36 trillion dollar debt with interest of $1 trillion dollars just this year.

Others have tried and failed to break the spending habit. Maybe they will succeed this time, but the odds are not good. It’s not called “the swamp” for nothing.

I hope you had a Happy Christmas. Your politicians did.

I’m Cal Thomas.


WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.

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