Housing is a human right, but we cannot guarantee access to housing that does not exist; that is why we need to significantly increase the supply of housing by making it easier, faster, and cheaper to build all types of housing, including both subsidized affordable housing and market-rate housing.

As a Councilmember, Miguel will support proven tools to build more housing while protecting tenants’ rights — that’s not an either-or. Tackling housing affordability and supply challenges requires a full-spectrum approach. We certainly need to build more homes in Ward 1 in order to bring down costs and increase access to housing; simultaneously, we can and must preserve affordability and protect tenants’ rights so that our neighbors can afford to continue living where they choose.

Yes, More Housing in Ward 1 

The District, including Ward 1, needs more homes. Cities like Minneapolis and Austin have used a combination of zoning reforms and streamlined permitting and approval processes to increase their supply of housing, which resulted in drops in rent or slower rent growth.

Step one is to work on easing regulatory barriers to housing production, from reforming on-site parking and setback requirements to expanding unnecessarily restrictive caps on building height. We are not limited to increasing density only on vacant land: we can and should also build housing on underutilized sites and over existing low-rise retail, especially along commercial corridors. We also need to make changes to the Comprehensive Plan to facilitate additional density, such as “missing middle” or “gentle density” housing, to create more for-sale and rental housing opportunities that are attainable for middle-income residents, young families, and first-time homebuyers.

As a Councilmember, Miguel will champion reforms to regulatory barriers to housing production, for example shortening permitting and approval processes to create housing more quickly and to lower unnecessary costs related to procedural delays. We can, and must, offer incentives, such as density bonuses, to encourage developers of market-rate housing to include affordable units in new multifamily properties. Miguel will make clear to the Mayor’s office his expectation that nominees to the Zoning Commission should similarly prioritize zoning changes that spur housing construction. Additionally, Miguel will conduct energetic oversight of our housing agencies as well as the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning & Economic Development, which is responsible for moving a number of Ward 1’s key redevelopment projects through the pipeline.

Increasing Supply Isn’t Enough

We need to build more affordable housing to ensure that our neighbors are not priced out of Ward 1 while we create new affordable housing to welcome new neighbors. As a Councilmember, Miguel will fight for more resources for the Housing Production Trust Fund (HPTF), while ensuring through rigorous oversight that our investment is effectively used, and paired with other resources, to create new affordable homes for households earning up to 50% of the Area Median Income.

Building new homes without preserving the existing affordable housing stock and implementing targeted solutions will lead to a net loss of affordable housing options and the displacement of neighbors with lower incomes. As a Councilmember, Miguel will support proven solutions to preserve affordability:

• Pairing the HPTF with a new Housing Preservation Fund with a mission to protect existing affordable housing, both subsidized and unsubsidized, so that it is not acquired (e.g., when affordability requirements expire) and turned into more expensive market-rate housing that lower-income families cannot afford.

• Reversing some of the negative revisions to the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase (TOPA) passed as part of the RENTAL Act. Miguel will work to reverse the last-minute amendment exempting two- to four-unit properties from TOPA, which denies thousands of renters the opportunity to potentially become homeowners by purchasing their homes or ensuring that their properties continue to serve as unsubsidized affordable housing. Miguel will also support shortening the 15-year TOPA exemption for new buildings.

• Making more frequent use of the District Opportunity to Purchase Act (DOPA). As a Councilmember, Miguel will work to create a financing tool for DOPA acquisitions; through oversight, he will ensure that the Department of Housing and Community Development is structurally healthy and capable of taking on more properties through DOPA. The District should also explore partnerships with values-aligned affordable-housing organizations to acquire and/or manage DOPA properties.

• Providing redevelopment incentives that require a one-to-one, or greater, replacement of affordable units for owners of affordable housing properties with significant maintenance backlogs. Miguel will champion the redevelopment of older public housing to significantly increase density and quality with “right to return” protections for residents.

• Exploring reforms to rent stabilization under the Rental Housing Act of 1985, including expanding the stock of existing multifamily properties that are subject to that law, while ensuring that rent caps do not hurt the financial feasibility of operating those properties amid rising costs like insurance, utilities, and maintenance. Such reforms could include a rolling, rather than fixed, timeframe for the applicability of rent stabilization.

We Haven’t Tried It All 

The DC Council can’t keep implementing the same solutions and expect different outcomes. That’s why Miguel will support:

• Maximizing the potential of housing developments on public land. As a Commissioner, Miguel supported creating affordable housing at the 1617 U Street site. He is also well aware that when we draw out the development of affordable housing on public property over years of procedural hurdles, we not only prevent families from accessing affordable homes that are needed urgently; we also significantly increase the cost of building housing on these sites. Miguel will advocate to grant approval to proposed affordable housing developments on public property as a matter of right if they comply with zoning regulations.

• Taking a more active role in financing and developing various forms of social housing, which may include permanently affordable, mixed-income, publicly, and/or nonprofit-owned housing. Montgomery County’s approach serves as a potential model, and Miguel would support the creation of a fund to test such investments, adapted to the context of DC, with a growth plan toward a dedicated office or independent agency.

• Using oversight to push for better enforcement of housing standards and working with the Attorney General to identify and prosecute bad landlords.

Bringing Down the Cost of Living in Other Ways

Miguel takes a broad view of affordability: housing isn’t the only factor. Too many jobs in the “new economy” come without benefits — that’s an area where labor and policymakers can ally to craft stronger worker protections. Basic needs, such as food and childcare, are also too expensive.

Miguel knows that the vibrant neighborhoods he envisions must work for their own residents. He will work to align incentives to preserve and grow the “missing middle,” the kinds of businesses that weave neighborhoods together: locally owned restaurants, corner stores, and services. They are the most critical for livability and yet are always at greatest risk of being priced out.

We should be extremely proud to be one of the leading cities in the country in making childcare affordable for all families and ensuring that those taking care of our children are compensated equitably. Miguel will ensure that our suite of early-childhood programs (universal pre-K, subsidies, the Pay Equity Fund, etc.) are on a sound financial footing, and will work to extend that support to fill the gap by providing childcare for ages 0 to 3. He also recognizes that protecting the District’s Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit is also crucial: these are progressive and pioneering mechanisms for redistribution that support low- and moderate-income earners (even those without children in the home) in a very expensive city.

Homelessness Is a Housing Issue

We can’t solve homelessness without addressing the root issue: a lack of affordable housing. Criminalization and the thoughtless clearing of encampments, such as we have seen in the past few years, are not the path to addressing homelessness in DC. Such actions only serve to disrupt supportive service delivery, stigmatize residents facing homelessness — who often lose their belongings during clearings — and pointlessly chase people from one jurisdiction to another.

As a Councilmember, Miguel will support a more effective, data-driven “housing first” approach with no preconditions to accessing housing. The process starts with robust hotline and outreach teams that connect neighbors experiencing homelessness to low-barrier shelters. Miguel will continue the District’s shift away from congregate shelters and toward non-congregate transitional housing with supportive services.

Miguel’s goal is to create more permanent supportive housing with resident services to address chronic homelessness, as well as help neighbors who have previously experienced homelessness to stay housed and to improve their health and financial conditions. Miguel’s vision for permanent supportive housing includes accommodation for different types of residents, including families, youth, and LGBTQ+ neighbors.

Operating permanent supportive housing does not always go smoothly. As a Commissioner, Miguel has worked with the management of a transitional facility in his district, the Terrell, to address complaints about inadequate HVAC, for example, which left families spending all day outside during the summer to avoid suffocating heat indoors. As a Councilmember, Miguel will scale up his ability to offer constituent services to residents experiencing homelessness, and in transitional programs, as well as oversight to ensure that residents are able to move through the lifecycle of services/Continuum of Care and “graduate” to stable situations, with special emphasis on systemic challenges in the crucial “lease-up” phase.