{"id":56003,"date":"2026-01-08T21:04:05","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T21:04:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/?p=56003"},"modified":"2026-02-02T09:10:41","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T09:10:41","slug":"tonight-u-street-anc-considers-residential-deregulation-that-likely-hits-wards-5-7-and-8-hardest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/dc\/56003","title":{"rendered":"Tonight, U Street ANC Considers Residential Deregulation That Likely Hits Wards 5, 7, and 8 Hardest"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"postie-post\">\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\n<div>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<br \/>DC for Reasonable Development, Chris Otten, 202-810-2768<\/div>\n<div>January 8, 2026<\/div>\n<div><font size=\"6\"><b>Behind Rhetoric of Ward 3 \u201cExclusivity\u201d \u2013 U Street ANC Considers Residential Deregulation That Likely Hits Wards 5, 7, and 8 Hardest<\/b><\/font><\/div>\n<div><font size=\"4\"><b>Washington, DC<\/b> \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.anc1b.org\/announcements\/january-2026-agenda\">Tonight, an ANC resolution is being considered by Advisory Neighborhood Commission 1B (ANC1B)<\/a> that is being touted as a way to dismantle exclusionary zoning in wealthy neighborhoods like Ward 3. Housing advocates warn the proposal is far more likely to increase displacement and speculative redevelopment in Wards 5, 7, and 8.<\/font><\/div>\n<div><font size=\"4\"><br \/>The resolution (attached) \u2014 \u201c<i><b>Resolution Urging By-Right Gentle Density Throughout the District of Columbia<\/b>,<\/i>\u201d whose language and policy framework closely track a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aei.org\/op-eds\/a-light-touch-could-bring-homeownership-back-in-the-district\/\">recent housing deregulation report<\/a> by the conservative <b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aei.org\/\">American Enterprise Institute (AEI)<\/a><\/b> \u2014 was introduced by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.anc1b.org\/all-commissioners\">Advisory Neighborhood Commission 1B Commissioner Francois Barrilleaux<\/a> and urges the District\u2019s Office of Planning to embed sweeping zoning changes into the Comprehensive Plan.<\/font><\/div>\n<div><font size=\"4\"><br \/><\/font><font size=\"6\">If adopted by the city, <u>the proposal would allow demolition and conversion of single-family homes into multi-unit housing \u201cby-right\u201d<\/u>, removing community review and ANC advice for residential projects across large swaths of the city <u>without any deeper affordability requirements.<\/u><\/font><\/div>\n<div><font size=\"4\"><br \/>Supporters argue the changes would open up high-income neighborhoods to more affordable housing, but the proposal makes no attempt to tie any of the extra density granted \u201cby-right\u201d to assurances of additional affordability or for more family-sized homes.<\/font><\/div>\n<div><font size=\"4\"><br \/>Critics counter that economic realities would make widespread redevelopment in places like Ward 3 unlikely, even with zoning deregulation. \u00a0<b>Anti-displacement advocates say the greatest impacts would fall on Wards 5, 7, and 8,<\/b> where lower land costs, higher investor access, and by elimination of community review, fewer safeguards would make existing family homes more vulnerable to speculative acquisition and demolition.<\/font><\/div>\n<div><font size=\"4\"><br \/><\/font><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"gmail_quote\" style=\"margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;padding-left:1ex\"><p><font size=\"4\"><i>\u201cThis is being sold as a challenge to exclusivity, but the market doesn\u2019t work that way,\u201d <\/i>said Debby Hanrahan of Save DC Public Land.<i> \u201cBy-right deregulation won\u2019t remake Ward 3 \u2014 it will put more pressure on families in DC neighborhoods already at risk.\u201d<\/i><\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div><font size=\"4\"><br \/>The American Enterprise Institute, whose housing-policy efforts seek land use deregulation and expanded by-right development, is <b><a href=\"https:\/\/simple.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/American_Enterprise_Institute\">governed by a board that includes real estate developers, private equity executives, hedge fund managers, and property investors<\/a><\/b> \u2014 sectors that would materially benefit from reduced zoning limits and the removal of community review.<\/font><\/div>\n<div><font size=\"4\"><br \/><b>AEI publicly credits 1B02 Commissioner, Francois Barrilleaux, a paid employee of the conservative right think tank, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aei.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Legalizing-Single-Family-Home-Conversions.pdf\">for research assistance on the report that informs the ANC resolution. <\/a><\/b><\/font><\/div>\n<div><font size=\"4\"><br \/><\/font><\/div>\n<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Screenshot_2026-01-08_15-48-46.png\" alt=\"Screenshot_2026-01-08_15-48-46.png\" width=\"558\" height=\"175\"><\/div>\n<div><font size=\"4\"><\/font><\/div>\n<div><font size=\"4\">Barrilleaux has also stated publicly that his goal is to build a citywide coalition of ANCs to push these recommendations into District planning and zoning policy.<\/font><\/div>\n<div><font size=\"4\"><br \/><\/font><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"gmail_quote\" style=\"margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;padding-left:1ex\"><p><font size=\"4\"><i>\u201cThe ANC Commissioner makes no attempt to look at the far reaching affects of this proposal especially on DC communities already reeling from the adverse impacts of 15 years of immense land speculation. Equitable housing policy should reduce displacement, not shift it,\u201d<\/i> Hanrahan said.<\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div><font size=\"4\"><br \/><\/font><\/div>\n<div><font size=\"4\">###<\/font><\/div>\n<div><font size=\"4\">Media Contact<br \/>DC for Reasonable Development<br \/>Chris Otten<br \/>202-810-2768<br \/><a href=\"mailto:dc4reality@gmail.com\"><a href=\"mailto:dc4reality@gmail.com\">dc4reality@gmail.com<\/a><\/a><\/font><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"postie-attachments\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Resolution-Urging-By-Right-Gentle-Density-Throughout-the-District-of-Columbia-v4-clean.pdf\"><img src='http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-content\/plugins\/postie\/\/icons\/metro\/pdf-32.png' alt='pdf icon' \/> Resolution-Urging-By-Right-Gentle-Density-Throughout-the-District-of-Columbia-v4-clean.pdf<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEDC for Reasonable Development, Chris Otten, 202-810-2768 January 8, 2026 Behind Rhetoric of Ward 3 \u201cExclusivity\u201d \u2013 U Street ANC Considers Residential Deregulation That Likely Hits Wards 5, 7, and 8 Hardest Washington, DC \u2014 Tonight, an ANC resolution is being considered by Advisory Neighborhood Commission 1B (ANC1B) that is being touted as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56004,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}