{"id":673,"date":"2021-05-24T12:09:25","date_gmt":"2021-05-24T12:09:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/?p=673"},"modified":"2021-06-01T22:07:47","modified_gmt":"2021-06-01T22:07:47","slug":"cms-gray-mcduffie-show-interest-in-affordable-housing-at-wardman-park-hotel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/dc\/673","title":{"rendered":"CMs Gray, McDuffie Show Interest in Affordable Housing at Wardman Park Hotel"},"content":{"rendered":"<div dir=\"ltr\">\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal\"><b><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">Media release<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black\"><span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal\"><b><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">May 24, 2021<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black\"><span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal\"><b><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">Contact Nick DelleDonne<span><\/span><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal\"><b><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"><a href=\"mailto:Delledonne.n@comcast.net\"><a href=\"mailto:Delledonne.n@comcast.net\" >Delledonne.n@comcast.net<\/a><\/a><span><\/span><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal\"><b><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">@delledonnen<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black\"><span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal\"><b><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">703-929-6656<\/span><\/b><b><span style=\"font-size:14pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif\"> <span><\/span><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal\"><b><span style=\"font-size:14pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif\">\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;text-align:center;line-height:normal\"><b><span style=\"font-size:16pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;color:rgb(51,51,51)\">CMs Gray, McDuffie Show Interest in Affordable Housing\u00a0<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-size:16pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;color:rgb(51,51,51)\"><span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;text-align:center;line-height:normal\"><b><span style=\"font-size:16pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;color:rgb(51,51,51)\">at Wardman Park Hotel\u00a0<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-size:10pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;color:rgb(51,51,51)\"><span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;text-align:center;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:14pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;color:rgb(51,51,51)\">\u00a0<span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;color:rgb(51,51,51)\">The idea of turning the bankrupt Wardman Park Hotel into affordable housing has begun to surface in the DC Council.\u00a0 Most recently, Councilmember Vincent Gray (Ward 7) said he &#8220;would be happy to go along with Councilmember Cheh [Ward 3] to take a look&#8221; at the site on Connecticut Avenue in Woodley Park.\u00a0\u00a0Gray was responding to an invitation from Nick DelleDonne, head of Dupont East Civic Action Association (DECAA) at Thursday&#39;s marathon eviction hearing. DelleDonne, who has been working with one of several citizen groups promoting the conversion, described the Wardman as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to convert its 1,100 rooms into affordable housing, with\u00a03- and 4-bedroom family sized apartments, along with day care, job training in the banquet-sized kitchen and other tenant and neighborhood friendly features,\u00a0all on top of a Metro stop.\u00a0\u00a0<span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;color:rgb(51,51,51)\">\u00a0<span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;color:rgb(51,51,51)\">&#8220;I&#39;m very familiar with the site, but not familiar with the purpose you propose,&#8221; Gray added.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;color:rgb(51,51,51)\">\u00a0<span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;color:rgb(51,51,51)\">Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie (Ward 5) supports converting the Wardman into affordable housing, even asking Mayor Bowser to include $140 million in her 2022 budget to buy the property. The Mayor will make her budget public later this week.\u00a0<span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;color:rgb(51,51,51)\">\u00a0<span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;color:rgb(51,51,51)\">The Wardman conversion is a prime opportunity to apply principles of social housing, which for the first time is included in the Comprehensive Plan that the Council passed only last week. The social housing model provides for\u00a0city ownership, tenant management and rents set at 30% of income.\u00a0 Councilmember Robert White (at-large) has assigned a staff member to investigate the concept.<span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;color:rgb(51,51,51)\">\u00a0<span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;color:rgb(51,51,51)\">\u201cThere are signs of a groundswell of interest in the Wardman conversion and in social housing,&#8221; DelleDonne said. &#8220;DECCA is ready to work with neighbors and city officials to turn interest into action for truly affordable housing.&#8221;\u00a0\u00a0<span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;color:rgb(51,51,51)\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;text-align:center;line-height:normal\"><b><span style=\"font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;color:black\">Join the neighborhood discussion and action forum, HearUsNow! <\/span><\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/groups.google.com\/forum\/#!forum\/hearusnow\"><span style=\"font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;color:blue\">https:\/\/groups.google.com\/forum\/#!forum\/hearusnow<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family:\"Times New Roman\",serif;color:black\"><span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;text-align:center\"><i><span style=\"font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;color:black\">Visit DECAA\u2019s website and sign our petition.\u00a0https:\/\/<\/span><\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.keepdupontgreen.org\/\"><i><span style=\"font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,125,188)\">www.KeepDupontGreen.org<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;color:black\"><span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in\"><span style=\"font-size:14pt;line-height:107%;color:black\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;color:rgb(51,51,51)\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom:0in;line-height:normal\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;color:rgb(51,51,51)\">\u00a0<span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Media release May 24, 2021 Contact Nick DelleDonne Delledonne.n@comcast.net @delledonnen 703-929-6656 \u00a0 CMs Gray, McDuffie Show Interest in Affordable Housing\u00a0 at Wardman Park Hotel\u00a0 \u00a0 The idea of turning the bankrupt Wardman Park Hotel into affordable housing has begun to surface in the DC Council.\u00a0 Most recently, Councilmember Vincent Gray (Ward 7) said he &#8220;would [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,1,67,49,5,75],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-affordable-housing","category-dc","category-planning","category-public-property","category-w3","category-wardman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673","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=673"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":684,"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673\/revisions\/684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dcfeedback.com\/fit2print\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}