D.C. Residents Unhappy With Mayor's Affordable Housing Efforts, Support More Development
As Mayor Muriel Bowser continues her push to create more affordable housing, a new poll shows D.C. residents are not satisfied with the job she is doing, and they support the District pushing for more development.
A Washington Post poll published Thursday found 37% of D.C. residents think Bowser is doing a good job on creating and maintaining affordable housing, while 55% believe she is not doing a good job. Despite this issue, Bowser still had a 67% approval rating and held a 23% lead over Council member Vincent Gray in a hypothetical mayoral primary race.
Of the potential causes given for the shortage of affordable housing, most residents blamed it on high-income people moving into the District and pushing up housing prices.
Despite neighbors often loudly opposing developments, the poll showed 67% of D.C. residents support the city's effort to redevelop parts of the city to attract new businesses and residents, with 28% opposed.
The D.C. government in March offered eight new sites to private developers, and in November it awarded 13 new affordable housing projects to developers.
After WMATA completed its yearlong Safetrack program to improve Metro, the poll found 52% of residents have a negative view of the subway system, while 44% have a positive view. The poll found residents strongly opposed to increasing fares and reducing frequency of Metro service, policies which went into effect this month. Residents supported a sales tax to directly fund Metro by a margin of 53% to 43%.
