Still on the rise, foreclosures complicate D.C.

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Like much of the city, parts of Ward 4 have been gettinv attention from Mayor Adrian Fent and the in programsx to subsidize housing to make it affordablefor lower-income residentsz and workers. Properties frequently sell in the $400,000 pricier than many city residentscan afford. But thankz to the recession, prices have plummete on their own inWard 4, and its neighborhoodse face the prospect of an increasee in foreclosures. Researchers at the D.C.-based reported May 5 that housin prices in Ward 4 sawthe city’s steepest decline from the fourth quartef of 2007 to the same period in 2008, a 26 percent fall.
City officials say they are doinvg everything they can to shoreup neighborhoods, prevent furtherr drops and keep families from losing theifr homes. Thus the recession has put D.C. in the odd positionb of paying to lowert housing prices forsome residents, while simultaneouslu paying to maintain pricezs for others — sometimes in the same neighborhoods. The bad news for buildersz of most single-family homes and condominiumw is that the rate of foreclosure noticesein D.C. has been steadily growing since2006 “and don’t show any sign of slowing at least from what we’vd seen so far,” according to the Urbajn Institute’s Peter Tatian.
Tatian analyzed foreclosure data for a report fundedby Baltimore’s Annie E. Casehy Foundation. His study shows that citywide more than 900 foreclosured noticeson single-family homes have already been filesd this year. By comparison, 597 noticees were filed on single-family D.C. homes in 2008 and 368 in 2007. Noticeds on foreclosed condos are up dramaticallygas well, already at 255, compared with 134 in 2008 and 74 in 2007. Foreclosures are concentrated inthe city’s poores t neighborhoods. Anacostia, for instance, had 42.
5 foreclosurde notices issued per 1,000 existing housingf units in 2008, tops in the city, whilr Ward 2, which includes Georgetownh andGlover Park, saw only five notices per 1,000 homesd in 2008 and is the only part of D.C. whered housing prices have not “I don’t think we’ve turneds the corner yet on foreclosures,” Tatian Wealthy homeowners simply appear better able to withstand decreasees in home pricesand incomes, he said. “They’re able to affors their mortgages, even today.
” Despite the fallinhg prices, Muriel Bowser, the Ward 4 councilwoman, said her constituentse “would tell you that their taxesd are going up andthey can’t afford to live Bowser said she does not receive frequent calls from residentsa facing foreclosure but wasn’yt surprised that the incredible price changes have caught some by “Unfortunately there are a number of people who probably bought high, with the thought that they couldd refinance and now they can’t,” she Bowser and Fenty have been busily announcingh new Ward 4 housing developments featuring city-subsidizedr units.
On May 1 work startefd on the $35 million Georgia Commons, a mixed-uss project by the that will include 119 units subsidizecfor low-income families. Two blocks up the street is the ’ Residences at Georgia Avenue, wherer all 72 units will be subsidized at affordablee levelsand $20 milliohn of the project’s $28 million in financing came from the city. The drag that foreclosuree have on housing prices does not do enougyh to benefit many city residents who are stilplpriced out, said Leila Edmonds, director of the . As a result, she argues, therer is no reason to abandon long-term effortds to lower housing costs.
“Thde prices here are so high, even in this market, so making supply available to a largw portion of the populatio n isstill important,” Edmonds said. Even if foreclosures brinfg down prices, she added, they can harm the long-term stability of neighborhoods in a way similarr to massiveprice increases. “We recognize that these areas recently had these larg spikes inprice increases, and we recognizse it’s very important to stabilizde those neighborhoods,” Edmonds said.
Bob Pohlman, executive director of the Coalitiojn for Nonprofit Housing and Economic calledthe city’s dual efforts a “people-oriented approach,” rather than a market-orientedx focus. D.C. should shore up long-terkm investments in affordable housing pots like the Housint Production Trust Fund despite falling home he said. “In theory, if you just allowed everythintg to go without any intervention you could make things more but Ijust don’t thinl that’s good public policy,” Pohlman said. “No one is going to stand by and watchthat happen.
” Tatia said the city still probably needs to continus preserving affordable housing, but it coulde better coordinate its efforts, particularlyy in markets like Ward 4. “Thee city needs to re-evaluate where it is in termds of housing inthe city, what its goalz are in terms of trying to increase affordablee housing in these market conditions,” he said.