Housing in Washington, D.C., encompasses a variety of shelter types:

apartments An apartment (American English, Canadian English), flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), tenement (Scots English), or unit (Australian English) is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that ...

single family homes A single-family detached home, also called a single-detached dwelling, single-family residence (SFR) or separate house is a free-standing residential building. It is defined in opposition to a multi-family residential dwelling. Definitions ...

condominiums A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership regime in which a building (or group of buildings) is divided into multiple units that are either each separately owned, or owned in common with exclusive rights of occupation by individual own ...

co-ops A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democr ...

, and apartments considered

public housing Public housing, also known as social housing, refers to Subsidized housing, subsidized or affordable housing provided in buildings that are usually owned and managed by local government, central government, nonprofit organizations or a ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, is considered one of the most expensive cities in which to live in the United States—in 2019, it was ranked in the top 10 of American cities with the most expensive homes.

History

The oldest residential house in Washington, D.C., was built in 1754, and originally located in

Danvers, Massachusetts Danvers is a New England town, town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, located on the Danvers River near the northeastern coast of Massachusetts. The suburb is a fairly short ride from Boston and is also in close proximity to the beach ...

. The home was dismantled, shipped to D.C. by

railcar A railcar (not to be confused with the generic term railroad car or railway car) is a self-propelled railway vehicle designed to transport passengers. The term "railcar" is usually used in reference to a train consisting of a single coa ...

and reconstructed in the Kalorama neighborhood. Residential homes throughout the city were built in a variety of architectural styles, including Georgian, Federal,

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

Tudor Revival Tudor Revival architecture, also known as mock Tudor in the UK, first manifested in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture, in rea ...

, Beaux-Arts,

Arts and Crafts The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the Decorative arts, decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and ...

Bungalow A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is typically single or one and a half storey, if a smaller upper storey exists it is frequently set in the roof and Roof window, windows that come out from the roof, and may be surrounded by wide ve ...

, Colonial, and

contemporary Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from about 1945 to the present. In the social sciences, contemporary history is also continuous with, and related t ...

. Racial segregation

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

settlement was legally barred in many areas of Washington, D.C., through the first half of the 20th century due to racially restrictive deed covenants which barred Black home seekers from purchasing. By the 1920s, neighborhood associations would gather signatures to place such racially restrictive covenants on the properties of signers, which would restrict entire neighborhoods. Neighborhoods like Mount Pleasant and Bloomingdale were particularly affected. Further, Black homebuyers routinely overpaid for homes in the city, and integrated neighborhoods were rare. As of 1960, the segregation was deeply felt—2.2% of new houses in the city were available to Black residents. Washington, D.C., introduced policies to prohibit discrimination in 1964.

Neighborhood advocacy groups

There have been a number of groups formed to combat housing segregation in Washington, D.C., In 1958, an interracial group of residents of the Manor Park neighborhood created the Neighbors Inc. group to encourage the integration of their neighborhood—particularly attracting white residents. Other such advocacy groups that lobbied for integrated neighborhoods and changes in housing policy included Northwest Washington Fair Housing, Suburban Maryland Fair Housing, Prince George's County Fair Housing, and Northern Virginia Fair Housing.

Affordability

Median home value in Washington, D.C., as of 2020, was $617,900, making the city the #4 most expensive in the country. Rents and mortgages are 2.8 times higher than the national average. The median rent in 2018 was $1,487.

Public housing

Public housing appeared in Washington, D.C., after the passage of the National Housing Act in 1934.

Langston Terrace Dwellings Langston Terrace Dwellings are historic structures located in the Carver Langston, Langston portion of the Carver/Langston neighborhoods in the Northeast, Washington, D.C., Northeast quadrant of Washington, D.C. The apartments were built between ...

, an all-Black community with 274 units built from 1935 to 1938, was the nation's second public housing project undertaken in the country. Hilyard Robinson, a Black architect and Washington native, designed the building. The Langston Terrace Dwellings were added to the DC Inventory of Historic Sites in 1986 and the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1987.

Homelessness

The

homeless Homelessness, also known as houselessness or being unhoused or unsheltered, is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and functional housing. It includes living on the streets, moving between temporary accommodation with family or friends, liv ...

population decreased by 5.5% from 2018 to 2019, according to the

Joint Center for Housing Studies The Joint Center for Housing Studies is a research center on housing-related issues at Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Through its research, education, and public outreach programs, the center helps leade ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. In 2019, there were a reported 6,521 people experiencing homelessness in Washington, D.C. In 2021, Washington D.C., had the highest rate of homelessness, having 90.4 homeless persons per 10,000 people.

References

External links

Mapping Segregation in Washington, D.C.
{{US housing by state