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Abstract

This is the sixth in a series of annual reports about housing in the Washington metropolitan region. It assembles and analyzes the most current data on housing conditions and trends in the District of Columbia and the surrounding suburbs. Last year's report focused on linkages between housing and schools in the District of Columbia and the metropolitan region.

This year's report takes a regional perspective, examining how the region addresses housing for special needs populations. More specifically, the report assesses the housing options and services available to the elderly, disabled, and homeless and explores the consequences and opportunities for housing policy across the region. To address these issues:

• Chapter 1 reviews the latest evidence on the strength of our regional economy and looks closely at the challenges that revitalization poses for the District of Columbia.
• Chapter 2 focuses on important variations in housing pressures across the District, providing up-to-date information on housing production, sales, the rental market, and housing affordability.
• Chapter 3 highlights the various special needs populations across the region. It profiles the often overlapping populations and examines the range of needs within and across groups.
• Chapter 4 explores housing and service solutions for those with special needs. It addresses the housing needs for those confronting unaffordable housing, accessible housing, or special care services attached to housing.
• Chapter 5 highlights strategic opportunities to advance a coordinated response to housing those with special needs by strengthening the private market and expanding consumer power.

Introduction

After several years of exceptionally fast-paced expansion, theWashington region’s growth has moderated over the past year, and housing market pressures are easing.Nonetheless, the regional economy remains strong, and average sales prices are high—double their level at the start of the decade. For low- and moderateincome residents—including many working full time—home prices and rents remain out of reach, and housing affordability pressures continue to place too many people at risk of homelessness.Within this challenging market environment,finding a suitable and affordable place to live is especially difficult for people who need special design features or supportive services, such as people with physical and mental disabilities, elderly people who can no longer live independently, and individuals and families who have been homeless.

Today, the Washington region stands on the brink of an impending surge in the number of residents with special housing needs. Although promising examples of service-enhanced housing for people with special needs can be found throughout the region, the resources available appear to fall short of demand. Moreover, systems to help people with special needs find and afford suitable housing options are highly fragmented, making it difficult to reliably assess the special housing and services currently available or plan intelligently for the region’s future.

As the region’s population with special needs expands in the coming decades, growing numbers are likely to struggle to cover unaffordable costs for in-home care, face long waiting lists for publiclyfunded services or supportive housing units, become institutionalized unnecessarily, and even experience periods of homelessness. But if the region’s leaders begin to plan and work together now—in anticipation of the coming wave of special housing needs—they can expand the range of linked housing and service choices offered by the private sector, develop more effective public programs, and ensure that options are affordable for people of all incomes across the region.

Technical Appendix (Forthcoming)

Appendix Tables

Appendix Table Guide
Appendix A: Population and Household Characteristics
Appendix B: Economic Conditions
Appendix C: Housing Stock and Vacancy
Appendix D: Rental and Subsidized Housing
Appendix E: Homeownership and Home Sales
Appendix F: Special Needs Populations: Elderly, Disabled, and Homeless
Appendix G: Housing Options for People with Special Needs
Appendix H: Technical Issues

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