Marissa J. Lang
Washington Post
Washington, DC, United States
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Recent articles by Marissa:
D.C. development has soared under Bowser. So have housing costs.
Critics say her push for development has accelerated the affordability crisis in the city. → Read More
Living near affordable housing may boost home values, new study finds
Alexandria home prices got a boost from being near new affordable housing projects, an Urban Institute study shows. → Read More
D.C. looking to help homeowners turn their basements and garages into rental housing
The mayor believes accessory dwellings can alleviate the affordable housing shortage. → Read More
Every winter, D.C. apartment tenants live with insufficient heat. Spotty enforcement leaves residents to fend for themselves.
The apartment where James lives in Southeast Washington has been without functioning heat for more than four months. She’s spent all winter trying to get relief — calls to the Banneker Place Apartments’ management company, complaints to the District’s Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA); she even filed a civil suit in D.C. Superior Court. But as February dragged on, she said,… → Read More
Omicron tore through an Arlington County homeless shelter. To contain it, they moved everyone into a motel.
As cases of the coronavirus’s delta variant spread through the region last year, positive tests would appear in ones and twos. But then came omicron. Kasia Shaw, a nurse practitioner and the senior director of medical services for PathForward, the nonprofit organization that runs the homeless services center for Arlington County, Va., was conducting routine testing in late December when she… → Read More
D.C. announces first affordable housing project in Ward 3 backed by housing production trust
D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser announces 800 new affordable housing units, including a senior facility in Friendship Heights. → Read More
Mayor cuts ribbon at new homeless men’s shelter on St. Elizabeths East campus in Southeast D.C.
The shelter, which is equipped to house 396 people and more during hypothermia season, replaces the old 801 East men’s shelter and includes specialty facilities for seniors, men in need of medical care, and working men with employment demands. → Read More
A historic Black church says D.C. is trying to push it out of Shaw. The church’s tenants say it’s a slum lord.
Both the church and the residents say they are the victims of gentrification. → Read More
Fire breaks out at homeless encampment in Georgetown
The blaze damaged a tent and belongings, but no injuries were reported. → Read More
D.C. Council votes to continue the clearing of homeless encampments
Seven D.C. Council members opposed the legislation as homeless residents and advocates gathered for demonstrations and services to mark the nationally observed Homeless Persons Memorial Day and remember those who have died this year. The bill would have paused all encampment evictions through the end of the District’s coldest months and established a formal process by which homeless residents… → Read More
‘It feels like 2020 all over again’: As covid cases climb, D.C.-area residents take extra precautions
In the absence of government mandates, merchants, individuals and families are left to erect their own guardrails in an effort to stay safe from another worsening wave of infections. → Read More
D.C. mayor unveils plans to incentivize office-to-residential conversions as downtown struggles to recover
The market for office space was already slowing before the pandemic when office workers abandoned downtown en masse and have yet to fully return. → Read More
Maryland counties to stop accepting emergency rent-relief applications amid dwindling funds
Two of Maryland’s largest counties will stop taking applications this month for federally backed emergency rent relief meant to help struggling landlords and tenants. → Read More
D.C. Council members urge mayor’s office to halt homeless encampment clearings until spring
Members of the council’s committee on human services expressed growing concern over the mayor’s pilot program that aims to permanently eliminate some of the District’s largest homeless encampments by offering housing to some homeless residents and instituting permanent no-camping zones. → Read More
D.C. delays clearing homeless encampment as mayor’s controversial housing-first pilot continues
The delay in plans comes about a week after a heated D.C. Council hearing, in which council members, homeless advocates and encampment residents themselves questioned the merits and motivations of the mayor’s pilot program. → Read More
Gentrification and displacement of African Americans in Northern Virginia predates Civil War, report finds
Researchers with the Center on Society and Health at Virginia Commonwealth University traced current racial inequities to past policies that choked off resources to Black communities tucked away in and around the affluent suburbs of the nation’s capital. → Read More
Deep divides over program meant to move homeless out of encampments are on display at D.C. Council hearing
The hearing, which included more than 50 witnesses and spanned more than seven hours, exposed a bitter divide in the District over the government’s approach to homelessness and encampments. Turnage testified that homeless encampments that have filled D.C. parks and sidewalks with tents have increased by more than 40 percent over the past year, creating an untenable situation that he described as… → Read More
Customers lament loss of Captain White’s after 50 years at the Wharf. Owner says it’s ‘not what we wanted.’
The abrupt move comes as developers have begun shifting their focus toward the final phase of the Wharf’s ongoing redevelopment project. → Read More
Benning Terrace residents demand action on long-deferred projects from new D.C. Housing Authority director
Residents said as they have waited for promises of better housing to come to fruition, ongoing issues have only gotten worse. → Read More
D.C. Council calls on IG to investigate alleged abuse of power at D.C. Housing Authority
Albert resigned earlier this week. → Read More