WASHINGTON — One D.C. councilmember says downtown and its tax base are vulnerable in ways the District has not seen in decades. Now, D.C.’s mayor has proposed a plan to bring more residents to that area to solve that issue.
At her third inaugural swearing-in ceremony on Monday, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said she believes the District needs to turn more empty office buildings into apartments and condominiums downtown.
"Converting office space into housing is the key to unlocking the potential of a reimagined, more vibrant downtown," said Bowser.
Currently, there are signs downtown D.C. is struggling.
A recent study on the state of downtown found record-high vacancies in office buildings.
"It is the economic engine that allows us to invest in our schools, our safety net and our public works," said Bowser. "It is the proverbial goose that lays the golden egg."
The mayor said 25,000 people call downtown D.C. home.
However, she said she wants to add 15,000 residents to the area over the next five years. The mayor also said she would like to see an additional 85,000 people move into the central business district after that initial period.
"We have a new 100,000 resident goal," said Bowser. "That's a bold goal, but the fact is, no matter what we do, it won't be fast enough without the help of the White House."
The mayor said the federal government owns or leases one-third of office space in the District. She said the federal government’s support is necessary to revitalize downtown as many federal employees are still in remote work status due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We need decisive action by the White House to either get most federal workers back to the office most of the time or to realign their vast property holdings for us by the local government, by nonprofits, by businesses and by any user willing to revitalize it," she said.
The idea to bring more residents to downtown D.C. is not new.
When DC At-Large Councilmember Robert White first got elected to the council in 2016, he pushed to study ways to convert office buildings into mixed-income housing.
“I was looking at historic vacancy rates,” he said. “Office vacancy rates of about 15% and an urgent need for housing as somebody who has seen most of my family priced out of the city.”
White added that the pandemic has pushed more people in that direction.
He said he believed the mayor’s plan was a step in the right direction for the District. Still, there’s some concern that any housing placed downtown could ultimately be too expensive for D.C. residents to afford.
White said District government must consider how to confront that possibility.
“Our focus also has to be on making sure that this housing is mixed income so that the people who are working downtown, keeping downtown going, can also afford to live downtown,” said White.