Despite stagnant or lowering incomes, many residents in poorer neighborhoods are paying a higher share of property taxes relative to high-income residents.
WASHINGTON — When D.C. native Andrea Morgan first purchased her home in Ivy City in 2015, the mother of two said she was excited it would provide a fresh start for her family.
“I have two disabled children that rely on government programs, and I needed a house that was accessible,” Morgan said. “I needed adequate space after living in our apartment for the bulk of 16 years.”
Morgan said she decided on purchasing the property to invest in the future of her family by building a stable cycle of generational wealth. Through the Ivy City Special Demonstration Project – a late-2000s initiative to build more housing for low-income families – Morgan was exempt from paying the market rate for her new home. She also qualified for a five-year tax abatement program from the D.C. government.
But despite community initiatives to limit development to affordable housing and keep overall real estate prices low in Ivy City, the city simultaneously granted contracts to private developers who flooded the streets of Ivy City to build property with price tags at around 80% of…
