Steady job growth and excellent schools are among the features that have made metropolitan Washington a desirable place to live, spurring high home values and encouraging the creation of expensive new developments. This has put enormous pressure on local governments striving to shape communities where all citizens of all ages can afford to live.
COG shares housing data, best practices, and tools to help encourage the production and preservation of housing affordable to low and moderate-income residents who may not be well-served by the existing housing market. Through strategic partnerships, COG and its members build greater awareness of the region's housing affordability needs. In late 2018, COG launched its Regional Housing Initiative to determine what it would take to increase housing beyond what is currently forecast to provide enough housing for the region’s growing workforce. In 2019, officials adopted three regional housing targets to address this challenge.
It is not enough to just increase the amount of housing our region produces, however. Equally important is ensuring that growth is equitable and results in integrated neighborhoods in metropolitan Washington. COG works to support local governments in meeting their obligation to affirmatively further fair housing choice so that as the region grows, all residents can choose to live in healthy, affordable homes with access to transit, jobs, and quality educational opportunities.
COG also supports the most severe housing needs of the region's residents—individuals and families experiencing homelessness. COG, area governments, and homeless services providers seek regional solutions to ensure that the experience of homelessness is brief, rare, and one time only.
News & Multimedia
-
News
November 4, 2011
Recently the Center for Regional Analysis (CRA) at George Mason University published research quantifying the demand for housing in metropolitan Washington. The...
-
News
November 2, 2011
Lisa A. Sturtevant PhD is Assistant Research Professor at the George Mason University School of Public Policy in the Center for Regional Analysis and ...
-
News
October 12, 2011
The service will provide those in or worried about foreclosure with access to advice, reminders, and alerts through their mobile phones in either Spanish or...
-
News
September 21, 2011
Two initiatives will provide policymakers and the public with better information about how the region’s five million-plus residents get around and how much it...
-
News
September 8, 2011
To meet our shared goals outlined in Region Forward better coordination of transportation and land use is essential. But before local governments can launch...