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
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News
January 27, 2009
On January 28, COG is conducting its ninth annual enumeration of the region’s homeless population.
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News
June 19, 2008
Metropolitan Washington now has one of the fastest growing foreclosure rates in the country, with families losing homes six times more frequently during the...
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News
May 14, 2008
COG's Homeless Services Planning and Coordination Committee released its 8th Homeless Enumeration Report.
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News
January 24, 2008
Survey to be first look at homelessness since region’s housing downturn began.
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News
June 13, 2007
The COG Board approved the seventh annual “Homeless Enumeration for the Washington Metropolitan Region” report, which measures regional homelessness in 2007.