Norton Says Groundbreaking for Affordable Housing Units in Ward 8 Complements Her Work on DHS Complex at St. Elizabeths

WASHINGTON, D.C. – (RealEstateRama) — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today thanked District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser and joined the Mayor and other city officials and leaders to break ground on South Capitol Street Apartments, a rare project that will bring hundreds of affordable housing units to Ward 8. Norton, whose work in Congress resulted in federal funding for the project, praised the development of affordable housing in Ward 8, where affordable housing is most needed due to the District’s increasingly costly housing market.

“The South Capitol Streets Apartments affordable housing project encourages me in my fight against the Trump Administration’s proposed elimination of the Community Development Block Grant program, which contains vital federal funds that help develop affordable housing in urban communities across the country, especially here in the District and other high-cost cities,” Norton said. “I am also pleased the South Capitol Street Apartments are so close to one of my economic development projects, the Department of Homeland Security headquarters consolidation at the St. Elizabeths West Campus, the largest federal construction project in the country. The DHS complex marks the first time the federal government has crossed the Anacostia River, and it is bringing not just one important agency, but half a dozen. It is my hope the combination of the DHS complex and the South Capitol Street Apartments will generate commercial development and amenities that are currently missing from Ward 8. Today’s groundbreaking is the model we have brought to other communities where the presence of new housing and federal office space have brought commercial amenities to the neighborhood.”