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The Friendship Heights Alliance was formed in 2023 to help revitalize Friendship Heights through marketing, placemaking, and community building. From the outset, gathering diverse perspectives has been central to everything we do.

What we hear consistently is that people want more vitality, more local businesses, and more housing — and that Friendship Heights, with nearly 40 acres of underutilized land, has a real opportunity to deliver it. That means housing at scale, a greater variety of types, and dedicated affordable housing for low- and middle-income residents.

Creating that capacity is not simple, and we know the conversations around it can be contentious. This guide is our attempt to address the key concepts honestly, including some that get distorted in public debate. We believe the evidence is clear, and we've linked to the underlying research on our website so that anyone can read and evaluate it for themselves.

Our north star is straightforward: a neighborhood and a region where people at every income level have access to a safe and stable home. We think Friendship Heights can be part of making that real.

How does additional housing impact my neighborhood and quality of life?

People often support more housing in general but worry about what it means near their own homes. Construction brings noise, dust, and traffic, which are real but temporary. A common long term concern is around parking and congestion. That is why it makes sense to add housing near Metro, bus lines, and within walking distance of shops and services, where people rely less on cars. More residents nearby means more customers for local businesses, supporting a vibrant mix of shops, cafes, and services and creating safer, more active streets.

Do we really need more housing here in Friendship Heights?

Friendship Heights is one of the best places to add housing in the region because it already has Metro, bus lines, schools, parks, grocery stores, and jobs nearby. Yet very little housing has been built here in decades, even as demand has grown. That drives up prices and limits who can live here, especially young families and middle income workers. With nearly 40 acres of underused land like surface parking lots, we can add homes while also creating greener, more walkable public spaces and supporting local businesses. A range of housing types helps keep the community strong and inclusive.

Why do we need to build more homes?

We need more homes to accommodate both a growing population and smaller household sizes. The US population has increased by 21% since 2020. Housing construction hasn’t kept pace, creating a shortage of 3–7 million homes, depending on how it’s measured. Even if the U.S. population stayed the same, we would still need to build more homes because more people are living alone or in smaller families. Increasing the supply of homes where people want to live makes housing more affordable overall, provides customer bases to sustain local businesses, and creates economic and social flexibility. However, in many places, especially those close to job centers, housing production has not kept pace with population growth.

Most people can’t afford new construction. How does building more new housing help them?

Over time, buildings that were once new and expensive become more affordable as they age. In fact, most of today’s relatively affordable homes were built as market-rate housing decades ago. Without enough new supply, that cycle breaks, and higher income households compete for older units, pushing prices up for everyone. This process is known as “filtering up” or “downward displacement.” Studies consistently show that when supply increases, rent growth slows and price increases moderately not only in new buildings, but in surrounding neighborhoods as well.