DC Police Union hits Lewis George over housing proposal
washington, D.C.’s police union criticized mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George after she proposed using and “leveraging” the district’s pension funds to help finance more affordable housing. During a debate Monday night, Lewis George said she would streamline and overhaul building codes, make permitting and financing easier, and use billions from pension funds plus federal dollars to expand housing despite high interest rates and local regulations.
The union said the idea of raiding employee pension funds was an “automatic disqualifier,” and Lewis George did not clarify how the pension funds would be used. Lewis George also argued that the city needs an aggressive housing plan because many residents face displacement amid the ongoing affordability crisis-where most extremely low-income renters spend more than half their income on rent and there are far too few affordable homes available. Primary elections are set for June 16, and the next Democratic nominee is expected to win in the district’s heavily Democratic landscape.
Washington, D.C.’s police union hit mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George over her policy proposal to leverage pension funds to help build more affordable housing in the city.
The union’s statement followed Monday night’s mayoral debate between councilwoman Lewis George, councilman Kenyan McDuffie, and fellow candidate Gary Goodweather, hosted by Fox 5. Lewis George, a front-runner in the race alongside McDuffie, laid out her proposal to build more housing in D.C. despite high interest rates and local regulations.
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“We did not have raiding employee pension funds on our bingo card. Automatic disqualifier,” the D.C. Police Union wrote on X.
“We streamline the building process,” Lewis George said during Monday night’s debate, “We overhaul the building codes to make it easier for people to build housing. We’re going to leverage our pension funds, billions of dollars that we can leverage to open up the doors from financing to continue to build more housing, and we’re going to leverage our federal dollars and make sure that we’re using all of it to build more affordable housing here in the city.”
The D.C. police union took issue with her statement, though Lewis George did not expand upon how she intended to “leverage” the district’s pension funds.
The Washington Examiner has reached out to Lewis George’s campaign for comment.
“We can build more housing,” Lewis George said during the debate. “This moment calls for us to have an aggressive plan to do so, because so many our families are facing displacement in this city.”
The district has been facing a housing affordability crisis for several years. Four out of five extremely low-income D.C. renters spend over 50% of their paychecks on rent, and there are just 32 affordable, available homes for every 100 of these renters, according to a J.P. Morgan report.
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The union, which has been supportive of President Donald Trump’s efforts to federalize the Metropolitan Police Department and the administration’s response to the district’s viral “teen takeovers”, typically wades into D.C. politics as it relates to matters of public safety.
Primary elections in the race to replace retiring Mayor Muriel Bowser will take place on June 16. In deep-blue D.C., whoever takes the Democratic primary is likely to take the election.
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