Part of the NorthwestOne development. Via Google Maps.

The first annual report on the New Communities Initiative highlights the progress of the nearly decade-old program that aims to replace public housing with mixed-use developments, while a report on key challenges and the program’s future won’t come until later this year.

“We have over the last year been improving our communications with the community and stakeholders,” said Kimberly Black King, director of New Communities since April 2013, later adding that transparency, education and awareness is the goal of the inaugural report. The report was mandated by legislation passed by Councilmember Muriel Bowser, who heads the Committee on Economic Development.

The struggles New Communities — which is headed by the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development — has had with delivering on its promise been highlighted by the press in the past year. The Washington Post reported on the city’s struggle to replace units demolished at Temple Courts and Lincoln Heights. The city also ended its negotiations with Landex Corp. and Warrenton Group to develop the Park Morton public housing complex over “unacceptable” delays.

“To date, the New Communities Initiative has made little progress in revitalizing these sites and improving the economic circumstances of their residents,” Jessica Fulton, the outreach director at the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute, said in testimony to the Council this February. She pointed out that just 149 of 1,500 needed replacement units have been completed thus far.

That number is now 305, according to the new 11-page report [PDF] which gives an overview of the project and provides an update on unit development.

The difficulty in replacing units for the former residents of Temples Courts and Golden Rule Center through the Northwest One development is highlighted in the report. “Displacement resulted from demolition of the two buildings totaling 250 units of affordable housing reserved for households at or below 80 percent of the area median income,” the report states. Thus far, 30 replacement units have been completed while 107 are expected to be completed this fall.

The report also states that a development team for the Park Morton site will be selected in fall of this year. When asked why the end of negotiations with Landex was not included in this section of the report, King said the decision was made by her office and “there’s no analysis for our consultants to do on that decision.”

So far, $304,792,000 has been spent on “total development cost for New Communities
residential projects completed and under construction.” “Investment for those projects totals $66,211,000,” according to the report,” while “NCI has also funded a total of $39,860,066 for acquisition and $20,000,000 for amenities including the new Barry Farm Recreation Center.”

Fulton said “publishing the report goes a long way towards helping D.C. residents understand how much and where New Communities funding is being invested.”

“Previously, there was little to no information publicly available on how the project has progressed. Unfortunately, it doesn’t offer a complete picture of what we can expect in the future, although [the Deputy Mayor’s Office for Planning and Economic Development] is awaiting the completion of a report by affordable housing consultants on how DMPED should proceed,” Fulton said by email.

When King took over New Communities last April, she said one of her goals was to make the program more transparent. A new website with information and updates was launched in February. It now also features maps of each of the four project sites. Through some conversations with residents and stakeholders, Black King said there’s been a “general theme that there have been improved communications.”

The report from affordable housing experts, which Black King expects to be completed in 30 to 45 days, will address lessons learned thus far, key challenges, budget information and a recommendation for implementation going forward.

When asked what some of the challenges have been during her tenure, King said “we’ll have to wait for the report.”