As the recent census data show, more people are moving to the District each year and sticking around.  While huge cranes dot the skyline in many areas of the city, there may be an unexpected answer to the District’s housing conundrum: alley dwellings.  Throughout the District, the development of alley lots is being embraced as a way to enliven formerly under-utilized spaces and provide a source for more-affordable housing.

Such was not always the case.  When Pierre L’Enfant was commissioned to design the City of Washington, he never planned on there being alley communities.  However, as an unexpected result of wide alleys and open plots of land, builders created lower income housing described as “mini-ghettoes” by James Borchert in his 1980 publication Alley Life in Washington.  Later in 1934, the Alley Dwelling Authority condemned many unsanitary conditions in alleys and, later, the 1958 Zoning Regulations completely restricted habitable structures on alleys.

Now in 2018, new opportunities are being seen in alleys for housing, retail and even place-making.  While the size and make up of alley networks vary from Ward to Ward, on the whole alleys present a novel opportunity for the District.  Here are three “outside the box” reasons to tout the benefits of alley development:

First, safety.  The word “alley” itself may draw up images of long, dark, narrow passages between rows of homes but, in reality, alleys are as varied in size and composition as the rest of our streets.  Nevertheless, alleys are typically less utilized and less monitored than main thoroughfares.  By providing what urban theorist Jane Jacobs calls in her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities “eyes on the street,” the mere presence of alley residents would discourage loiterers or those who intend to commit property crimes or theft in the alley.  So, those who live on alley properties could play an important role in improving safety for the entire block. Read more ›