The best way to create housing is to convert underutilized or unused land in areas like Mazza Gallerie or White Flint into housing. Project approval should be dependent on a plan to make the price point accessible.

Rezoning single-family neighborhoods does real harm to existing residents who pay a lot in taxes and expend great effort to live in these neighborhoods while doing nothing for attainability. Because developers need to buy existing houses to acquire land in these neighborhoods, their initial costs are incredibly high relative to the amount of usable land they acquire. The result? Their only profitable option is luxury multifamily construction, which makes neighborhoods less attainable, as it reduces the ability of a young family to buy a less expensive house and fix it up over time. Developers are the only people who benefit from this.

This issue is much more complicated than the typical framing of YIMBY vs. NIMBY.

Jon Ein, Chevy Chase

2. Prioritizetinyl houses

Our region’s housing strategy should include two essential prongs:

First, officials should refuse permission on nearly all demolition permit applications. Keeping the remaining stock of tiny houses helps retain affordable housing.

Second, municipalities should encourage the construction of very small houses as infill by only allowing new construction on vacant land if the existing houses are less than 1,600 square feet.

The objective would be to retain small houses in neighborhoods such as those that exist in parts of Annandale, Riverdale Park, and other suburban areas while encouraging the creation of other such communities. The vibrant neighborhoods of Takoma Park provide a model for which to aim.

Linda Cornelius, Bethesda

3. Build more kinds of housing, period

We should focus on adding more housing of all types and at all price points. We need more flexibility to allow people to move during different stages of their lives: Build single rooms and studios for people in college or just graduating; three- and four-bedroom homes and apartments for families; and smaller homes and apartments for empty nesters and retired people to cycle into, opening up their larger homes for families during the years when they need more space. People shouldn’t feel trapped in a house once they find something affordable.

Bonnie Naugle, Alexandria

4. Get rid of single-family zoning

Eliminating single-family zoning in Virginia and across the DMV area would make housing more affordable. It is terribly disappointing that Judge David S. Schell overturned Arlington’s plans to do so.

Yes, our region has only so much space. Building out may not always be an option, so let’s build up in the form of attached homes, accessory dwelling units, and apartments.

More homes and more people require more resources, including spots in schools. But these challenges can be worked out while construction takes place. Maintaining the zoning status quo, particularly inside the Beltway, is very myopic. We need to break this cycle.

Travis Bean, McLean

5. Eliminate red tape

Housing is so expensive in our region because of a housing shortage. The only way to solve our housing crisis is to address the shortage and build more homes. Our local zoning codes, however, are full of extreme government overreach, making it extremely difficult for property owners to build the housing our region needs, from lot size and parking minimums to height and density maximums. Let’s fix our zoning codes.

Phoebe Coy, Alexandria

6. Think big and break bad habits

D.C. Power, an organization of faith and union institutions, recently met with Mayor Muriel E. Bowser and her deputy mayor of development to discuss concrete proposals to generate a new wave of affordable construction. We were bringing untapped assets to the city.

The first asset is our land: The Black church and other churches are among the largest landowners in D.C. Our congregations are willing to donate land to stimulate any future affordable housing effort. That saves as much as 25 percent of the cost of development.

The second asset we bring is very low-interest predevelopment funding raised and committed by the Metro Industrial Areas Foundation. Congregations could pay architects, planners, and zoning analysts to prepare quality development proposals for the city's review. Several churches are already moving forward with their predevelopment work.

We also have to offer detailed knowledge of the energy-efficiency enhancements that can reduce utility costs for future developments, including a relationship with one of the major recipients of a recent $6.97 billion Environmental Protection Agency grant to expedite the integration of green technologies into affordable housing and community facilities. We would seek to leverage some of this funding to create geothermal or thermal network systems on large sites such as the RFK Stadium site. We would also approach the funders to secure the $25,000 per unit subsidies available for the electrification of small buildings.

In other words, we have already set the stage for what we believe will be a robust next phase in producing and preserving high-quality housing affordable to D.C. residents.

But the city and other actors must shed many of their old habits to build this next generation of high-quality affordable housing. One bad practice was to make few demands on those wishing to build in the city. As a result, many builders padded their budgets, and groups that set themselves up as intermediaries doled out paltry “planning” grants and snapped up tax credit financing for rental development.

These practices helped create a cost-plus development culture that would make the Pentagon blush. They allowed nonprofit developers to build without meaningful cost controls, resulting in the production of fewer units and the rapid consumption of subsidies.

We are not saying that the current situation is easily remedied. We acknowledge that much of the pain is real, and the financial pressure many serious housing providers feel is intense. But we are saying that we can design a way out of the current crisis and build a brighter future for the region.

Joseph Daniels, Lionel Edmonds, Kendrick Curry and Kenneth Rioland, Washington

The writers are pastors and co-founders of D.C. Power.

7. Enough with ‘luxury’ features

Tamp down the luxury features and build practical, livable homes without features such as wine cellars. Include EV charging ports. Treat kitchens as rooms rather than focusing on “master” living suites that don’t give a sense of coziness.

Jennifer E. Roberts, Sterling

8. Time for new taxes

Add a special annual property tax assessment of 1 percent for any property sold for greater than three times the annual median income in the Zip code, with all proceeds earmarked for building affordable housing. Add a special annual property tax assessment of 1 percent for any property rented for more than three times the median monthly income within the Zip code, with a special reduction in property tax for properties tenants rate highly.

An additional property tax assessment should be considered for homes exceeding 2,500 square feet per every two occupants. A so-called mansion tax doesn’t stop the overconsumption of land but at least slows it down by making it more expensive. All money collected by the special assessment should fund low-income housing building projects, not subsidies to residents.

Tim Dibble, Arlington

9. Be honest about priorities

I wonder if The Post is asking the wrong question. Social problems require communal decisions, and it does no good for D.C., Maryland, and Virginia to compete separately for resources.

If the community wants more diversity in incomes for its inhabitants (a big “if”!), then the community must either provide potential buyers and renters with the resources to meet the market-clearing price or allow more construction of multifamily properties.

In my experience, planning for what comes after new housing construction has been poor and has resulted in overcrowded schools. The community needs to come together to decide what it wants and either build the infrastructure required to accommodate more construction (increase supply to lower the market-clearing price) or accept less income diversity among its inhabitants. Life consists of trade-offs.

Gregory Rosenberg, Bethesda

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