On April 9, 2026, Wilkes Initiative Director Emilia Calma was quoted in The 51st:
“The candidates are going for supply-heavy responses. I think that’s a good thing because research has shown time and time again that cities have built more housing saw lower rent growth,” says Emilia Calma, the director of the Wilkes Initiative for Housing Policy at the D.C. Policy Center, a local think tank. “But I don’t think the candidates’ goals are necessarily reachable, just because [construction] permits have basically plummeted in the last two years.”
Read more: In D.C.’s mayoral race, everyone wants more housing
Additional reading: Reducing regulatory barriers to housing production in the District of Columbia