Creating an environment of growth and opportunity in the District
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Creating an environment of growth and opportunity in the District
Yesim Sayin is the Executive Director of the D.C. Policy Center. She submitted testimony to the DC Council Committee of the Whole on the proposed Fiscal Year 2026 budget. Her testimony previews findings from an upcoming report on resident and business demand for the District of Columbia. The report will be published in the coming weeks. She offers four broad strategies to implement this vision: Unlock housing and service capacity by modernizing zoning, streamlining permitting, and reviewing regulations that increase cost and complexity. Tie economic incentives to partnerships with job training programs rather than rigid local hiring mandates. Taper CBE eligibility over time to encourage broader market competition and reduce reliance on city contracts. Make Job Activity Growth a Central Goal: Given our economic distress, we should target our tax incentives to high-multiplier, export-based firms that would buy in D.D. and sell elsewhere. Create clear, reliable processes that reduce friction for doing business. Use Acquisition Strategically: Attract firms and talent when gaps cannot be filled through organic means.
Good morning, Chairman Mendelson and members of the Council. Thank you for the opportunity to testify. My name is Yesim Sayin and I am the Executive Director of the D.C. Policy Center, an independent nonpartisan think tank advancing policies for a growing, vibrant, and compelling District of Columbia.
My remarks today are grounded in a review of revealed preferences—where people live, where businesses choose to locate, where jobs are created, and where capital flows—to assess the District’s post-pandemic competitiveness and attractiveness. The D.C. Policy Center is about to publish a report on this topic and the evidence shows that demand for D.C. is weakening across multiple dimensions, and that the city must embrace structural reform if it is to remain economically robust in a changed landscape.
The Problem: Declining Demand and Structural Headwinds
The District’s growth has slowed down. Resident population growth has been driven almost entirely by international migration—which is at risk of being cut off by federal action. Private sector job creation has stalled and the public sector is losing jobs. Since the pandemic, more of the region’s workforce is locating and working outside of D.C. Business interest has waned in recent years. Investors are cautious. The traditional engines of economic expansion—federal government presence and centralized office demand—no longer provide the momentum they once did.
Put plainly: growth-by-acquisition, the model that drove D.C.’s last two decades of economic expansion, is less of a sure thing and can no longer be taken for granted. The combination of remote work, federal spending realignment, and increased regional competition requires a fundamentally new approach.
The Response: A Shift to Abundance and Organic Growth
The District must adopt an abundance agenda centered on supply expansion, reduced policy friction, and organic economic development. Rather than attempting to predict or subsidize the next growth sector, the city should focus on building a policy environment that maximizes the chance that growth can take root naturally. To implement this vision, we offer four broad strategies:
Create Abundance Through Supply Expansion: Unlock housing and service capacity by modernizing zoning, streamlining permitting, and reviewing regulations that increase cost and complexity. Make Job Activity Growth a Central Goal: Incentives matter more now for D.C. given our economic distress. However, rather than focusing on sectors of promise, we should target our tax incentives to high-multiplier, export-based firms that would buy in D.C. and sell elsewhere. Adopt Competitiveness as a Core Policy Lens: Require economic impact analysis for regulatory and tax changes. Create clear, reliable processes that reduce friction for doing business. Use Acquisition Strategically: Attract firms and talent when gaps cannot be filled through organic means.
Policy Priorities
To operationalize this approach, we recommend the following actions:
Housing Abundance: Legalize multifamily development in more of the city, streamline the Planned Unit Development process, and modernize TOPA to reduce uncertainty while preserving tenant protections.
Legalize multifamily development in more of the city, streamline the Planned Unit Development process, and modernize TOPA to reduce uncertainty while preserving tenant protections. Workforce Alignment: Tie economic incentives to partnerships with job training programs rather than rigid local hiring mandates.
Tie economic incentives to partnerships with job training programs rather than rigid local hiring mandates. CBE Program Reform: Taper CBE eligibility over time to encourage broader market competition and reduce reliance on city contracts.
Taper CBE eligibility over time to encourage broader market competition and reduce reliance on city contracts. Competitiveness Governance: Establish a D.C. Competitiveness Council to track implementation and progress and create a public-facing dashboard of performance metrics.
Final Thoughts
The question we must ask ourselves is not just whether people and businesses are still choosing D.C., but whether we are giving them compelling reasons to stay and grow here. If we get serious about abundance—about building capacity, streamlining systems, and supporting innovation—we can reclaim our status as a top-tier destination for talent, investment, and inclusive prosperity.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify. I welcome your questions.
Source: https://www.dcpolicycenter.org/publications/growth-and-opportunity-in-the-district/