Nate's Platform - Nate Ward 8

Nate wants to break the tethers of DC government entitlement programs that contribute to an environment of generational poverty and broken families. These policies are not inherently punitive, many of them merely attempt to stop the subsidization of individuals who are not law-abiding.

Americans First: No subsidies or benefits to non-US citizens.

Environmental Justice: Apply resources to discover who exactly is trashing up our neighborhoods. Then stop subsidizing their lifestyle, charge heavy fines and, for a full month, maintaining a clean neighborhood for the area they trashed.

Not Subsidizing Health Disparities: SNAP/EBT cannot be used to buy soda, chips, or anything else that rots teeth and is connected to diabetes. Fight the sugar lobby.

Free Housing (regulatorily): Housing affordability is a problem, and the cause is housing policy, not developers. Structural reasons for this include the 8,000+ federal units that are mismanaged by DCHA. In addition to holding these thousands of units off the market, the supply is further restricted by inclusionary zoning, rent control, the Housing Production Trust Fund, and other restrictions. With fewer properties available to the public, this artificially shortage causes prices to rise. Additionally, many programs give limited amounts of money to specific individuals, which artificially increases demand, like the Home Purchase Assistance Program. DC Tenet law also increases the costs to landlords by protecting belligerent tenets who won’t pay up, which is a cost passed to present and future tenets. The worst part about public housing is that that generations of DC families perpetually live in poor conditions that support gang activity.

Close DC Housing Authority. Allow all housing units to go to auction individually, and then allow the current residents to buy their unit with a 30% discount from the final auction price. Final transaction occurs in 24 months, which is enough time to for residents to financially prepare for a mortgage.

Defund unequitable home buying programs. I don’t event know what unequitable means, but I know it’s not fair to offer assistance to whomever gets to the first-time homebuyer money first.

End Over-Licensure: No more barber license needed in order to get paid cutting hair. I think it took 1,500 to get a master barber’s license, but that seems unnecessary.

Cut Spending: DC’s population has decreased below 700,000, but the District operating budget has continued to grow. This has resulted in the tax base to have increased property taxes. Programs that are ineffective and only support special interests need to stop and the council and mayor should apologize.

Banish the following: The Mayor’s office on (insert special interest group here) affairs, any mayoral spending where she puts her name on free t-shirts, Violence Interrupters (RIP Davon McNeal), DCHA, Clean Team, local SNAP funding (sorry Rap Snacks), Safe Passage, funding for any local arts, more to follow….

Eliminate dumb permits: They stifle progress. Especially the $300+ traffic control plans for residential projects.

Eliminate the 5 cent plastic bag tax: It’s painful to the customer and small businesses.

Actually conduct oversight: Make WMATA enforce fare evasions, make DPW go after the illegal poster creators, review the complaint process inside the DC Jail, and help MPD solve Seth Rich’s unsolved murder.

Solving Truancy through withheld benefits: If the child doesn’t go to school, the household doesn’t get public assistance for housing, food, or other benefits after 5* infractions (*number subject to change via legislative process). It’s either tough love now, or a tougher life later. Many people call this ‘punishment’, I call it ‘withholding rewards’.

About Nate

Nate moved to Historic Anacostia in 2015, and bought his home in Fairlawn in 2017. He works a full-time job, and also volunteers at local non-profits that include the House DC and the DC Dream Center. He has previously worked in the United States Senate (Sen. Fischer). He lives with his wife, daughter, and fake poodle named Peaches. He’s not a bribe-taker.