Wealthy new DC residents blame rich newcomers for housing cost hike: poll

Washington

A SURPRISING constituency agrees with critics of Washington's gentrification that wealthy newcomers are driving housing prices through the roof: wealthy newcomers.

A new Washington Post poll finds 78 per cent of people who moved to DC in the past 15 years with incomes of at least US$150,000 per year say that new high-income residents are a major reason for the shortage of affordable housing in the city.

Concern is widespread across racial and income groups, as well as those who have both lost and benefited amid the city's rapid development in the past few decades.

Nearly one in five DC residents named …