Washington, DC

(Washington, DC) – Today, Mayor Muriel Bowser announced that her supplemental budget for Fiscal Year 2021 (FY 21) will add $150 million to the Housing Production Trust Fund and her proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2022 (FY 22) will feature a record-setting $250 million investment in the Housing Production Trust Fund (HPTF) for a total one-time investment of $400 million. With this $400 million investment, Mayor Bowser has crested $1 billion into the HPTF in her time as mayor. The financial plan will also feature Local Rent Supplement Program (LRSP) funding to better target funds to deeply affordable units at or below 30% of the Median Family Income (MFI), or about $38,700 for a family of four. Together, these investments will deliver an 2,700 units of affordable housing over the next two to three years, with up to 1,100 of those units deeply affordable.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has shown how fragile our housing ecosystem is and how much our residents depend on us to add more safe and stable affordable housing,” said Mayor Bowser. “With today’s announcement, we are doubling down on six years of work to preserve and create affordable housing and expediting progress toward our 12,000 affordable housing unit goal. Our residents cannot wait for housing affordability so we are pushing forward right now.”

Mayor Bowser’s commitment to affordable housing has persisted annually with at least $100 million in Housing Production Trust Funds in every budget since 2015. The HPTF and LRSP work in tandem. Project-based LRSP vouchers are attached to specific housing units to provide rental subsidy for qualifying tenants with extremely low incomes. LRSP ensures families with the most need can afford rent in properties like those constructed by HPTF. FY 22 funds will be made available in an upcoming RFP where affordable housing providers will be able to apply for HPTF, LRSP, and other funding to build affordable housing across the District, just like Spring Flats.

“The Housing Production Trust Fund has proved to be our highest impact affordable housing tool, successfully impacting more than 10,000 homes since 2015,” said Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development John Falcicchio. “With this investment and hard work by our housing partners, our ambitious goal to equitably distribute affordable housing across the city is getting closer to fruition than ever before”.

The immediate funding will invest $92.4 million to support eight additional affordable housing projects that will produce 462 net new affordable units and preserve another 175 affordable units, impacting a total of 637 affordable units. These projects will join nine projects selected this past March in the underwriting stage of the development process. These new projects in the affordable housing pipeline include:

• 1 Hawaii Avenue NE (Ward 5) – This project will produce 70 net new units of affordable housing at a range of income levels including. Housing Provider: Wesley Housing Development Corporation.
• 3450 Eads St. NE (Ward 7) – This project will produce 49 net new units of affordable housing at a range of income levels. Housing Provider: Neighborhood Development Company.
• Alabama Avenue Apartments (Ward 8) – This project will produce 86 net new units of affordable housing at or below 60% Median Family Income. Housing Provider: Durrani Development Corporation.
• H.R. Crawford Gardens (Ward 7) – This Project will produce 76 net new units of affordable housing at or below 50% Median Family Income. Housing Provider: Manna, Inc.
• Ridgecrest Village Apartments - Ph 1 (Ward 8) – This project will preserve 68 units of affordable housing and produce 57 net new units of affordable housing at a range of income levels with a focus at or below 60% Median Family Income. Housing Provider: NHP Foundation
• Small Rental Preservation Project - Phase II (Ward 4) – This project will preserve 44 units of affordable housing at a range of income levels. Housing Provider. Mi Casa.
• Southern Hills Apartments Phase 1 (Ward 8) – This Project will preserve 63 units of affordable housing while producing 18 net new units of affordable housing. Housing Provider: Winn Development.
• The Flats at South Capitol (Ward 8) – This Project will produce 106 net new units of affordable housing at or below 60% Median Family Income. Housing Provider: Kaye Stern Properties.

Mayor Bowser, DMPED, and DHCD also celebrated an exciting construction milestone for the 185-unit affordable housing community Spring Flats in Ward 4 and announced the selection of 8 additional affordable housing projects, bringing over 600 units into the DHCD pipeline.

“We can immediately tap all of the previously unfunded projects to produce or preserve affordable housing and begin to make room for more” said Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) Director Polly Donaldson. “This investment signals to our partners, we’re ready and committed to seeing affordable housing projects in all ten planning areas of the city, and I can’t wait to see what the development community puts forward”.

At the start of her second term, Mayor Bowser set a bold goal to deliver an additional 36,000 units of housing – including at least 12,000 units of affordable housing – by 2025. By further equitably distributing these goals across the District's ten planning areas, Mayor Bowser made DC the first jurisdiction in the nation to create affordable housing goals by neighborhood. From January 2019 through April 2021, the District has produced 16,271 net new units, of which 2,558 are affordable. You can track the District’s progress toward #36000by2025 at open.dc.gov/36000by2025.