housing

THE PROBLEM

Thousands of District of Columbia residents struggle to keep a roof over their heads. Consider these facts:

• 26,000 DC households are currently on a waiting list for affordable housing in the District.
• Approximately 40 percent of DC households (about 100,000) have affordable housing problems, meaning they spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing. Approximately 20 percent of DC households (about 50,000) have severe housing affordability problems, meaning they spend half or more of their income on housing alone. ³
• From 2000-2007, median monthly rents increased by 23 percent, reaching $930 in 2007. Meanwhile, median income grew just 10 percent — to $54,300 — over the same time period.⁴
• The number of homeless families in DC grew by 25 percent between 2008 and 2009.⁵

WHAT IS BEING DONE NOW

The District provides affordable housing through a number of programs. These include the Housing Production Trust Fund, the District’s main source for affordable housing construction and rehabilitation dollars; the Local Rent Supplement Program, which provides rent subsidies to DC residents with very low-incomes; the Home Purchase Assistance Program, which offers no-interest loans to low-income first time homebuyers; and Permanent Supportive Housing, a program that provides housing to chronically homeless individuals and families.

For most of this decade, public investment in affordable housing grew significantly from $7 million in 2000 to $123 million in 2008. These strong public investments led to the construction and rehabilitation of thousands of units of affordable housing and distribution of thousands of vouchers to help low-income DC families secure affordable homes. However, the housing market collapse combined with the economic downturn has seriously crippled public funding for affordable housing. In FY 2010, funding for affordable housing was cut nearly in half to $64 million. The result is that very few new affordable housing units are being created at a time when growing numbers of District residents are struggling to pay their rents or mortgages.

LEARN MORE

• Nowhere to Go: As DC Housing Costs Rise, Residents Are Left With Fewer Affordable Housing Options, DC Fiscal Policy Institute, February 2010.
• Affordable Housing in the District Depends on a Stable Housing Production Trust Fund, Coalition for Nonprofit Housing and Economic Development and DC Fiscal Policy Institute, October 2008.
• Property Tax Relief for DC’s Low-Income Residents: Improvements Needed in DC’s “Schedule H” Credit, DC Fiscal Policy Institute, April 2008.
• Ward 8 Comprehensive Housing Analysis, Washington, DC, Bay Area Economics and Coalition for Nonprofit Housing and Economic Development, February 2008.
• The District’s Housing Production Trust Fund Has Developed Thousands of Affordable Units Since FY 2001, Coalition for Nonprofit Housing and Economic Development and DC Fiscal Policy Institute, April 2007.
• Homes for an Inclusive City: A Comprehensive Housing Strategy for Washington, D.C., District of Columbia Comprehensive Housing Strategy Task Force, April 2006.

[3] DC Fiscal Policy Institute, “Nowhere to Go: As DC Housing Costs Rise, Residents Are Left with Fewer Affordable Housing Options,” February 2010, available at: http://dcfpi.org/nowhere-to-go-as-dc-housing-costs-rise-residents-are-left-with-fewer-affordable-housing-options

[4] DCFPI, February 2010.

[5] The Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness, http://www.community-partnership.org/cp_dr-Fastf.php

Poverty Impacts Us All.