DC Mayor Bowser Commits $170M to 11 Affordable Housing Projects
By Keith Loria August 12, 2022 3:41 pm
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Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser, along with D.C.’s Department of Housing and Community Development, has committed more than $170 million to 11 affordable housing projects in the District, according to the Mayor’s office.
Combined with with the $135 million commitment announced in February that went to 10 projects, the financing marks the largest total commitment to affordable housing in a single fiscal year in D.C.’s history.
“The affordable housing decisions we make today will influence the affordability of the District for decades to come,” Mayor Bowser said in a prepared statement. “We are focused on doing what we need to do to keep more Washingtonians in D.C. — and part of that means making these historic investments in affordable housing.”
The 11 sites will receive Housing Production Trust Fund gap financing and a combination of local rent-supplement vouchers and low-income housing tax credits, which will create 955 new affordable housing units and preserve an additional 164, per a statement from the Mayor’s office.
Of those, more than 80 percent will be made available to households earning less than half of the Median Family Income (MFI), which equates to $71,150 a year for a family of four. “The remaining homes, including 11 of those available for purchase, will be available to households making less than 80 percent of MFI, or $113,850 for a family of four,” per the Mayor’s office statement.
Each of the projects is linked to a developer, who is considered the housing provider.
Ward 1 will see 109 new units in the Harvard Court Apartments thanks to housing provider The NHP Foundation.
In Ward 4, 35 new units, including eight designated as “deeply affordable,” will be available at 145 Kennedy Street, thanks to Legacy Real Estate Development and Phi Beta Sigma, a historically Black fraternity.
A joint venture between Jair Lynch and THC Affordable Housing is the housing provider for McMillan Senior Apartments in Ward 5. This project will offer 85 new units of affordable housing, including 24 units of deeply affordable housing.
There will be 69 new units at 1109 Congress Street in Ward 6, thanks to housing provider MacArthur Development Partners. Ward 6 will also see 110 new units at Parcel B in Buzzard’s Point thanks to Volunteers of America National Services and Hoffman & Associates.
In Ward 7, Deanwood Station will produce 15 affordable homeownership opportunities with Medici Road and James River Housing acting as housing providers; 950 Eastern Avenue NE will offer 56 units, with housing provider TM Associates and Kadida Development Group; and Benning Road Metro Affordable will produce 109 units, including 22 units of deeply affordable housing, with The NRP Group and Marshall Heights Community Development Corporation acting as housing providers.
The three properties in Ward 8 consist of 64 new units of new affordable housing and an additional 64 preserved at Ridgecrest Phase 2, thanks to The NHP Foundation; Belmont Phase 2, which will offer 124 new units of affordable housing while preserving another 100 existing units, with housing provider a collaboration between Gilbane Development Company, MED Developers, Housing Help Plus and EquityPlus Manager; and Congress Heights Metro Residential, which will offer 179 units of net new affordable housing including 10 units of deeply affordable housing with housing provider, NHT Communities.
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. So far, the mayor is just over a third of the way there, with 4,286 units built or preserved through July 2022 and more in the pipeline.
Update: This story originally misattributed source material. This has been corrected. We apologize for the error.
Keith Loria can be reached at Kloria@commercialobserver.com.
