Local funding for affordable housing will increase modestly under the proposed fiscal year (FY) 2019 budget, adding to the District’s substantial commitment to housing in recent years. Yet most of DC’s housing investments proposed for FY 2019 will not help the city’s lowest-income residents. Total local funding for affordable housing will be $217.4 million, an $8.4 million or 4.0 percent increase from last year after adjusting for inflation. While these resources are significant, the budget does not make much progress in expanding assistance to DC’s extremely low-income families, who face the most severe affordable housing challenges. The budget adds some new rental assistance for formerly homeless residents, but does not provide any new rent vouchers for families on the DC Housing Authority waiting list. The budget does not add any operating subsidies for affordable units developed through the Housing Production Trust Fund. Because Trust Fund units typically require ongoing operating assistance to be made affordable to the lowest-income residents, it is unclear how the District will reverse its poor track record of fulfilling the statutory requirement that 40 percent of Trust Fund resources support housing affordable to extremely low-income residents. The proposed FY 2019 budget provides $100 million for the Housing Production Trust Fund (Figure 2, pg. 2). The Trust Fund, DC’s main affordable housing tool, provides low- and no interest loans to housing developers to help build or renovate affordable housing.
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Edited By | Tabassum Rahmani |