(Washington, DC) – Today, Mayor Muriel Bowser announced the first major investment in preserving affordable housing for District residents from her newly-created, public-private Preservation Fund. LISC-DC, one of two District-approved managers of disbursements, will draw $11 million from the $40 million fund to assist with acquisition and predevelopment financing, preserving over 80 units of affordable housing in amenity-rich neighborhoods in Wards 1 and 4.
Preservation Fund dollars are helping tenants who invoked their rights under the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) to acquire three poorly-maintained properties with the goal of renovating them into safe and affordable housing.
“Just as the creation of affordable housing is critical to the future of our city, so is the preservation of existing units,” said Mayor Bowser. “That is why our Preservation Fund is pivotal in helping us retain affordable housing across the District, allowing us to move preservation projects along more quickly and leverage private investments in order to maximize our resources and reach more Washingtonians.”
In 2016, the Mayor’s Housing Preservation Strike Force recommended the creation of an Affordable Housing Preservation Fund, located within the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), to increase the preservation of affordable housing in the District. As a result, Mayor Bowser provided $10 million in seed money, which in combination with other private and philanthropic investments has grown the fund to approximately $40 million. These monies will help quickly provide short-term bridge acquisition and predevelopment financing to eligible borrowers. LISC-DC and Capital Impact Partners (CIP) are the fund managers and LISC-DC closed on the three projects announced today; in early 2019, CIP is expected to close on nearly $20 million in financing for three properties representing over 850 units in Ward 8.
“As promised, the fund managers are helping tenants and developers move quickly to acquire properties that we want to preserve as affordable housing,” said DHCD Director Polly Donaldson. “This is just the tip of the iceberg; by the Spring of 2019, the total number of deals from LISC-DC and CIP will represent almost $31 million in financing that will provide more housing security for over 2,000 District residents.”
The properties receiving $10.7 million in Preservation Fund monies from LISC-DC are as follows:
- 1460 Euclid Street NW Over $1.7 million in acquisition financing to Jubilee Housing for the purchase of a 30-unit building in the Columbia Heights neighborhood of Ward 1.
- 410 Cedar Street NW Joseph Development, Inc. (JDI) is receiving $5.70 million in acquisition and predevelopment financing for a 30-unit, three-building apartment complex — consisting of large one and two bedrooms — in the Takoma neighborhood of Ward 4.
- 5912 14th Street NW The 5912 Missouri Tenants Association is receiving $3.38 million in acquisition financing for their 22-unit building in the Brightwood Park neighborhood of Ward 4.
The creation and preservation of affordable housing remains a top priority for the Bowser Administration. On October 1, 2018, Mayor Bowser celebrated a record annual investment in affordable housing—in Fiscal Year 2018, her Administration was able to commit $167.6 million from the Housing Production Trust Fund (HPTF) to projects that will create or preserve affordable housing. For three straight years, the Mayor has consistently exceeded her annual commitment of $100 million to the HPTF, increasing investments from $58.6 million in FY15 to $106.89 million in FY16 to $138.59 million in FY17 to $167.6 million in FY18. This funding provides gap financing for projects affordable to low and moderate income households. As a result, the Bowser Administration has been able to use multiple programs and tools to deliver 6,000 units of affordable housing, with an additional 5,200 under construction.