(Washington, DC) – Today, Mayor Muriel Bowser celebrated the grand opening of Archer Park, a 190-unit affordable housing development located in the Congress Heights neighborhood of Ward 8. The opening of this marquee affordable housing project comes just days after Mayor Bowser hosted a press conference with regional leaders to discuss concerns around the federal tax reform bills. Currently, the House tax reform bill, H.R.1, includes provisions that would eliminate the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, private activity bonds, the New Markets Tax Credit, and the historic rehabilitation credit. If passed, H.R.1 will have a devastating effect on important infrastructure and economic development projects in Washington, DC.
“Under the current House tax reform bill, affordable housing projects like Archer Park would not be possible,” said Mayor Bowser. “It is unconscionable for any member of Congress to consider passing a tax reform bill that makes it more difficult for Americans to access affordable housing and a pathway to the middle class. I encourage every representative who is considering voting in favor of H.R.1 to come visit Archer Park and meet the families and individuals who are making a better life for themselves here; then, they can see firsthand the devastating effects H.R.1 will have on Americans across our country.”
Archer Park features 182 affordable rental units for households at or below 60 percent of the area median income (AMI) as well as eight units of permanent supportive housing for individuals and families experiencing homelessness and at or below 30 percent AMI. The development also includes a fitness center, a business center, community rooms, green solar roofing, energy efficient lighting, appliances, and plumbing fixtures, and over 80 bicycle parking spaces. Archer Park is part of a larger eight-acre mixed-income community that includes Brownstein Commons and 70 single-family townhomes that will provide market-rate housing.
The DC Government provided gap financing for Archer Park using $7.2 million from the Housing Production Trust Fund, $400,000 from the DC Department of Behavioral Health, and $19 million in equity from low-income housing tax credits through the DC Housing Finance Agency.
Since coming into office, the Bowser Administration has sparked the creation or preservation of more than 9,600 affordable units, with another 3,300 units in preconstruction. In Fiscal Year 2017, the District made historic investments in affordable housing, getting more than $138 million in Housing Production Trust Fund financing out the door to support 23 projects that will produce or preserve more than 1,900 affordable units. In September, the District was recognized for its multi-pronged approach to housing production and preservation, homeownership, and development of vacant properties when it was selected for the Urban Land Institute’s Larson Housing Policy Leadership Award.