(Washington, DC) – Today, Mayor Muriel Bowser celebrated significant progress toward the District’s bold goal of creating 36,000 new homes, 12,000 of them affordable, by 2025. With 14,404 new housing units delivered since January 2019, the District has reached 40% of that goal. During that same period, 2,028 affordable units have also been delivered, which represents 17% progress toward the affordable housing goal.
“We know that it’s going to take all of us, working together, to achieve our goal of building 36,000 new homes by 2025,” said Mayor Bowser. “The investments we’ve made and continue to make are yielding results, bringing new housing to communities across the District and spurring economic opportunity for Washingtonians. 2021 will be continue to be a year of recovery, and housing will be a central part of our efforts to ensure inclusive prosperity across all eight wards.”
At the start of her second term, Mayor Bowser set the goal to deliver an additional 36,000 units of housing, including at least 12,000 units of affordable housing, by 2025. Mayor Bowser also signed a Mayor’s Order on housing, directing District agencies to identify new policies, tools, and initiatives to begin fulfilling that goal.
The Order focused on key areas such as:
- Increasing production and accelerating delivery of housing by analyzing housing trends, needs, capacity, and impediments to housing in order to identify housing targets and policies.
- Promoting fair housing by identifying ways to create an equitable distribution of affordable housing across Washington, DC.
- Creating homeownership opportunities.
- Directing all District agencies to support the goals of Homeward DC.
- Improving resident housing experience by directing Lab @ DC to create a unified “front door” for residents to access affordable housing opportunities and programs.
“We’ve come a long way toward meeting our citywide housing goals, despite the challenges we’ve faced during the District’s public health emergency,” said Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development John Falcicchio. “I want to thank our District Government and private sector partners for their work to push us closer to the finish line. The progress we’re making will allow us to provide more housing, including affordable and permanent supportive housing, that will continue to provide pathways to the middle class and change the trajectory for District residents for years to come.”
Mayor Bowser reaffirmed her commitment to investments in affordable housing with her Fiscal Year 2021 Budget, recognizing that both short- and long-term efforts must be ongoing to preserve housing affordability and stability for all District residents. The Mayor’s FY21 budget includes an investment of $100 million in the Housing Production Trust Fund – for the sixth consecutive year – and a $1 million investment in the Housing Preservation Fund. Once the District’s Comprehensive Plan is approved through the Council of the District of Columbia, even more housing units will be created in each of the District’s 10 planning areas. You can track the District’s progress toward #36000by2025 at open.dc.gov/36000by2025.