DC selects 11 projects for $170-million Housing Production Trust Fund allocations

The DC Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) and Mayor Muriel Bowser say 11 affordable housing projects have been selected from the General Evaluation Round of the 2021 Consolidated Request for Proposals (RFP) for Affordable Housing Projects.

These projects will now enter the underwriting pipeline at DHCD following 10 projects selected in February 2022 from the Priority Evaluation Round, the mayor said in an Aug. 11 statement. The February selections included more than $135.5 million in Housing Production Trust Fund (HPTF) investments, including the first-ever project in Ward 3. Together, the two selections this year account for over $300 million in HPTF. These selections overall use $445 million in funding, the statement says.

“The affordable housing decisions we make today will influence the affordability of the District for decades to come,” Bowser said in the statement. “We are focused on doing what we need to do to keep more Washingtonians in DC – and part of that means making these historic investments in affordable housing. But in addition to making the investments, we also have to get the money out the door and into quality projects, and that’s what we’re doing at these 11 sites.”

The selected projects requested more than $170 million in Housing Production Trust Fund gap financing in addition to a mix of Local Rent Supplement Vouchers and Low-Income Housing Tax Credits to produce 955 net new affordable homes while preserving another 164 homes. More than 80 percent of the affordable homes produced will be available to households making less than 50 percent of the Median Family Income (MFI) or $71,150 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 MFI or $113,850 for a family of four.

These new projects will now move into DHCD’s affordable housing underwriting pipeline and include:

1. Harvard Court Apartments (Ward 1) – This project will produce 109 net new units of affordable housing including 22 units of deeply affordable housing designated for permanent supportive housing.  Housing Provider: The NHP Foundation.
2. 145 Kennedy Street (Ward 4) – This project will produce 35 net new units of affordable housing including 8 units of deeply affordable housing designated for permanent supportive housing. Housing Provider: Phi Beta Sigma and Legacy Real Estate Development LLC.
3. McMillan Senior Apartments (Ward 5) – This project will produce 85 units of net new affordable housing including 24 units of deeply affordable housing designated for permanent supportive housing. Housing Provider: Jair Lynch and THC Affordable Housing Inc.
4. 1109 Congress Street (Ward 6) – This project will produce 69 net new units of affordable housing of which all will be deeply affordable housing designated for permanent supportive housing. Housing Provider: MacArthur Development Partners LLC.
5. Parcel B Buzzard’s Point Senior (Ward 6) – This project will produce 110 net new units of affordable housing with a majority targeting the District’s lowest income households.  Housing Provider: Volunteers of America National Services and Hoffman & Associates.
6. Deanwood Station (Ward 7) – This project will produce 15 affordable homeownership opportunities.  Housing Provider: Medici Road and James River Housing.
7. 950 Eastern Avenue NE (Ward 7) – This project will produce 56 net new units of affordable housing including 13 units of deeply affordable housing designated for permanent supportive housing.  Housing Provider: TM Associates Development Inc. and Kadida Development Group LLC.
8. Benning Road Metro Affordable (Ward 7) – This project will produce 109 units of net new affordable housing including 22 units of deeply affordable housing designated for PSH.  Housing Provider: The NRP Group and Marshall Heights Community Development Corporation.
9. Ridgecrest Phase 2 (Ward 8) – This project will produce 64 net new units of affordable housing while preserving another 64 units of existing affordable housing.  Housing Provider: The NHP Foundation.
10. Belmont Phase 2 (Ward 8) – This project will produce 124 net new units of affordable housing while preserving another 100 units of existing affordable housing.  Housing Provider: Gilbane Development Company, MED Developers, Housing HelpPlus, and EquityPlus Manager.
11. Congress Heights Metro Residential (Ward 8) – This project will produce 179 units of net new affordable housing including 10 units of deeply affordable housing designated for permanent supportive housing. Housing Provider: NHT Communities.

The funding includes Deanwood Station, a project that will deliver affordable homeownership opportunities. In June 2022, Mayor Bowser launched the Black Homeownership Strike Force to provide recommendations for use of a $10 million Black Homeownership Fund and the creation of a goal for increasing Black homeowners in DC by 2030. The Strike Force report on the recommendations is due to the Mayor on Sept. 30 and will inform future action by the administration on Black homeownership.