Originally delivered on March 30, 2026
Chairman White and members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify. My name is Mychal Cohen, and I am a Senior Policy Analyst at the DC Fiscal Policy Institute (DCFPI). DCFPI is a non-profit organization that shapes racially-just tax, budget, and policy decisions by centering Black and brown communities in our research and analysis, community partnerships, and advocacy efforts to advance an antiracist, equitable future.
I am testifying today in support of the “Housing Production Omnibus Amendment Act of 2026” (“Production Omnibus”). The bill would create the Housing Opportunity Fund (HOF) as a replacement for the Housing Production Trust Fund (HPTF). The HOF will feature five distinct sub-accounts, each dedicated to a stated affordable housing goal:
- Housing Production Account: To attract and leverage investment to build new housing
- Affordable Housing Subsidy Account: To finance and support operations of deeply affordable units and Permanent Supportive Housing
- Preservation Account: To preserve and expand the existing stock of affordable housing
- Tenant Purchase Support Account: To help tenants purchase and preserve their buildings under the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act
- District Acquisition Account: To enable strategic use of public land for housing development[1]
The HPTF has been an iconic and transformational tool for the creation of affordable housing. However, current affordable housing crises call for updating and modernizing this tool to ensure that the District meets its affordable housing goals. The Production Omnibus includes tools for investing in deeply affordable housing, setting aside dedicated funds for key goals such as preservation and tenant purchase, and creating a framework for the District to explore the innovative tool of social housing.
My testimony will make the case for preservation as a key affordable housing strategy, explain why the HOF is a boost to preservation efforts, emphasize the importance of investing in deeply affordable housing, and offer evidence in support of the Production Omnibus’ provisions supporting community and public ownership of affordable buildings. I will also offer recommendations to strengthen the potential impact of the bill.
The District Needs to Preserve its Affordable Housing; the Production Omnibus Will Make it Easier
DCFPI has long called for a preservation set-aside within the HPTF that would prioritize affordable housing preservation as a cost-efficient and effective tool to fight displacement.[2][3]The Production Omnibus would create a sub-account for preservation, creating predictable and stable funding for affordable housing preservation. Preservation protects the District’s previous investments in affordable housing, is generally less expensive than new production, and helps prevent displacement.[4] In fiscal year (FY) 2026, DC Council set aside a one-time allocation of $30 million for preservation in the HPTF.[5] This is a significant boost to preservation in the District, but its one-time nature means that developers will not be able to count on that level of funding in the future. Predictability in preservation funding allows affordable housing developers to better plan their projects in the long run.
The sub-account would also create a natural pipeline for the District’s other key preservation funding, the Housing Preservation Fund (HPF). The HPF is a revolving loan fund for bridge (i.e. shorter-term) financing of affordable housing. Ideally, projects receive initial short-term financing from the HPF for site acquisition, pre-development, or other early costs, then transition to longer-term financing. This longer-term financing is usually a combination of public sources such as the HPTF and Low-Income Housing Tax Credit and private loans. This allows them to pay off their initial HPF loans, allowing those HPF funds to support the next project in the pipeline.
Recently, developers that have received HPF financing have struggled to secure longer-term financing. The Production Omnibus includes a priority for projects that received bridge financing from the HPF. Prioritizing these projects ensures the HPF remains a viable pipeline for preservation projects, keeps these projects out of untenable financial situations, and helps improve living conditions throughout the District.
The Production Omnibus makes improvements related to preservation but retains the HPTF minimum affordability period of 40 years. The Council could improve preservation efforts by requiring a longer affordability period. While projects would still need additional investment over time to retain affordability, creating longer covenants helps prevent units from losing their affordability restrictions and becoming more expensive in the future.
The Production Omnibus Creates Pathways for Deeply Affordable Housing
DC has historically struggled to build housing affordable to households making under 30 percent of area median income (AMI), which is $49,150 for a family of four.[6] The HPTF currently requires that 50 percent of funds be dedicated to these deeply affordable units, but the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) has often failed to meet this requirement.[7]
This failure is due in part to the depth of subsidy needed to maintain these units, as the rents returned are low enough that they must either be offset by market rate units in a mixed-income building or supported with ongoing operating funds from project based vouchers (such as the Local Rent Supplement Program).[8] The HOF would create several mechanisms that will lead to more of these deeply affordable units. The Affordable Housing Subsidy sub-account would allow the fund to essentially “buy down” affordability in existing units. For instance, a building with units affordable at 60 percent AMI could apply for preservation funding to make those units affordable to households at 30 percent AMI. This flexibility to combine HOF funds with other subsidies would expand the financial tools available to affordable housing developers seeking to make their units deeply affordable.
Creating these deeply affordable units is one of the most significant housing issues facing DC. Renters in DC are increasingly burdened by the high cost of living.[9] Households living at lower income levels feel this burden deeply: 69 percent of DC renters making less than 30 percent of the area median income are paying 50 percent or more of their income in rent (this is considered extreme rent burden).[10] This leaves households making impossible choices between rent and feeding their family or rent and needed health expenses.[11]
Recently, Mayor Bowser’s administration and DC Council have targeted these same households with a series of attacks on renter protections. Under the guise of tackling a crisis of unpaid rents, they have significantly cut funding for the Emergency Rental Assistance Program, made that assistance much more difficult to obtain, rolled back eviction protections, and significantly sped up eviction timelines for non-payment of rent. The HOF’s Affordable Housing Subsidy sub-account is a more effective way of ensuring that households with extremely low incomes are able to afford their homes, pay their rent, and provide stable homes for their families.
The bill should include additional supports and protections for households with extremely low incomes. For example, the bill defines when HOF funds can be used to provide financial relief to affordable housing developers with properties facing severe financial stress (often referred to as stabilization). The bill should include protections for renters at stabilized properties, requiring that the owner of a stabilized property erase a certain amount of rental arrears for their tenants, and enter into a mediated payment plan for remaining unpaid rent.
The HOF Would Pave the Way for Publicly Owned Land and Affordable Housing
At several points in the District’s history, waves of land speculation and resulting gentrification have displaced long-term residents.[12] One of the most underused means of ensuring displacement does not occur as land value rises (along with resulting increases in rents and home prices) is for the District to take land out of the speculative market and create permanently affordable housing. The Production Omnibus creates a District Acquisition sub-account, which the District could use to acquire land for the purpose of preservation and creation of affordable housing.
This sub-account would create a funding source for the District Opportunity to Purchase Act (DOPA), which has never been used, but could be a significant preservation tool. DOPA allows the District to purchase a for-sale affordable building, similarly to how the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) works for tenants. This would allow the District to preserve buildings as affordable, even if the tenants are unable to exercise their TOPA rights.
The Production Omnibus includes additional tools for innovative strategies to create and preserve affordable housing that would be publicly owned. The bill creates the Land Purchase Partnership Program, which would allow the District to purchase land that is currently or has planned affordable housing. DC would own the underlying land while the partner develops and operates affordable housing on that land and enter into a 40-year covenant for affordable units. The Council should consider requiring a 99-year renewable ground lease, a common tool used in community land trusts.[13] This would allow the District to ensure that the property remained affordable into perpetuity.
