The D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development has closed several loans from the Oramenta Newsome Predevelopment Loan Program, which offers nonprofit developers and housing cooperatives access to capital for predevelopment costs, for three affordable housing projects in Wards 5, 7, and 8.

The loan program, named in honor of Oramenta Newsome, a key D.C. housing advocate who died in February 2018, was established by Mayor Muriel Bowser with $1 million in funding from the Housing Production Trust Fund and $1 million from D.C. Housing Finance Agency.