**NOTE: Please note that the RFP application submission link is pending an update, and we will circulate a notice regarding when applications can be uploaded. In the meantime, please continue compiling your applications, and DHCD will circulate an update as to when the system is ready for application uploads.**
In 2019, in response to the population growth, an insufficient housing supply and structural racial disparities, Mayor Muriel Bowser outlined bold housing for the District to create 12,000 new affordable housing units and to preserve 6,000 existing affordable housing units by 2025. This became known as the Housing Framework for Equity and Growth. Since 2019, more than 9,800 units of affordable housing have been produced and counting. We expect to reach our goal of 12,000 by the end of 2025. There are 2,500 units currently under construction expected to deliver by the end of 2025, with an additional 1,200 new affordable units under construction and expected to deliver after the end of 2025.
Within this framework, Mayor Bowser’s administrations have invested more than $1.3 billion into the Housing Production Trust Fund which has led to 36,000 new units having been developed in the District of Columbia.
That stated, the requirements of this RFP are guided by the 2023 Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP) and current housing market indicators which dictate that District resources are needed to stabilize properties that have current investments from the government. There are approximately 22,000 units representing 48,000 residents that are at risk of foreclosure due to delinquency. We are seeing a crisis in our housing ecosystem where more than 80% of the properties are not receiving enough in rent collection to pay their mortgages or pay maintenance expenses. This puts the District of Columbia affordable housing market at serious risk, both for future investment and foreclosure of existing properties.
The funding resources governed by DHCD will be used to provide bridge, gap and support funding to multi-family projects that currently provide housing to families with income equal to or less than 80% of Median Family Income. These developments will need to demonstrate operating pressures due to unplanned vacancy, extraordinary increase in budgeted operating expenses post-construction and lease-up. Funding will also be used to support projects in the pre-development phase that have been selected to proceed by a District of Columbia government agency but have experienced unexpected delays in timing due to an inability to receive of construction or permanent financing (i.e tax-exempt bonds), resulting in unplanned carry costs, but remain committed to delivering projects.
With this RFP, it is an important to step to ensure existing affordable housing remains available in the District of Columbia, to ensure the investments made by the District are cost effective and sustainable and that the District of Columbia remains a city where affordable housing developers, lenders and investors want to participate.
Virtual Orientation Session: DHCD's Development Finance Division (DFD) held the 2024 Consolidated RFP for Affordable Housing Projects virtual orientation session on Monday, September 9, 2024 from 11:00 am - 1:00 pm. You can watch the recording of the 2024 Consolidated RFP Orientation Session, here is the link to the 2024 Consolidated RFP Virtual Orientation Session Recording.
CONTACT US
While the Request for Proposals application window is open, all questions must be submitted through the “Q&A” section of the Online Application System. All questions and Department responses pertaining to the RFP will be posted at this site, for all potential applicants to see. All registered applicants will receive a notification via email informing them that a new question and answer have been submitted to the forum. Any updates from DHCD also will be communicated in this manner. Should you need to reach the Department through another means, contact us at:
Mailing Address:
Development Finance Division
DC Department of Housing and Community Development
1909 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE, 2nd Floor
Washington DC 20020
Email address: [email protected]
Phone: (202) 442-7200
