(WASHINGTON, DC) – DC Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) Director Polly Donaldson has issued the agency’s second funding notice and request for proposals (RFP) in calendar year 2017 for projects that will produce and preserve affordable housing for District residents.
DHCD has partnered with the DC Department of Behavioral Health (DBH), the DC Housing Authority (DCHA), and the DC Department of Human Services (DHS) in issuing the new RFP. The application deadline is February 14, 2018.
The Fall 2017 RFP comes just eight months after the release of the agency’s Spring 2017 RFP. As with the earlier RFP, the new RFP will prioritize preservation and production projects that will primarily serve households earning below 30 percent of the Median Family Income (MFI, $33,090 in 2017) or between 31 percent-50 percent of MFI ($34,193 to $55,150 in 2017). Projects that include Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) units will be given great consideration.
The Fall 2017 RFP does have a few distinctions, including:
- An estimated $5.4 million in funding is available from the new federal National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF) that must be used to construct new affordable units for households earning below 30 percent of MFI. The NHTF is a resource of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
- Approximately $7 million in 9% Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTCs) are made available by DHCD, in addition to the 4% LIHTCs available from the DC Housing Finance Agency (DCHFA) outside of the RFP process. LIHTC is a program of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Other funding sources available through this RFP include:
- Local funding sources: the District’s Housing Production Trust Fund (HPTF), DCHA’s Local Rent Supplement Program (LRSP), and funds for PSH from DBH and DHS.
- Federal funding sources: HUD’s HOME Investment Partnerships (HOME) Program, Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), and Annual Contributions Contract Program (ACC) Program.
DHCD will host an RFP Orientation session at 10 a.m., Wednesday, December 13, 2017, at its Housing Resource Center, 1800 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE. The session will highlight new and notable features of the RFP and will be an opportunity for prospective applicants to ask questions about the RFP or the process.
All proposals in response to the RFP must be submitted in DHCD’s online submission system via the following web address: https://goo.gl/DvyJ6R. Applicants must submit their proposals before the February 14, 2018 deadline. No hard copy submissions will be accepted.
Since coming into office, the Administration of Mayor Muriel Bowser has sparked the preservation or production of more than 9,600 affordable units, with another 3,300 units in preconstruction. In Fiscal Year 2017, the District made historic investments in affordable housing, getting more than $138 million in HPTF financing out the door to support 23 projects that will produce or preserve more than 1,900 affordable units.
In October, Mayor Bowser announced that eight projects from the Spring 2017 RFP were selected for further underwriting, representing $75 million in HPTF financing. Those projects are anticipated to produce or preserve more than 500 affordable housing units and create approximately 70 PSH units.
In September, the District was recognized for its multi-pronged approach to housing production and preservation, homeownership, and development of vacant properties when it was selected for the Urban Land Institute’s Larson Housing Policy Leadership Award.