DHCD provides a variety of services to individuals and organizations interested in developing housing or businesses in District communities.
Rental Conversion and Sale Division - The Rental Conversion and Sale Division (CASD) administers the Rental Housing Conversion and Sale Act of 1980, as amended (D.C. Law 3-86) (the Conversion Act) and the Condominium Act of 1976 (D.C. Law 9-82) (the Condominium Act).
The Conversion Act regulates, among other things: tenant opportunity to purchase rights, tenant first rights of refusal, offer of sale notices, notices of transfer and the conversion of property to cooperatives or condominiums.
The Condominium Act regulates condominium formation and registration of condominium units before a developer may offer units to interested buyers. CASD also administers the Structural Defect Warranty Claim Program.
The Rental Accommodations Division - The Rental Accommodations Division (RAD) administers the Rental Housing Act of 1985 (D.C. Law 6-10), commonly known as “rent control.” The Act’s purposes are to: (1) protect low- and moderate-income tenants from erosion of their income from increased housing costs; (2) provide incentives for the construction of new rental units and rehabilitate vacant units; (3) continue to improve administrative mechanisms for resolving disputes between landlords and tenants; and (4) prevent the erosion of moderately priced rental housing while providing landlords with a reasonable rate of return on their investments. RAD regulates residential rental housing licensing and registration, rent adjustment procedures, rent adjustment petitions and adjudication, eviction control, informal mediation, compliance and enforcement, technical assistance to stakeholders, and community outreach.
RAD can be reached on 202-442-9505. Residents may also visit the DHCD Housing Resource Center located on the ground floor at 1800 Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue, SE, Washington, DC 200020.
The DHCD Housing Resource Center is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 am – 3:30 pm. In addition, residents can access DCHousingSearch.org from the DHCD Housing Resource Center. DCHousingSearch.org is a FREE listing service that provides easy access to information about housing opportunities within the District of Columbia.
Development Finance Division - DHCD's Development Finance Division (DFD) provides funding for the development of rental, homeownership and community facility developments that serve District of Columbia neighborhoods. As both the creation and preservation of affordable housing units are important to DHCD, DFD plays a prominent role in helping the agency achieve its annual multifamily housing production goals.
Property Acquisition and Disposition Division - The Property Acquisition and Disposition Division (PADD) stabilizes neighborhoods by decreasing the number of vacant and abandoned residential properties in the District, and transforming vacant and/or abandoned residential properties into homeownership opportunities or District of Columbia residents at all income levels.
PADD has three main functions:
- Encourage property owners to rehabilitate and/or occupy their vacant and abandoned residential property;
- Acquire vacant, abandoned and deteriorated properties through negotiated friendly sale, eminent domain, donation or tax sale foreclosure when owners are unwilling or unable to maintain their properties; and
- Dispose of properties in the PADD inventory by selling the properties to individuals or developers to be rehabilitated into high quality affordable and market-rate single-family and/ or multifamily for-sale housing in District neighborhoods.
PADD disposes of properties by three methods:
- Solicitation of Offers;
- Lottery; and
- Auction
PADD, through the Homestead and Home Again Programs, has successfully acquired and disposed of hundreds of vacant, abandoned and deteriorated properties in the District and created affordable housing opportunities for District residents.
Residential and Community Services Division - The Residential and Community Services Division (RCSD) provides funding for programs focused on housing needs and neighborhood revitalization. RCSD works through Community Based Organizations (CBO) to provide comprehensive housing counseling services, small business technical assistance and façade improvement opportunities. RCSD administers the District’s Home Purchase Assistance Program, Employer Assisted Housing Program and Negotiated Employee Affordable Home Purchase Program, which provide financial assistance for low and moderate-income households and District Government employees for the purpose of first-time home purchase. The Division also provides rehabilitation resources in the form of grants and loans that address health, safety and building code violations, to income eligible owner-occupant and rental units, in order to preserve homeownership.
Portfolio and Asset Management Division - The Portfolio and Asset Management Division (PMD) manages the allocation of Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC), which provides 9 percent tax credits to developers of new or rehabilitated rental housing for the production of housing affordable to low- and moderate-income persons at or below 60 percent of Median Family Income. It also provides portfolio management oversight to outstanding loans in the division. Established in FY 2008, the division monitors the status of existing loans to ensure compliance with loan covenants and collections of loans that are due and conducts the reviews of the risks and relationships of potential borrowers to protect the Department’s assets.
Office of Program Monitoring - The Office of Program Monitoring (OPM) conducts oversight and reviews of DHCD projects and funding recipients. Its core functions include the following types of oversight: (1) contract compliance – completing various federally required compliance reviews as part of the underwriting and project development process; (2) quality assurance – monitoring the compliance of DHCD funded sub-recipients with federal HOME Investments Partnership Program (HOME) and Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG) funding requirements; and (3) compliance monitoring – ensuring projects developed by DHCD through the Housing Production Trust Fund (HPTF), CDBG, HOME and LIHTC programs remain in compliance with federal and local program requirements throughout the duration of the projects period of affordability.
The compliance staff monitors compliance with these programs through a review of annual reports and periodic on-site visits to properties. These on-site visits consist of a file review and physical inspection of a percentage of the assisted units. As the monitoring entity for the IRS on the LIHTC Program and HUD on the HOME, CDBG and ESG Programs, DHCD reports directly to them on issues of non-compliance. OPM also monitors Environmental Review, Davis Bacon, Relocation, Fair Housing and Section 3 requirements as they relate to these programs.