The District of Columbia will provide $25 million in local and federal funds to build up to 710 additional affordable housing units throughout the city, including about 100 units for permanent housing for the homeless, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty announced on April 25.

Most of the units will remain in construction until 2009 or 2010, according to the D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development.

The 710 units will not eliminate the problem of affordable housing in the city, said Fenty, but will create “a major dent.”

The bulk of the housing will be rental units, with 48 condo and townhouse units available for ownership, according to the Department of Housing and Community Development, the lead agency on the project. The project will include senior housing units, “as well as about 100 units of permanent supportive housing for our homeless neighbors,” Fenty said.

“We no longer think it is acceptable to have them living in shelters,” he said.

The nonprofit homeless service provider So Others Might Eat (SOME) will create two long-term housing facilities for 99 housing units for the homeless on South Capitol Street and Texas Avenue.

SOME already manages similar housing projects throughout the city. The nonprofit anticipates opening the Texas Avenue facility by January and the South Capitol facility by the following July, according the city.

“We’ve seen good results from them,” said Leila Edmonds, director of the Department of Housing and Community Development.

The South Capitol property will have 17 units specifically for Department of Mental Health consumers, she noted.

The 100 units for the homeless will not be part of the 480 permanent supportive housing units allocated in the mayor’s proposed housing plan released April 2, Edmonds said.

The Department of Housing and Community Development is underwriting the projects, which are split among 11 developers and located throughout Wards 1, 4, 5, 7 and 8. The total requested value is $35 million.

The projects, however, have different timelines and varying stages of construction, said Edmonds.

Of the rentals, 177 will be open to all low-income households, and 386 units will be reserved for low-income seniors. The new housing’s affordability will vary, with the majority going to residents at the higher end of the poverty scale.

Area median income determines whether housing is affordable under the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s standards.

The 99 units managed by SOME will be rented to extremely low-income residents, defined by HUD as those making 30% or less of the median area income. The District’s area median income last year was $94,500.

Sarah’s Circle, an Adams Morgan service provider, will rent 34 senior housing units at 30% of the tenant’s income.

Of the remaining units, 298 will be reserved for those making at or below 60% of the area median income, 127 for those making between 51% and 60%, and 152 for those making at or below 80%.

All of the homeownership units will be priced at 80% or below of the area median income.

As of 2007, the Urban Institute reported about 35,000 units of affordable or subsidized housing in the city.

“We need affordable housing because a lot people are leaving to go to Virginia and Maryland and we can’t afford to lose these residents,” said Joan Ellis-Tillman, a community activist who served on the task force on rent control from 1997 to 2004.

Timothy Jones, ANC commissioner for single member district 4C08, said he was not enthused about the announcement.

“Housing doesn’t create jobs,” he said. Jones is striving to bring more parking and retail to his Petworth district.

Fenty also announced that the District is soliciting buyers for two abandoned storefronts and an empty lot along the 3800 block of Georgia Avenue, NW. City officials hope to entice new retail and restaurants into the area, once under the mayor’s jurisdiction during his years as Council member for Ward 4.

“I like to think of this as the mayor putting the people’s money where his mouth is,” said Ward 4 Council member Muriel Bowser. The project will revitalize the area and enhance the block for existing residents, Bowser said.

The city is committed to increasing private investment, Fenty said.

“We’re not going to keep properties any longer owned by the District government. Get it out to the private sector, allow them to develop it,” he said.

All the new affordable housing units will meet the city’s green building standards, Fenty said.

April 30, 2008