NEED HELP SATURDAY/DC Housing Fund Not Doing Enough for Low-income Residents

DC Housing Fund Falls Short for the Poor

DC's affordable housing fund isn't doing enough for low-income residents, an audit says

by Canaan Merchant * August 9, 2016

The District's Housing Production Trust Fund is a program run by the city to fund and build affordable housing, which helps some of DC's poorest families live in one of the country's most expensive housing markets. A recent audit, however, says that too little money is going to the lowest-income residents.

Every year, the District Department of Housing and Community Development puts all of the trust fund's money into a big pot, along with other federal and local funds earmarked for affordable housing. Then it puts out requests for proposals (RFP) to build housing using the money that detail exactly how it must be spent. Non-profit and for-profit groups alike apply for and get money from the fund.

According to DCHD, almost a billion dollars has gone into the fund since 2001, leading to the construction or renovation of almost 10,000 units dedicated to housing families whose incomes can be far below average.

The city's Office of the District of Columbia Auditor recently took a look at how HPTF money has been used since it was created, and how DCHD has accounted for that spending. The report says that while a lot of money has been spent to build or renovate housing units, far less money than what is required has gone toward housing for people who can afford the least.

Far more money was supposed to go toward housing for people who earn the least.

By law, at least 80% of the fund has to be spent on helping finance construction for housing that's for households earning less than half of the Area Median Income (AMI). AMI is a tool used nationwide to decide how much a family needs to make to meet requirements for subsidized housing in a given area. The AMI for a family of four in Washington in 2016 is $108,200 a year.

Within that 80% requirement, half of money spent has to go towards housing for households making less than 30% AMI (i.e. a family in Washington that only makes 30% of $108,200 in a year, or around $32,000 for a family of four) while the other half focuses on households between 31 and 50% AMI.

But in 2014 and 2015, the fund simply hasn't spent all that much on that subcategory of housing. In 2014, only 32% of the fund actually went to housing households earning 50% AMI. 2015 was a bit better at 49%, but still far below the 80% requirement.

According the audit, DCHD has a lot of work to do to catch up and meet its goals. The report recommends that DCHD and the advisory board make up for lost time by focusing only on housing families that earn less than 50% AMI for the foreseeable future.

"DHCD should consider compensating for the loss of investment in units for households earning 0-50 percent AMI during FY 2014 and FY 2015 by focusing all available funds on those two income categories for the near future," write the auditors.

In a section of the reports for comments from DCHD, the agency says that it has already started on a plan to get things back on track, and to ensure that the right amount of money goes toward those groups: "Beginning in fiscal year 2015, [DHCD] began issuing targeted requests for proposals utilizing the Housing Production Trust Fund with a requirement that the agency will only fund new construction projects targeting households with incomes of 50% of area median income and below."

To make sure the lowest-income families keep getting the funding they need, DCHD and the Production Fund will have to keep better track of their spending and reporting to the city's oversight agencies. The audit also revealed that several key reports that are due quarterly are simply missing, and that a lot of the fund's activities were classified under a general "other" category. That makes it hard for city auditors to suss out what money goes where.

The Housing Production Trust Fund is an important tool for the city to keep some of its housing affordable for individuals and families struggling with high housing costs in Washington. And after nearly being cut away to nothing in 2012, the fund saw a big infusion of nearly $100 million dollars during last year's budget process.

But all the money in the world doesn't matter if it doesn't get to the people who are supposed to be the beneficiaries. So now its up to the city's workers and elected officials to work together to fulfill the Housing Production Trust Fund's promise.

Canaan Merchant was born and raised in Powhatan, Virginia and attended George Mason University. He became interested in urban design and transportation issues when listening to a presentation by Jeff Speck while attending GMU. He lives in Falls Church.