Testimony delivered on March 5, 2026

Good morning, Chairperson White and members of the Committee. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. My name is Mychal Cohen, and I am a senior policy analyst at the DC Fiscal Policy Institute (DCFPI). DCFPI is a non-profit organization that shapes racially-just tax, budget, and policy decisions by centering Black and brown communities in our research and analysis, community partnerships, and advocacy efforts to advance an antiracist, equitable future.

It is widely accepted that DC, alongside much of the nation, is experiencing an affordable housing crisis.^[1],[2] The numbers of District residents paying substantial amounts of their income in rent is unacceptably high and that burden falls disproportionately on Black and brown residents.^[3] The disparity between rents and income is contributing to the rise in evictions in the District. Analysis by New America from November 2025 projected 2,031 evictions would be completed in fiscal year (FY) 2025, surpassing pre-pandemic levels. The same analysis found that eviction filings, while not at pre-pandemic levels, have risen steadily since the eviction moratorium of 2020.^[4]

A crisis of this scale requires a comprehensive approach, informed by data and an understanding of housing conditions. Unfortunately, the District currently has a dearth of information about our rental housing stock, tenant experiences and conditions, and landlord finances. This information gap resulted in legislation based on weak evidence. The “Rebalancing Expectations for Neighbors, Tenants, and Landlords (RENTAL) Amendment Act of 2025” made sweeping changes to tenant rights and protections, the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act, and eviction timelines and processes.^[5] These changes often relied on anecdotal evidence and narrative about the causes of the housing crisis, often ignoring contradictory evidence.^[6]

Now that the bill has passed, the District has the opportunity to test and verify its assumptions about rental arrears, evictions, and rental assistance. So, it is troubling to see Department of Housing and Community Development’s (DHCD’s) performance oversight responses evoke a simplistic narrative of our housing crisis. In their responses to Questions 16 and 45 they claim that tenant non-payment is the main cause of limited financing availability.^[7] This narrative is damaging for multiple reasons. The agency provides no evidence that this is true, nor does it provide a sense of scale or scope of the problem. It obscures the many other challenges to housing affordability, from escalating costs of construction and insurance to rising rates of poverty among Black households in DC, and it ignores the national scope of the housing crisis.^[8],[9] To the degree that the District is experiencing higher than normal rates of non-payment of rent, the Council and District agencies should seek to understand why and under what conditions a tenant might not pay rent. The only response to this crisis cannot be more and faster evictions and limited tenants’ rights. We need proactive and comprehensive solutions.

To that end, the Council and DHCD should:

• Explore and invest in comprehensive solutions to the affordability crisis;
• Improve housing data collection and analysis capacity;
• Develop more transparency in funding processes and decision-making; and
• Continue to build a pipeline for preservation projects, particularly from short-term financing for acquisition through the Housing Preservation Fund (HPF) into long-term financing.

The Council Should Invest in Comprehensive Affordable Housing Solutions

Renters in DC, much like renters across the country, are increasingly burdened by the high cost of living.^[10] Households living at lower income levels feel this burden deeply: 69 percent of DC renters making less than 30 percent of the area median income ($56,920 or less for a family of four,) are paying 50 percent or more of their income in rent. This is considered extreme rent burden.^[11] This leaves households making impossible choices between rent and feeding their family or needed health expenses.^[12] Data suggest a corresponding rise in evictions in DC in 2024 and 2025.^[13] There were more completed evictions in 2024 than in the years prior to the pandemic, and eviction filings, while not at pre-pandemic levels, have risen steadily since the eviction moratorium of 2020.^[14],[15]

Despite the evidence that renters in DC are struggling financially and paying large portions of their income in rent, the narrative on the affordability crisis has focused on personal responsibility. DC’s response to this crisis must expand beyond “tenants just need to pay their rent” because many renters cannot afford to do so. A comprehensive approach to solving the affordability crisis should include ensuring access to emergency rental assistance, committing to full funding of proactive support for renters through programs like DC Flex, the shallow subsidy program that helps bridge the gap between rent and income, and increasing access to housing vouchers for those with the lowest incomes.^[16]

Improve Data Collection and Analysis to Inform Solutions

The current housing crisis is exacerbated by data and knowledge gaps within the housing system. DC lacks crucial information, such as the total number of rental units, number of rent controlled units, and scope of rental arrears. For example, in the agency’s response to question 8.A.iii-iv, DHCD indicates that the total number of housing accommodations in the District is unknown, and therefore are unable to develop a methodology to identify the number of rent controlled units.^[17] While the agency’s work to get the RentRegistry finished should be commended, it is concerning that the District is operating without clear information on the full scope of the task and without a plan to answer critical questions about the housing market.

In several responses, DHCD indicates that the data required to answer the question is unknown and that they have no plan to collect or analyze the data. In question 6, the agency indicates that they do not have formal metrics for tracking delays in projects they finance and causes for these delays.^[18] While the District will never have perfect information, these responses indicate a lack of a clear plan to improve the data and information needed for informed policy-making. These data, whether collected internally or through partnership with an external entity, should be collected regularly and communicated publicly. While the RentRegistry will inform some of these answers when the public data access is complete, gaps will remain unless the Council and agency act.

The District should be proactively studying the rental housing market in DC. Studies could answer questions about the conditions in which tenants cannot or do not pay rent, including the correlation between unpaid rent, housing burden, and housing conditions. The District should also study what tools it might use to proactively identify tenants at risk of housing instability and what supports could prevent them from falling behind on rent. These analyses would support not only tenants, but the rest of the housing ecosystem including landlords and developers.

DHCD Needs to Invest Heavily in Transparency and Decision-making

The Council must push for continued progress in transparency within the agency. DHCD’s performance oversight responses indicate that they have transmitted the FY 2024 Housing Production Trust Fund (HPTF) annual report to the Council, however this report is not on the DHCD website. The quarterly reporting on DHCD’s website for the HPTF remains four years behind with the last report published in FY 2022. These documents are more than a rote exercise in reporting. These reports are the sole means of public accountability for the usage of HPTF funds. Without these reports, evaluating performance and outcomes for HPTF is difficult.

This has direct impact on DC housing policy. For instance, the FY 2026 budget included a $20-$30 million set aside for preservation.^[19] The agency’s performance oversight responses indicate that while a request for proposals for HPTF funds has not yet been released, $26 million has been allocated to existing preservation projects.^[20] While these projects moving forward is a positive outcome, DHCD’s selection process for the set-aside remains opaque. Without clear, complete, and frequently updated reporting, it is impossible to track DHCD’s usage of funds. The agency should start with accurate, complete, and on-time reporting, and build towards a public database of HPTF awards and applications, as described in the recently introduced “Housing Production Omnibus Amendment Act of 2026.”^[21]

The Council Should Prioritize Housing Preservation

The Council took positive steps in the FY 2026 budget to set aside HPTF funds for preservation.^[22] This ensures more preservation projects move forward, and that those projects are financially viable, while increasing housing stability for residents in buildings in need of repair. The District should continue to set aside preservation funds or create a preservation sub-account as outlined in the “Housing Production Omnibus Amendment Act of 2026.” DHCD should prioritize projects that received bridge financing from the Housing Preservation Fund (HPF) in their selections. Ensuring these projects receive longer-term financing also ensures the HPF remains a viable pipeline for preservation projects, keeps these projects out of untenable financial situations, and helps improve living conditions throughout the District.

DHCD’s use of the 2024 Consolidated Request for Proposals to support the stabilization of 69 developments, comprising of 7,700 units, was a necessary step to support affordable housing in the District. The proposed “Housing Production Omnibus Amendment Act of 2026” codifies legislative guidance for how HPTF might be used for stabilization in future years.^[23] The legislation also formally distinguishes between preservation and stabilization, a critical distinction that can ensure long-term financing for preservation remains distinct from short-term financial stabilization of properties.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify. I look forward to discussing these recommendations with you further.