A Win for Deep Affordability

Sustained outreach to D.C. City Council members by Jubilee Housing, the Coalition for Nonprofit Housing & Economic Development (CNHED) and other non-profit developers paid off for D.C. residents when the Council voted recently to increase 2019 funding for the Local Rent Support Program (LRSP).

Jubilee and its partner organizations had been concerned that Mayor Bowser’s Fiscal Year 2019 budget only provided LRSP dollars for specifically designated uses, leaving a gap for projects seeking to couple those dollars with D.C. Housing Production Trust Fund (Trust Fund) investments.

Jubilee and its partners sought an increase in FY 2019 LRSP funding to be able to create more homes affordable to city residents with extremely low incomes. Jubilee hoped to tap future LRSP dollars to purchase future justice housing properties, as part of its five-year strategic plan for justice housing.

Two-thirds of the units in Jubilee Housing’s buildings are affordable to households making extremely low incomes. Jubilee matches LRSP dollars with investments from the Trust Fund to achieve that deep level of affordability.

“Deep affordability is just not feasible without an operating subsidy,” said Jim Knight, Jubilee Housing’s executive director. “In higher rent buildings, more expensive units can sometimes cross-subsidize a few units affordable to residents making 30 percent of area median income or lower. In buildings like ours, where two-thirds of the units are deeply affordable, that’s not possible,” he said.

Following the persuasive lead of CNHED, members of the Jubilee Housing community wrote letters, made calls, and held meetings with council members to advocate for the additional LRSP funding.

The Council approved $3.5 million for non-designated LRSP purposes. “Producers of affordable housing, like Jubilee, can now put together the funding needed to build homes that are available to families before they reach shelters or the streets,” Knight said.