Statement by Coalition for Smarter Growth, Contact: Cheryl Cort, cheryl@smartergrowth.net

We urge the DC Council to support with no amendments the emergency ERAP reform legislation (B25-0968) to avert a crisis driven by unprecedented levels of unpaid rent. Chair Mendelson’s bill would ensure that DC law establishes the right incentives to bring tenants and housing providers together to save and stabilize at-risk housing while addressing the needs of low-income DC residents. 

What’s at stake, according to DHCD: 

• 80% of properties are not receiving enough in rent collection to pay their mortgages or pay maintenance expenses.
• 22,000 affordable housing units are at risk which would mean the risk of eviction for 48,000 residents. This puts the District of Columbia affordable housing market at serious risk, both for future investment and foreclosure of existing properties.

The bill repeals self-certification of ERAP eligibility and gives judges in Landlord Tenant Court discretion regarding pending cases, requiring a tenant to provide evidence that applied-for ERAP rental assistance can cover rent owed, or commit to a payment plan agreement with the housing provider to cover unpaid rent. 

This legislation facilitates eviction diversion mediation, and affordable payment plans that allow tenants and landlords to resolve past debts. The goal is to bring tenants back to actively engaging with housing providers to find solutions to cover the cost of housing. The current level of unpaid rent puts all tenants at risk of eviction – those who are paying rent, and those who are not, if these developments go into foreclosure and are sold. This bill supports alternatives to eviction that are not possible under today’s ERAP law. 

Affordable housing providers are telling us that the magnitude of unpaid rent is unsustainable, threatening potential large scale foreclosures, mass eviction, and loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in affordable housing investments. Chairman Mendelson’s legislation responds to this crisis and offers an essential, crucial step in the process to stabilizing DC’s extensive affordable housing stock. The Chair’s legislative proposal offers the best understanding of what’s at stake in this crisis, and necessary tools to address it.

Affordable housing providers are urging the Council to adopt this legislation to get tenants back on track to working with landlords to pay rents they can afford, obtain subsidies that are available, and meet affordable housing compliance requirements. We join affordable housing providers in supporting this legislation.

This emergency legislation is only the beginning to stabilizing the DC affordable housing market that is at the brink of collapse. We will continue to advocate for increased investment in housing affordable to low income residents and additional improvements to ERAP and other support for tenants to secure decent, affordable homes close to jobs, services, and transit.