How can DC fix its rental market post-pandemic? A strike force had some ideas.

A housing strike force released a report this month laying out its recommendations for helping DC’s rental housing market recover after more than a year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The strike force, chaired by Department of Housing and Community Development Director Polly Donaldson, kicked off in February and met a handful of times before releasing its final report on May 21.

Bowser convened the strike force to address rental housing affordability challenges that began years ago but were exacerbated by the pandemic. Unemployment meant renters couldn’t pay; shifts in the housing market left some units vacant; and, according to the report, many see helping rental housing recover as a “zero-sum game” that can either protect tenants or landlords, but not both.

The strike force’s members included both landlords and tenant advocates, as well as housing policy experts and public officials. (A note here: GGWash policy manager Alex Baca was on the strike force but is not involved in our news coverage of it, as per our editorial policy.) The strike force drew criticism from some who said it was stacked in favor of developer and landlord interests.

According to the report, the strike force finalized its list of recommendations using a consensus method, seeking general agreement rather than taking votes or looking for unanimity.

With so many different voices, and a limited amount of time, it appears agreement on some of the more controversial policy details was hard to come by — particularly in areas where tenant protections and landlord financial interests clash.

“Underlying each recommendation is a much broader conversation and significant details — points of agreement and disagreement — that need to be addressed,” the report says.

The report was split into short, medium, and long-term recommendations:

Near-term: prioritize tenant assistance while phasing in evictions

The report’s first recommendation is to “prioritize rental assistance for those with the highest eviction risk,” with a particular focus on outreach to lower and middle income residents and marginalized populations.

But the strike force also recommends “phasing in” an end to the eviction moratorium, while managing the impact on courts and vulnerable populations. According to the report, this section sparked “significant disagreement.”

Eventually, the strike force agreed on allowing limited evictions for “current and substantial” health and safety threats. That’s something the DC Council has already worked on, voting 12-1 to allow evictions for threatening behavior such as assault.

The team also recommends that to prepare to lift the moratorium, services for tenants go beyond rental assistance, to include “financial resources and problem-solving tools including mediation, legal, financial, and social services that support effective alternative resolutions to eviction cases.”

The strike force also recommended DC “seek ways to address” concerns raised by landlords “in ways that do not harm vulnerable residents,” including: “the inability to increase rents on vacant units, the desire for the District to change its laws to temporarily allow rent concessions for rent stabilized units during the public health emergency, and difficulties moving ahead on property sales due to TOPA [Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act] timelines being stalled.” There was no consensus on how exactly to address these concerns.

Mid-term: Reexamine rent control, nuisance abatement, TOPA and DOPA

The strike force wasn’t able to agree on specific recommendations, but it did agree that rent control needs some attention. It recommended forming a commission and an in-depth study to look at rent stabilization policies and outcomes.

Another major mid-term recommendation was to boost funding for the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act and to strengthen the District Opportunity to Purchase Act. The strike force discussed some ideas for how to reform TOPA, according to the report, but only reached consensus on a few of them.

And finally, the strike force says DC should reexamine its strategy for addressing nuisance properties and poor living conditions. Here, too, the recommendations are short on detail, saying only that a review should examine how to address housing violations without displacing residents.

Long-term: Density and funding

To support housing affordability long-term, the strike force recommended boosting density to increase overall housing production (a major element of the recently passed Comprehensive Plan update).

But to build affordable housing in particular, the strike force recommends boosting funding for multiple programs as well as strengthening local rent supplement assistance. These recommendations included a suggestion to create a “shallow rental assistance” program for households who start out at lower incomes but who progress in their careers, to “reduce any disincentive to increase earnings.”

Finally, the strike force recommended strengthening programs to preserve naturally occurring affordable housing, providing incentives in exchange for affordability covenants.