HPTF Financing Preserves 360 Affordable Housing Units in Three Wards

Groups Used Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) to Buy Their Buildings

(WASHINGTON, DC) – (RealEstateRama) — The DC Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) closed three loan agreements totaling more than $18.9 million that will help preserve 360 affordable housing units in Wards 2, 7 and 8. The funding was made available through the Housing Production Trust Fund (HPTF).

“As our Fiscal Year draws to a close, the agency is speeding up our efforts to close affordable housing projects,” said DHCD Director Polly Donaldson. “Our goal is always to work as quickly, efficiently and transparently as possible to produce and preserve more affordable housing for District residents. Resources like the Housing Production Trust Fund help make this possible.”

In each case, the tenant organizations used the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) to exercise their rights to purchase their buildings, and subsequently assigned their rights to the developers to help acquire the properties and perform critical repairs. The projects are as follows:

• Ward 2, 160 units at 1111 Massachusetts Avenue NW. DHCD provided $10.7 million in HPTF financing to Mass Place Apartment, LLC, a partnership between National Housing Trust Enterprise Preservation Corporation (NHT-Enterprise) and the 1111 Massachusetts Avenue Tenants Association Inc., for the acquisition of their 160-unit building. The DC Housing Finance Agency (DCHFA) also provided $16.6 million in tax exempt bond financing. All units will be available for households at or below $66,180 (60 percent of the Area Median Income [AMI]) and remain affordable for no less than 40 years.
• Ward 7, 202 units located along the 300 block of 37th Place SE.East River Preservation Partners LLC, a partnership between NHT-Enterprise and IBF Development, received $6.4 million in HPTF financing for the acquisition and preservation of 16 apartment buildings with the 202 units. The AMI split is as follows: 101 units will be available for households at or below $66,180 (60 percent AMI) and remain affordable for no less than 40 years; the remaining 101 units will be available for households at or below $55,150 (50 percent AMI).
• Ward 8, 18 units at 1847 Good Hope Road SE. Mi Casa Inc., a local nonprofit housing developer, received $1.7 million in HPTF financing to acquire and preserve the 18 units. Ten units will be available for households at or below $33,090 (30 percent AMI) and remain affordable for no less than 40 years; five units will be available for households at or below $55,150 (50 percent AMI); and three  units will be available for households at or below $88,240 (80 percent AMI).

Since taking office, Mayor Muriel Bowser has made affordable housing a major focus of her administration. In October 2016, the mayor celebrated a record HPTF investment for Fiscal Year 2016: $106.3 million supporting 19 projects that will produce or preserve more than 1,200 affordable housing units across the city. Since then, DHCD has closed 26 affordable housing production and preservation projects, yielding over 1,400 units for District families.

DC’s annual $100 million HPTF is more than any city per capita in the country. Additionally, as part of her inclusive prosperity platform, the mayor has launched a new initiative of $10 million dedicated solely to a new public-private housing preservation fund, which will include a new preservation officer to spearhead the fund.

Since January 2015, the Bowser Administration has produced and preserved over 3,900 units of affordable housing in the District with more to come. More than 5,200 affordable housing units—capable of housing more than 13,150 District residents—are in the development pipeline.