Residents of Washington, DC, are facing a shortage of affordable housing options. An Urban Institute survey found that 1 in 10 people in DC experience housing insecurity. Despite significant investments in housing over the past two decades and many policies to advance housing stability, housing remains unaffordable for many people, evictions are rising, and housing providers are facing serious challenges.
Many candidates in DC’s upcoming election have made increasing housing supply a focus for their campaigns. While adding more housing is crucial, to solve affordable housing challenges, the incoming mayor and city council will need to get creative. Here are three evidence-based strategies they should consider.
1. An effective housing affordability plan must include preservation as well as new construction
DC’s housing production outpaced other jurisdictions in the region over the past two decades, but as the city continues to grow, limited developable land will make opportunities to create new housing units harder to find. New construction is also generally more expensive than preserving existing housing in similar locations.
DC has more than 59,000 assisted housing units, which benefit from both federal and local subsidies, and thousands of nonassisted affordable units, such as those covered by rent control. But many of these homes are at risk from aging, gentrification, development pressures, and increasing costs for housing providers—all of which threaten the affordability of these housing units.
The Rebalancing Expectations for Neighbors, Tenants and Landlords (RENTAL) Act, passed in late 2025, was intended to address the financial stresses faced by affordable housing providers because of economic vacancy, but local leaders will also need to address other rising expenses, such as insurance, security, maintenance, and utilities, to keep this housing available and affordable. For example, new insurance captives (a form of self-insurance) can help housing providers manage rising insurance costs, and New York state has prohibited insurers from denying coverage to providers of assisted housing.
2. To prevent displacement, ensure renters with the lowest incomes can afford housing
The number of housing cost–burdened households is rising across the country, and while affordability problems are affecting everyone, households with extremely low incomes (below 30 percent of the area median income) remain the most vulnerable.
More than four in five DC households with extremely low incomes pay 30 percent of their income on housing costs, which is considered unaffordable, and 69 percent pay 50 percent or more.
Sources: US Census Bureau’s 2018–22 American Community Survey public use microdata sample via IPUMS USA; US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2022 Income Limits dataset.
Notes: AMI = area median income. The AMI factors in household size. The 80 percent limit is not capped, unlike the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 80 percent limit for the DC area. Households are cost burdened if their housing costs are ore than 30 percent of their monthly income.
In addition, DC’s Black population has continued to decline, eviction filings are up, and recent changes may result in a shrinking of essential federal housing assistance.
Public housing, the Housing Choice Voucher and Local Rent Supplement Programs, emergency rental assistance, and the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act are among the strategies that help keep DC residents stably housed. We know they work, but more resources will be needed to prevent further displacement. Expanding shallow subsidy programs, such as DC Flex, is another option that could help many families who are facing unsustainable housing costs but who are ineligible for other housing programs.
3. Work with housing providers, tenants, and DC agency heads to most effectively solve affordable housing challenges
The debate over the RENTAL Act was contentious, and the new mayor and council will need to build bridges and find common ground on solutions for DC’s ongoing housing challenges that can have broad support. The DC Housing Production Trust Fund, for instance, was a major reform that has been backed by tenant and developer advocates alike.
One potential area of consensus is lowering the costs of building, preserving, and operating affordable housing, which helps keep housing affordable for tenants and increases stability for housing providers. But not engaging in a broader discussion on the scope of the problem has limited the ability to find effective, sustainable solutions.
Studies in New York, Illinois, and Minnesota have quantified the array of challenges facing housing developers and providers. A key local issue is the length and unpredictability of the timeline for housing development, which raises costs and deters developers and lenders (PDF), particularly for small and emerging developers. Steps such as updating zoning to allow higher-density affordable housing as a matter of right in more parts of DC and coordinated and streamlined approval processes, with clear timelines for agencies, will reduce risks and enable more housing construction and preservation projects to move forward.
The bottom line
DC has a long history of committing to housing affordability, and as a result, it has many tools and funding sources already in place. This moment’s unique challenges require leveraging existing resources and building upon the foundation to advance affordable housing for all DC residents both now and in the future.
Let’s help communities build more secure, hopeful futures.
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