DC Organizations Support $100 Million for the Trust Fund

Dear Mayor Gray,

The undersigned organizations urge your support of the Housing Production Trust Fund, with annual funding of at least $100 million to achieve the District’s housing goals.

The Housing Production Trust Fund is crucial to the diversity and economic prosperity of the residents of Washington, DC. Thousands of District residents have been impacted by the rapidly increasing cost of housing. These rising costs are leading workers to pay more than half their income in rent, forcing many to live doubled up or in low-quality apartments, and contributing to the high rates of homelessness experienced by families in the District. The Housing Production Trust Fund is an essential tool needed to address these issues. The Trust Fund has already produced and preserved over 7,500 units of housing serving 15,000 people with a diversity of housing needs.

With your leadership, the Trust Fund received more than $100 million in Fiscal Year 2014. This level of funding is needed over the long term. With consistent, robust funding the Trust Fund can play a crucial role in ending chronic homelessness, making and keeping rents affordable, providing opportunities for homeownership, and allowing tenants to execute their right to purchase. The Trust Fund is also a cornerstone of the District’s goal of producing and preserving 10,000 new affordable units and preserving 8,000 currently subsidized units. It’s time to commit to a multiyear funding plan, with at least $100 million available in the Housing Production Trust Fund each year.

We very much appreciate the proposal you have made in collaboration with DC Council leaders to devote 50 percent of future unrestricted surpluses to the Trust Fund. But as you know, it may be several years before this takes effect. In the meantime, as you prepare the Fiscal Year 2015 budget, please invest at least $50 million of one-time money into the Housing Production Trust Fund to maintain $100 million of funding in the short term. We also ask that you consider using other funding sources to ensure that there is at least $100 million of funding each year for the Trust Fund to achieve the District’s housing goals.

Sincerely,

All Souls Church
Chesapeake Sustainable Business Council
City First Enterprises
Coalition for Nonprofit Housing and Economic Development
Coalition for the Homeless
Cornerstone, Inc.
CSH
D.C. Catholic Conference
DC Fiscal Policy Institute
DC Jobs with Justice
DC LISC
Embassy Towers Tenants Association
First Trinity Lutheran Church
Foundry United Methodist Church
Good Faith Communities Coalition
Greater Washington Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Foundation
Homeless Children’s Playtime Project
Hope Cooperative
Housing Association of Nonprofit Developers
Jews United for Justice
Jubilee Housing
Kenyon House Family Tenants Association
Klein Hornig LLP
Latino Economic Development Center
Manna, Inc.
Mercy Loan Fund
Mi Casa Inc.
Miriam’s Kitchen
National Alliance of Community Economic Development Associations
New Beginnings Tenants Association
Open Arms Housing, Inc.
Organizing Neighborhood Equity
Pathways to Housing DC
Phoenix Tenants Association
Positive Force DC
Rinker and Associates
Sarah’s Circle
Somerset Development Company
Southwest Neighborhood Assembly
The Community Builders, Inc.
The Van Buren Tenants Association
The Way Home Campaign
Transitional Housing Corporation
United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 400
United Planning Organization
University Legal Services
WACIF
Washington Business group
We Are Family DC
1309 Clifton St NW Tenants Association
1315 Clifton ST NW Tenants Association
1370-72 Fort Stevens Dr. NW Tenants Association
1425 T St NW Co-op
1919 Calvert Street Tenant Association
3115 Mt. Pleasant ST NW Tenants Association
525 Park Road Tenants Association
716 Madison Family Tenants Association
720 Madison Family Tenants Association
7611&7701 Georgia Ave NW Tenants Association