Yesterday, during a post-Election Day press conference, Mayor Bowser and the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) announced 13 projects that will produce or preserve more than 1,200 affordable housing units in the District. We are proud to announce that Housing Up received two funding awards: 1) funding for a major renovation to preserve affordable housing at our Partner Arms 2 property in Northwest Washington, DC and 2) as co-developer with Hines/Urban Atlantic for the Abrams Hall building on the Walter Reed campus. The project will accommodate senior housing as well as Housing Up’s future office space.

The funding awards are a result of DHCD’s 2016 Funding Notice and Request for Proposal Process commonly known as Notices of Funding Availability (NOFA). The funding will aid in the conversion of Partner Arms 2 from transitional housing to Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH), which serves chronically homeless families with mental or physical health disabilities. Our PSH program is based on the Housing First model, which focuses on quickly moving families experiencing homelessness into permanent housing with leases in their own names, and then providing support services. The conversion of Partner Arms 2 aligns with the federal government’s priority for PSH programs based on the Housing First practice. We are excited to provide this evidence-based, best-practice program to more families in the District.

The 13 projects announced yesterday will use investments from DC’s Housing Production Trust Fund (HPTF), Low Income Housing Tax Credits and other public and private funds. The funding awards were announced in conjunction with the final report from the DC Housing Preservation Strike Force, an 18-member team tasked with developing a plan to preserve the District’s existing affordable housing. Chaired by DHCD Director Polly Donaldson, the Strike Force proposed six key recommendations to preserve DC’s current affordable housing stock, including the establishment of a preservation unit and the creation of a public-private preservation fund. For more information on the NOFA awardees and the final report from the Housing Preservation Strike Force, visit dhcd.gov.