Local Rent Supplement Program

LRSP is a DC rental assistance program designed to help residents who may not be well served by other voucher programs. It helps close the gap between what a household can afford to pay in rent and the actual cost of housing.

There are two types of LRSP:

Tenant-based LRSP provides rental assistance directly to eligible households, helping cover the portion of rent that exceeds 30% of their adjusted income, up to the program’s payment standard.
Project-based LRSP provides rental assistance tied to specific affordable housing developments. Project-based LRSP covers maintenance, utilities, and other ongoing expenses that properties would typically pay using rent revenue, but that rents affordable to our lowest-income households cannot cover.

Who does it benefit?

This program serves renters in DC earning 30% AMI or less. It works to combat the issue of rent arrears, helping to rebuild a positive relationship between tenants and owners, and providing the building with the funds needed to properly maintain it.

Why does it matter?

LRSP supports the lowest income bracket in DC, those who are most susceptible to homelessness. This program helps to keep DC residents in their homes, close the rent affordability gap, and rebuild the relationships between tenants and owners.

How it connects to our work:

LRSP helps make the creation of deeply affordable housing, including supportive housing, possible. LRSP enables many members of the Coalition to help reduce homelessness by providing safe, affordable homes for District residents. Without LRSP, new affordable housing options created or preserved through the Housing Production Trust Fund or other programmatic interventions would not as effectively help the most economically vulnerable Washingtonians.

What we're advocating for:

This funding is essential to help our lowest-income households afford rent and to ensure HPTF-funded developments deliver rents at the statutory minimum. Project- and sponsor-based LRSP is used to produce new housing affordable to extremely-low-income households by providing operating subsidies as part of the development process.

The LRSP is a critical component of the District’s strategy to provide affordable housing solutions to its most vulnerable residents. The Coalition’s recommendations for LRSP is derived from the extremely low-income requirements that are associated with our recommendations for the HPTF allocation.

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