June is National Homeownership Month, and The Coalition is proud to celebrate our members, public sector leaders, and community advocates fighting for accessible homeownership in the District.
Across the District, the dream of owning a home has slipped out of reach for long-time renting residents and working families. The District’s efforts, like the Home Purchase Assistance Program (HPAP) and the Employer-Assisted Housing Program (EAHP), make that dream possible in a very challenging market. The truth is, these initiatives are swimming upstream against powerful market forces. A median sale price of $710,500 is simply incompatible with the incomes of the very residents who power our communities.
That’s why our Ownership Housing Working Group is not just studying the problem—we’re calling for bold solutions. We’re reimagining what public investment in homeownership looks like, pushing for deeper subsidies, land access strategies, and a stronger ecosystem of nonprofit developers and intermediaries. Moreover, the upcoming Comprehensive Plan update presents a critical opportunity to rewrite the rules of the game, because modest tweaks won’t solve a generational crisis. Finally, thanks to some of the innovative policy and programming work of DHCD, The Coalition, and others, homeownership, and specifically homeownership for low-income or working families, is becoming more attainable.
Convening Practitioners and Policy Experts
What’s really happening on the ground? What are the barriers, red tape, and financial nonstarters that keep homeownership from working families? What can we learn from the rental landscape to glean insights into prolific struggles throughout the continuum of housing? At The Coalition, one of our main organizational pillars is convene. And as part of that, we manage the Ownership Housing Working Group, a convening of practitioners, experts, community members, and local leaders discussing the tools, policies, and programs that can not only make the dream of homeownership a reality, but also help homeowners better navigate the nightmares of major repairs and property issues.
Specifically, the Ownership Housing Working Group leverages its members’ expertise to advance solutions that:
- Create a supply of affordable for-sale homes
- Ensure downpayment and closing costs are accessible despite wealth gaps
- Clarify the home purchase process and how to navigate post-purchase concerns
- Address home repair needs that impede health, safety, and asset growth
Future Supply Starts with the DC Comp Plan
A strong and equitable Comprehensive Plan is DC’s first and best tool for making sure our neighborhoods can add the types and amounts of housing they need. The Comprehensive Plan sets a vision for DC’s places that drives zoning, policy, and development activity for decades to come.
While participating in crafting the DC 2050 Comprehensive Plan is essential, we can also work with the tools in place right now. The current Comp Plan in place today already lays the groundwork for affordability, housing production, and homeownership. Today’s Comp Plan supports a future for lower-income homebuyers through Each of these programs makes DC’s for-sale housing supply more accessible to lower incomes. The current Comp Plan also emphasizes the role of District agencies, zoning, regulations, and policies in supporting a mix of housing types for prospective owners and renters with different household sizes and income levels.
As we look toward the next Comprehensive Plan, we are eager to continue looking at ways to bring down the costs of development and enable affordable ownership (and renting) in DC.
Expanded Downpayment Assistance
The liquid assets needed for a downpayment and closing costs on the median-priced DC home can easily reach or exceed the median annual household income. This creates an unnecessarily high barrier for anyone without access to generational wealth. Programs like the Home Purchase Assistance Program (HPAP) and Employer Assisted Housing Program (EAHP) substitute for family wealth and create a bridge across the wealth gap.
HPAP and EAHP are deferred payment, no-interest loans provided by the DC Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). For individuals and families where the downpayment is the barrier, these programs reduce if not completely remove it, and DHCD ensures repayment when the house is sold again. HPAP and EAHP are two of the District’s best tools for closing the homeownership and wealth gaps, and it’s vital they are sufficiently funded in the DC Budget.
The Role of CBOs and Homeowner Education
Both the purchase of a home and the maintenance of it can be a complicated and daunting experience. So much so that they can prevent someone from even starting down the home-buying road. From obtaining financing and the signing of closing documents, to the upkeep of major home systems, the knowledge required to even know which questions to ask can be a barrier for many. Homeownership education and pre-purchase counseling are crucial, and each year, thousands of DC residents receive education and training through the District’s community-based organizations (CBOs). Certified housing counselors at CBOs throughout DC provide pre-purchase education, post-purchase education, and foreclosure prevention counseling. They also help prospective Inclusionary Zoning buyers get ready to understand and apply for that program. Housing counseling funding comes from both federal resources and local funding through the District’s Neighborhood-Based Activities Program.
For National Homeownership Month, DHCD is hosting special workshops on homeownership topics, though DC education activities also happen year-round.
Softening The Blow for Major Home Repairs
Repairs can create big challenges for homeowners as they often turn up unexpectedly and are expensive. It’s no secret that a best practice is to save money for when these major repairs do pop up, but that’s just not plausible for everyone, especially those who utilized downpayment assistance programs. We can start to mitigate these expenses by ensuring that new buildings meet quality construction and accessibility standards, but eventually, every home will still need repairs and reinvestment.
DHCD and The Coalition both have resources that can help. The Coalition’s Senior Homeowner Stabilization Program, funded by Amazon, works with CBOs and local contractors to provide critical repairs for District seniors who would otherwise not be able to afford them and are at risk of losing their homes. This includes roof repairs and mold remediation to ensure residents have healthy housing as they age in place. At DHCD, the Single Family Residential Rehabilitation Program (SFRRP), which is not age-restricted, can also support roof repairs and accessibility improvements. Repair programs like these can not only make the difference between healthy housing and major hazards, but also prevent displacement and long-time homeowners or District residents from being forced to give up their homes.
The Continuum of Housing is about stabilizing neighborhoods, building pathways to opportunity, and cultivating economic mobility throughout all communities in the District. We must treat affordable homeownership as essential infrastructure. We have enough political will, and we know what tools will work. The final step is figuring out strategic ways to deploy them at scale.
