District officials want to create a new loan program for developers buying and renovating affordable properties to try and rescue a variety of projects that might otherwise go without city funding given pandemic budget pressures.
D.C.’s Department of Housing and Community Development wants to leverage a federal loan guarantee program to create a $38.8 million loan fund, which would then provide third-party loans for developers working to preserve existing affordable units. That’s one of Mayor Muriel Bowser’s key goals around housing, as she hopes to preserve 6,000 units with expiring affordability covenants through 2025.
DHCD on Thursday applied to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to create the new fund, its second application for a federal loan guarantee through the Section 108 loan program. That program allows the city to leverage existing federal housing grants to access new low-cost loans.
