PRESS RELEASE AND NEW REPORT FROM AUDITOR’S OFFICE ON INCLUSIONARY ZONING

Hello all,

The only thing I can say after a quick read of this City Auditor's new report is that the inclusionary zoning (IZ) program is as bad as we have suspected and have witnessed on an anecdotal and individual project basis. The financial abuses of the program were not highlighted, but I hope that will come soon. After you have a chance to read this, I hope you will feel free to walk into your nearest IZ-participating project and ask about subsidized units.

Best,

Debby

—– Forwarded Message —–

From: Patterson, Kathy (ODCA) <kathy.patterson@dc.gov>

To: Debby Hanrahan <debbyhanrahan@yahoo.com>

Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2024 at 12:56:46 PM EST

Subject: FW: New report: Stronger Oversight Needed for Inclusionary Zoning Program to Reach Housing Goals

Just posted; thanks for your interest!

 

Kathleen Patterson  |  D.C. Auditor

she/her/hers

Office of the D.C. Auditor

1331 Pennsylvania Avenue NW 8^th Floor

Washington D.C. 20004

Direct: (202) 727-8982  | Office: (202) 727-3600

Email: kathy.patterson@dc.gov

Website: www.dcauditor.org

 

From: Shinn, Diane (ODCA) <diane.shinn@dc.gov>
Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2024 12:48 PM
To: Shinn, Diane (ODCA) <diane.shinn@dc.gov>
Subject: New report: Stronger Oversight Needed for Inclusionary Zoning Program to Reach Housing Goals

 

Good morning. Attached please find our newest press release and report entitled Stronger DHCD Oversight Needed for Inclusionary Zoning Program to Reach Housing Goals.

 

Despite a lack of enforcement that has enabled a culture of non-compliance at some of its properties, the District’s Inclusionary Zoning program—

one of the many pathways toward the city’s affordable housing goals—has already implemented or is implementing many recommendations of a new audit published today by the Office of the D.C. Auditor (ODCA).

 

The IZ program’s purpose is to use market-rate development to increase affordable unit production and ultimately create a full range of long-term housing choices for each District household regardless of size and income. Mayor Muriel Bowser is aiming to achieve the affordable housing goal of producing 12,000 new affordable units for D.C. residents by 2025.

 

Actions taken by the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) included enforcement action against an IZ provider following a Management Alert issued by ODCA in June.

 

“We were pleased at the immediate action the agency took earlier this year,” said D.C. Auditor Kathy Patterson. “We are pleased with DHCD’s concurrence with nearly all 17 of ODCA’s recommendations aimed at improving the IZ program’s efficacy, including efforts to meet the 102-day target to fill IZ units from what an ODCA sample found was an average of more than 13 months.”

 

Findings in the report include that during the audit’s scope DHCD did not:

 

•            Ensure that annual reporting requirements were enforced, which meant they were not able to track which units were vacant or who was living in occupied units.

•            Ensure that IZ tenants’ incomes were recertified annually which potentially allowed participants to remain in IZ units for which they were no longer eligible because their income exceeded their units’ income requirement.

•            Ensure that properties submitted renewal leases annually. Of the IZ properties in the report’s sample, only one of 16 properties was found to have completed lease renewals in a timely manner. At six of the properties, some renewed leases were found and those, on average, were dated 147 days (five months) after the previous lease’s expiration date. The remaining properties had not renewed any leases at the time of ODCA’s site visits, putting the tenants into a month-to-month status on an expired lease.

•            Initiate enforcement action against property owners who violated IZ development covenant requirements and DCMR.

 

Please let me know if you’d like to speak to the Auditor about this report. Thanks for your interest in ODCA’s work.

 

 

 

Diane Shinn | Director of Communications

Office of the D.C. Auditor

1331 14^th Street N.W., Suite 800 South

Washington, DC  20004

Direct: (202) 727-8991 | Office: (202) 727-3600 | Cell: 202-255-6717

she/her/hers

diane.shinn@dc.gov

dcauditor.org

Auditude

@ODCA_DC