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Advocates demand $60 million annual public-housing repairs and a statutory right to return
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Summary
Multiple community groups and residents urged the Committee on Housing to restore and expand public-housing repair funding, press for stronger resident rights in redevelopment and to change DCHA’s board appointment process to increase resident representation.
At the May 30 oversight hearing, public-housing residents and advocates pressed the Committee on Housing to make a recurring commitment to preserve and repair D.C.’s public housing and to enshrine residents’ rights in local law.
Speakers from Empower DC, SOME, Jubilee Housing and tenant groups told the committee the Mayor’s allocation of $52.4 million spread over FY26 and FY27 is insufficient and unstable. “We are calling for $60,000,000 per year for public housing repairs and increased council oversight,” Farrah Fassay of Empower DC said, noting tens of thousands of deeply affordable units are at risk if repositioning and demolition proceed without firm preservation commitments.
Advocates repeatedly asked the Council to codify a right of return without rescreening for residents displaced by redevelopment or repositioning. Legal Aid supervising attorney Eleni Christidis urged the committee to require DCHA to publish property-level vacancy and offline-unit data and to “codify into local law public-housing residents' absolute right of return.”
Many witnesses also criticized the makeup and functioning of the DCHA board (the STAR board and proposed successor structure). Witnesses and resident leaders asked the council to ensure resident-elected positions, legal-services representation and a tenant advocate seat are included in any permanent board and to require confirmation hearings for nominees.
Resident speakers described housing conditions and the consequences of long waits for repairs: nearly half of renters were rent-burdened, advocacy witnesses said, and older adults and young adults were increasingly seeking services. Witnesses urged the Council to pair any production goals with robust funds for the Local Rent Supplement Program (LRSP) and project- and sponsor-based components that keep deeply affordable housing operational.
Committee members asked DCHA about plans to bring vacant units back online and asked advocates and the authority for property-level plans and timelines to be provided to the committee. The committee kept the record open for written testimony through June 6.
