HCD annual report: Takoma Park cites grants, tenant assistance and Deauville preservation effort

Deb McNally, director of Takoma Park's Housing & Community Development Department, presented an annual report summarizing the department's FY25 work and FY26 priorities.

McNally said the department is a small team — 14 people including 13 full-time staff — and highlighted key outcomes: more than $300,000 in external grants secured, over $140,000 provided directly to residents for emergencies, more than 500 code-enforcement cases resolved, and assistance to over 450 residents. She said HCD helped return more than $26,000 to tenants through rent-stabilization enforcement and landlord-tenant mediation, and that $130,000 in assistance prevented 43 evictions and two utility shutoffs.

McNally described a tenant-opportunity-to-purchase preservation effort at the Deauville (7520 Maple Avenue), where the city helped tenants assign purchase rights to a nonprofit affordable-housing provider and supported the transaction with over $400,000 in state grants toward a roughly $11,000,000 purchase. She said upgrades (new roof and interior renovations) are contractually required as part of the assignment.

McNally also reviewed program improvements: a new rental-licensing system in place, an active rent-reporting pilot, a filled planning intern position (paid hourly), and a traffic-calming and sidewalk request process that received many resident requests. Looking ahead, the department plans to pursue facade and bikeway construction funding, relaunch a first-time homebuyer program called Home Stretch and launch tenant-organizing supports and additional language-access efforts.

Council members thanked HCD for its work, asked for further detail on the planning intern and enforcement processes, and suggested the department continue to expand outreach to non-English speakers; McNally said the website can now switch to Spanish and staff plan a tenant-organizing RFP to increase reach.