Rental Housing Commission trims appeals timeline, building public case database

Adam Hunter, chair and chief administrative judge of the District’s Rental Housing Commission, told the Committee on Housing the commission has shortened case timelines, expanded access-to-justice resources and is building a public case database to make decisions more transparent.

Hunter said the agency reduced average decision time to 297 days in FY25, surpassing its 340-day target, and has adopted internal measures to keep timelines down. "In FY '25, we reduced the average time to issue decisions to 297 days, surpassing our stated goal of 340 days," he told the committee. Hunter credited improved mediation partnerships with the Office of Administrative Hearings and new internal tracking benchmarks that highlight bottlenecks.

The commission is partnering with Okto to create a public searchable online case database expected by the end of the fiscal year, Hunter said; the project is under budget and is meant to increase transparency and access to decisions. Hunter also described access-to-justice work such as plain-language guides, partnerships with the Office of Tenant Advocate and a series of mediation initiatives designed to resolve matters earlier in the process.

During questioning, Chair White and members raised whether RHC could take on subsets of eviction cases to help backlog in Superior Court; Hunter said some straightforward nonpayment or uncontested cases might be candidates but noted waiver-of-jury-rights concerns and legal complexity make wholesale transfer difficult. The commission agreed to continue working with the committee to identify feasible opportunities to relieve court backlogs while protecting litigants' rights.