Washington, DC – Today, the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED) and the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education (DME) recognize the teachers, school administrators, and staff at DC Public Schools and public charter schools for Teacher Appreciation Week. In doing so, they are highlighting a variety of District programs available to all educators who wish to live in the city they serve. This includes the partnership with Landed, the District’s Homeownership Purchase Assistance Program (HPAP), the Employee Assisted Housing Program (EAHP) and The Wilhelmina at Malcolm X teacher housing project.
“We continue to identify and improve our homeownership programs to make them accessible to families and teachers who want to live near the communities they serve,” said Deputy Mayor Falcicchio. “Continuing to partner with Landed while also increasing our funding of HPAP and EAHP at $21 million and $6 million respectively will allow the District to ensure the necessary funding is available to any teacher who wants to take advantage of these opportunities. But our recommendation to increase the maximum assistance from HPAP for the lowest income prospective homeowners from $80,000 to $202,000 for fiscal year 2023 will go even further to ensure that homeownership is in reach to anyone.”
Landed’s down payment program and homebuying services have been available to DC educators and staff since late 2019. They offer financial assistance and guidance via a partner agent and a Landed homebuying lead to help families navigate their options for buying a home. Landed is also able to support any District employee on the path to homeownership through their shared equity program and invest up to $120,000 – $150,000 toward the down payment. A total of 41 teachers have purchased a home through the program.
The Home Purchase Assistance (HPAP) program provides interest-free loans and closing cost assistance to qualified applicants to purchase single family houses, condominiums, or cooperative units in the District. The loan amount is based on income, household size, and the amount of assets that each applicant must commit toward a property’s purchase. Eligible applicants can currently receive a maximum of $84,000 in gap financing and closing cost assistance.
The Employer-Assisted Housing Program (EAHP) offers eligible District government employees a deferred, 0% interest loan and a matching funds grant for down payment and closing costs to purchase their first single family home, condominium, or cooperative unit in the District.
“We are fortunate to have incredible educators in our public schools, and we want to do everything we can to not only retain them, but to support them in becoming District homeowners and living in the communities they serve,” said Deputy Mayor for Education Paul Kihn. “Mayor Bowser’s investments in these critical housing programs, along with her commitment to our public schools, will ensure we continue to have a world-class educator workforce.”
The Wilhelmina at Malcolm X teacher housing is a Bowser Administration-led housing project which is creating 180 new affordable units, nearly 25% of which are 3-bedroom units, adjacent to the Congress Heights Metro Station and Bard High School Early College. Coupled with Mayor Bowser’s proposed $2.2 billion investment into public education for FY23, investments into Malcolm X help to add affordable housing, family-sized housing for DCPS and public charter school teachers in the neighborhoods which they serve. Moreover, as the project is slated for mixed-use development, it provides educators vital services such as a healthy food retailer and daycare on the ground floor of the building.
Providing affordable housing for teachers living in the District has proven to better facilitate students’ education by helping teachers to better understand their community, facilitating home visits, the reduction of travel time, and increasing teacher participation in extra-curricular activities. This holistic approach is essential to furthering the success of our children and providing safe, quality affordable housing for educators with families.
At the start of her second term, Mayor Bowser set a bold goal to deliver an additional 36,000 units of housing – including at least 12,000 units of affordable housing – by 2025. By further equitably distributing these goals across the District's ten planning areas, Mayor Bowser made DC the first jurisdiction in the nation to create affordable housing goals by neighborhood. From January 2019 through December 2021, the District has produced 20,699 net new units, of which 4,003 are affordable. You can track the District’s progress toward #36000by2025 at open.dc.gov/36000by2025.