Message from the Executive Director/CEO Christopher E. Donald

In FY 2022, DCHFA’s Board, staff and I remained focused on providing the District’s residents with healthy, beautiful and affordable rental housing and opportunities to become homeowners. As a former community organizer and developer, I’ve witnessed the positive impact that housing security and homeownership has on families and the effect it has on the larger community.

This year, our approach has been to address the housing needs of our residents from several aspects of the housing ecosystem. We adopted a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Policy (DEI Policy) to provide opportunities for historically excluded local developers to participate in Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) deals in the District. Communities built by local developers and developers who look like the communities they’re serving creates greater synergy and inspires collaboration from existing residents.

During FY 2022, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of the Treasury approved DCHFA to participate in the relaunch of the Federal Financing Bank (FFB) Risk-Sharing Initiative. Under this program, FFB provides predictable, stable and low-cost capital for multifamily loans to produce and maintain affordable housing insured under the Federal Housing Administration’s Risk-Sharing program. Participating in the FFB initiative gives the Agency another resource to address the critical need for affordable housing production and preservation.

The Agency prides itself on being good stewards in our role as a part of Mayor Muriel Bowser’s city-wide housing coalition. I am very proud that the City has a mayor who not only is a national leader on her investments in affordable housing but also created the District’s first Racial Equity Plan and the Black Homeownership Strike Force, of which I am a member. The Single Family Programs division is eagerly assisting all of the new HPAP applicants who are now eligible due to the higher income limits and increased down payment assistance amounts recommended by the Strike Force.

On behalf of DCHFA’s stellar staff and Board of Directors, I thank Mayor Muriel Bowser and the Council for its visionary leadership and support of our Agency. I am also very grateful to our incredible Board for consistently supporting the staff and the work we do. It is with great enthusiasm that I present to you “The District Digest,” DCHFA’s Fiscal Year 2022 Annual Report.