Draft Proposed DC Housing Authority Reform Legislation
Even before Councilmember Silverman submitted emergency DC Housing Authority legislation, which was passed by the Council Oct. 18, she had already been working on comprehensive DCHA reform legislation since before the HUD report broke on October 7. She intends to introduce the legislation as early as the end of October. While details are still being finalized and additional measures could be added, the legislation is expected to include the following:
Draft Proposed DC Housing Authority Reform Legislation
- Increase Board’s capacity and willingness to monitor DCHA effectiveness
- Reserve more seats for current and former residents on the board and strengthen their role
- Increase training requirements for board members
- Convert board compensation from a flat annual amount to compensation based on the amount of meetings attended and trainings completed
- Reduce implicit conflicts
- Replace the seat held by the Deputy Mayor for Economic Development seat with an additional resident or voucher holder
- Require that no board member can work for DC government as staff or a contractor
- Enable more independent board decision-making and internal oversight
- Provide for board members to select their own chair
- Authorize the board to adopt bylaws requiring a two-thirds supermajority for passage of certain measures
- Recommit DCHA to its core purpose of assisting our lowest income residents
- Replace statutory language about DCHA assisting low- and moderate-income residents with language about assisting extremely-low and low-income residents
- Ensure that the District adds deeply affordable housing and commits to it for the long-haul by modifying the rules for affordable units and requiring that minimum affordable unit stipulations are permanently attached to the property.
- Require DCHA to cooperate with health, employment, and human service interests, in addition to real estate, to ensure the agency's programs can best support residents.
- Ensure District funds are spent as intended
- Require monthly reporting to Council on local fund use
- Limit DCHA’s capacity to supplant federal funds with local funds
- Place more stringent rules about access to local funds when DCHA is not scoring at HUD’s “high performer” levels