DOPA Disclosure Amendment Act of 2020
Introduced: January 21, 2020
Summary: To amend the Rental Housing Conversion and Sale Act of 1980 to require the Mayor to provide an annual report regarding the assignment of the District’s opportunity to purchase affordable housing to third party entities.
Councilmember Grosso's Introduction Statement:
Today, along with Councilmember Anita Bonds, I am introducing the DOPA Disclosure Amendment Act of 2020.
In 2008 Council established and enacted the District Opportunity to Purchase Act, which gives the right to the District of Columbia to purchase buildings with five or more dwelling units with at least 25% affordable housing.
The goal of the legislation was to employ the resources of government to preserve and expand affordable housing units.
DOPA contained a provision allowing the District of Columbia to assign its rights to purchase to third party entities.
Regulations from the 2008 law were not finalized until November 2018, a decade later.
In May of 2019, the Mayor announced 40 pre-qualified developers who can be assigned the District’s right to purchase.
Unfortunately, nearly 12 years after enactment, the District of Columbia still has not exercised its right to purchase a single property, and the District has missed too many opportunities to purchase.
This bill requires the Mayor to submit a detailed annual report that must disclose:
Assignees’ demonstrated capacity and expertise in affordable housing;
The evaluation criteria by which third party assignees consider the purchase of a property that is DOPA eligible;
The percentage of units that are considered affordable;
The number of units per property;
The average rent by unit type per property;
The subsequent sale price of properties;
A summary of communications between the assignee and the Mayor per property, among other requirements.
The District of Columbia cannot afford to waste any more time when it comes to preserving and expanding affordable housing.
There is an imbalance in our housing stock combined with rising rents and housing costs, that is displacing mostly low-income families and families of color.
DOPA was intended to be another tool to address our affordable housing crisis, and so far, it’s not even been taken out of the toolbox.
The intent of this legislation is to further understand why this tool is not being used, and once it’s finally taken out of the toolbox, how it is being utilized.
With that, I welcome any co-sponsors, and yield the balance of my time to my primary co-introducer, Councilmember Anita Bonds.