Addressing the low-income housing need in Washington, D.C.

The United Planning Organization (UPO) is a community action & advocacy organization that assists low-income residents of Washington, D.C. to achieve economic security. One of their key programs focuses on advocacy for low-income (<50% AMI) households due to a housing shortage and massive rent increases that exacerbate cost burdens. The Capstone team was tasked with determining how housing supply, policies and programs should change in order to meet the housing needs of all low-income residents in the District. The team calculated and evaluated the existing need for low-income housing in D.C. at various AMI bands, and conducted extensive research on the operations of policies and programs that fund, administer, and oversee housing construction and vouchers subsidies. The team also gathered insights from interviews with members of government agencies, city council, real estate developers, and nonprofits. Our final recommendations focused on four areas: addressing the undersupply for extremely low-income households; streamlining operations and administration of programs; funding solutions for supplying low-income vouchers; and resolving institutional friction between agencies.