How Federal Stimulus Accidentally Bottlenecked Affordable Housing in DC
April 16, 2024
How Federal Stimulus Accidentally Bottlenecked Affordable Housing in DC
By Patrick McAnaney, Senior Project Manager, Somerset Development Company
In the first two columns of this Greater Greater Washington series, Patrick McAnaney explained the general financing sources needed to build income-restricted homes for low-income households and the District of Columbia’s primary specific financing tool, the Housing Production Trust Fund. This column focuses on a major new challenge facing local affordable housing development projects: the District’s recent crash into the federal limit on private-activity bond issuance, known as the “volume cap” or “bond cap.” This issue has sent shockwaves through the District’s affordable housing industry and abruptly brought many projects to a halt.