Sierra Club DC Chapter
Testimony of
John H. More
on
Department of Housing and Community Development
Housing Production Trust Fund
Housing Finance Agency
FY2022 Budgets
to the
DC Council Committee on Housing and Executive Administration
Friday, June 4, 2021
Thank you Chairperson Bonds and members of the Committee for the opportunity to submit testimony on behalf of the Sierra Club DC Chapter with regard to the FY22 budgets for the Department of Housing and Community Development, the Housing Production Trust Fund, and the Housing Finance Agency. My name is John More and I am a volunteer member of the Chapter’s Clean Energy Committee and Beyond Gas Subcommittee. I am a 50+ year resident of Ward 4 and a lifelong environmental activist. I have also been an active member of Washington Interfaith Network (WIN) since its founding and involved with affordable housing, including WIN’s first affordable homeownership development—Dupont Commons in Anacostia.
The Sierra Club is the nation's oldest and largest environmental advocacy group. We have 3,000 dues-paying-paying members in the District of Columbia. Our top priority is combating climate change within an environmental justice framework that takes into account the need to keep social equity concerns at the core of our efforts. Climate change is adversely affecting disadvantaged communities already and threatens even worse effects in the future. Of particular relevance to our testimony before this Committee is that the Sierra Club has made affordable housing and addressing disparate health outcomes core environmental and racial justice issues.
Healthy Affordable Housing as an Environmental Justice Issue
Lack of affordable housing hurts the resilience of the District’s lower income communities (especially in Wards 7 and 8), where long-time residents are being displaced. Affordability alone is not sufficient to address the need for healthy housing for all DC residents. New affordable housing and renovated affordable housing should employ highly-efficient heat pumps for space and water heating to meet the District’s commitment of zero carbon emissions by 2050. Moreover, transitioning affordable housing from methane gas for heating and cooking is sorely needed because of methane’s adverse health effects, especially in poorer communities with older equipment and a lack of venting.
The Sierra Club welcomes the additional funds that the Mayor’s budget proposes to make available for addressing the District’s goals for creating affordable housing in the coming years. We were glad to see the addition of $400 million to the Housing Production Trust Fund and $42 million of investment in project-sponsor based vouchers to make housing deeply affordable for low-income residents. Other funds specifically addressing affordable housing and homelessness are equally welcome, such as:
- $35 million to address homelessness (Homeward DC), including 758 new permanent supportive housing units for individuals and 347 new permanent supportive housing units for families;
- $102 million to expand and renovate the District’s permanent and temporary supportive housing and shelter services; and
- $67 million to acquire additional emergency and transitional shelter for victims of domestic violence and to acquire properties to convert to deeply affordable and/or permanent supportive housing.
As a member of the Fair Budget Coalition, the Sierra Club strongly supports their FY22 budget priorities and general recommendations on affordable housing. We would only ask that some of their specific funding asks be substantially increased to reflect the Mayor’s budget and out testimony. In order to meaningfully address poverty and racial inequality in the District, the City must invest in the issue areas that are prioritized in the Fair Budget Coalition platform, including affordable housing.
We're glad to see the funds going to the Housing Production Trust Fund from the federal stimulus funds. However, we are concerned by the decrease in local investment. It's important that there be an ongoing commitment from the District not just for affordable housing, but specifically for deeply affordable housing (0-30% of Area Median Income, or AMI). We welcome and support the Mayor’s pairing of the Local Rent Supplement Program (LRSP) with the Trust Fund. In that connection, we also urge the Council to prioritize the long term affordability of Housing Production Trust Fund projects by committing additional funding to the Local Rent Supplement Program (LRSP) operating subsidy. A 25% increase from the Council’s 2021 budget amount of $6.44 million to $8 million would be appropriate, particularly in light of the extreme distress being endured by lower income renters in the District.
With respect to funds in the Committee’s budget area, including especially the substantial funds for the Housing Production Trust Fund, we request that the Committee support the Mayor’s goal that 50% of the funds being devoted to producing deeply affordable units (0-30% of AMI), but that there also be a requirement for funding workforce housing (31-60% of AMI) for those at risk of being driven from living in DC to bring the total to two/thirds affordable. More generally, the Sierra Club supports the long-standing campaign of our partner, the Washington Interfaith Network (WIN), for a 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 approach – a third deeply affordable, a third workforce, and a third market rate – in developments funded by or receiving not only Trust Fund support, but any substantial tax and other incentives from the District.
In addition, we request that the Committee make certain that affordable projects adhere to a policy of “Build First,” that is, that family-sized units be made available for all existing tenants before redevelopment to avoid displacement. The use of vouchers does not address the problem of displacement because of the lack of rentals for DC residents with vouchers. The waiting list for obtaining vouchers is already extremely long. The wait to obtain housing for those with vouchers can be years and in many cases the vouchers can only be used in the Maryland and Virginia suburbs. For years, large numbers of the DC’s limited-income Black and other minority residents – especially those with children – have had to leave the District. We again support WIN’s efforts in this area.
Phasing Out Methane Gas to Meet District’s Climate Commitments
As representatives of the Sierra Club have testified before Council and at Public Service Commission hearings on numerous occasions in recent years, the Sierra Club’s top priority (and now the District’s) of combating climate change has focused on the rapid phasing out of methane gas to meet DC’s climate commitments. Allowing continued use of fossil fuels, usually methane gas, in DC-funded buildings adds to the climate crisis and indoor air pollution. Fracked gas is largely methane, a potent greenhouse gas much more toxic to the. environment than carbon dioxide.
We recommend that the Council make certain that in the funding requirements all new and renovated affordable housing developments and renovations be highly energy efficient and all-electric. Non-fossil fuel heating, especially in new buildings, is economically viable, especially with advances in solar and heat pump technology. To the extent that all-electric buildings could in some cases require subsidies, we recommend that a portion of the $400 million in new funding be expressly allocated to such subsidies. A 2% allocation, for example, would result in $8 million in support for all-electric affordable buildings.
All-Electric Housing to Reduce Indoor Air Pollution
A further benefit of switching to all-electric housing (including electric cooking appliances) is that it would remove a major contributor to indoor air pollution and its adverse health effects. Like any fossil fuel, methane gas gives off pollutants when burned. The resulting mix of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and other pollutants can have serious health ramifications. A large body of evidence shows that NO2 exposure results in increased respiratory symptoms, asthma attacks, and hospital admissions for people with asthma. Research also suggests that long-term average NO2 exposure can increase the risk of diabetes, cancer, and premature mortality. Since many low-income residents already have serious health problems like asthma and heart disease, it is especially important that all new affordable housing units be all-electric, as well as all renovated units, to the extent feasible.
Funding for Mold and Lead Exposure Remediation
Eliminating gas from housing will improve indoor air quality, but there remain long-standing issues of mold and lead exposures that have caused illness for generations. Low-income and Black children are disproportionately affected by poor indoor air quality. Children in Ward 8 are 10 times more likely to go to the hospital because of an asthma attack than children in wealthier parts of DC, according to a 2019 City Paper article.
The Sierra Club has partnered with the DC Chapter of the NAACP to address these environmental health issues in low and moderate income housing. We strongly recommend that this Committee and the Council add at least $2 million to the $102 million in the Mayor’s budget for the District’s permanent and temporary supportive housing and shelter services to ensure that sufficient funds are allocated to mold and lead monitoring and remediation in existing structures. Families and individuals already in need of shelters have suffered unhealthy living conditions for too long.
Conclusion
Thank you, Chairperson Bonds, for the opportunity to testify today. The Sierra Club is glad to see the DC budget putting substantially expanded resources into affordable housing to meet a dire need for low-income DC residents. We look forward to new and renovated affordable housing being all-electric, healthier, and free from methane gas. We look forward to substantial reductions in mold and lead exposure in DC shelters and in all homes. We believe that DC residents should not just be able to stay in the District, but also breathe clean air in their homes and enjoy reduced utility bills through renewable energy and energy efficiency.