CNHED Public Website - Continuum of Housing Campaign

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The Continuum of Housing refers to a full range of housing options, from supportive housing for the homeless to traditional homeownership and everything in-between. The primary obstacle to providing these options for all residents is that the market does not provide the type of housing needed at a cost many can afford. Please take the time to view CNHED's new video Housing for a Better Tomorrow. The powerful stories of District residents shown in the video capture the importance of a continuum of affordable housing and how it changes lives every day.

CNHED has also released its report An Affordable Continuum of Housing...Key to a Better City focusing on the obstacle of providing a Continuum of Housing that is affordable to all. The report argues for placing a much higher priority on providing housing when allocating the District's resources, emphasizes the importance of each housing option along the continuum and concludes with key recommendations for accomplishing this goal.

A resident of the District earning a minimum wage of $8.25 per hour would need to work 153 hours per week to afford the 2010 fair market rent for a two-bedroom apartment
47,500 households in Washington, DC had severe housing burdens in 2007, spending half or more of their income on housing. More than 26,000 households are currently on the waiting list for public housing or housing vouchers.

Local funding for affordable housing has been cut by a third in the last two years, one of the severest reductions in funding of any major DC program.

The FY 2010 budget for affordable housing is equal to only $1.33 out of every $100 of the District’s locally funded budget.

Below you'll find key public policy reccomendations from An Affordable Continuum of Housing... Key to A Better City. A full list of recommendations to raise the priority of affordable housing in Washington,DC can be found in Chapter 5 - Policy Framework and Recommendations.

Adopt Policy and Process Framework
The District should adopt public policies and processes essential to providing affordable housing in the District of Columbia that will:
     Develop and sustain a Continuum of Affordable Housing
     Create and maintain Neighborhoods of Opportunity
     Engage a Network of Public and Private Resource Partners

Increase Local Funding
The District should raise the priority level of affordable housing in its locally funded budget by dedicating $255 million, or $4.26 per $100, to that purpose as recommended by the Comprehensive Housing Strategy Task Force versus the $80 million, or $1.33 per $100, it currently spends.

Strengthen Locally Funded Continuum of Housing Program Tools
The District should use this increased local funding to strengthen five major affordable housing program tools: Housing Production Trust Fund, Home Purchase Assistance Program, First Right Purchase Assistance Program, Local Rent Supplement Program and Housing First Fund. This paper proposes a five-year action plan for each of the program tools to reach the $255 million level of total funding recommended by the Comprehensive Housing Strategy Task Force.

Improve Practices and Process
The District should facilitate the efficient and effective use of limited public resources by improving the delivery system for affordable housing. It should:
     Implement the Comprehensive Housing Strategy Task Force recommendations
     Improve practices for financing affordable housing
     Increase transparency

Join the Campaign by signing on as a Campaign Supporter!
Through grassroots organizing, the Continuum of Housing Campaign will enlist the support of hundreds of District residents and workers who believe affordable housing should be made a much higher priority. Only with an outpouring of public support from residents in every ward of the city will there be any possibility of changing the current low priority level for affordable housing in the District of Columbia.

Coalition for Nonprofit Housing & Economic Development
1432 U Street NW, 1st Floor Annex, Washington, DC 20009