I've spent the last decade helping people buy homes in DC, Maryland, and Virginia. When someone tells me DC cares about homeownership, I tell them to read the budget.
Not the press releases. Not the Mayor's housing goals. The actual line items, the statutes, the bond issuances, and the program performance data. Because budgets don't spin. They allocate. And DC's budget allocates almost everything to rental housing and almost nothing to helping people own.
What follows is every number I could find, every program broken down, and a scorecard that makes the disparity impossible to ignore. If I'm wrong, the numbers will show it. They didn't.
The $1.1 billion question.
DC's FY2025 affordable housing budget totals $1.1 billion in local funds. That sounds massive. It is massive. But look at where it actually goes:
Homeownership gets roughly 1.5-2% of the total housing budget. The rest is rental infrastructure. DC doesn't have a housing budget problem. It has a homeownership budget problem.
And that 1.5-2% is generous. HPAP's exact line item isn't publicly broken out in budget documents, which tells you something about how much attention it gets. The $1.1 billion figure comes from the DC Council Budget Office.
The law is the first problem.
Before we even get to spending decisions, the statute itself is tilted. DC Code 42-2802 establishes the Housing Production Trust Fund, DC's primary housing investment vehicle at $100-110M/year. Here's what the law actually says:
Rental gets a guaranteed minimum written into law. Homeownership gets aspirational language about "maximizing" it. Rental waivers auto-approve. Homeownership waivers auto-deny. The 15-year affordability period on ownership units sounds like a better deal until you realize DC's median home value hit $761,465 in 2024, up 385% from $157,200 in 2000. Fifteen years isn't enough to build generational wealth in that market.
And the HPTF's FY2026 budget included a specific $694,710 increase to support multifamily loan disbursement. No equivalent for single-family. In FY2026, Council earmarked $30 million for affordable rental preservation. Homeownership preservation earmark: zero.
Every homeownership program, ranked.
DC has exactly four homeownership assistance programs. Here's what each one actually delivers versus what it promises.
HPAP
DHCDLoan terms: 0% interest, deferred for low-income. 5-year deferral then 40-year amortization for moderate-income (up to 110% MFI).
Who qualifies: First-time buyers only. Must be primary residence in DC. Must complete housing counseling. DC residents get priority; non-residents employed in DC 1+ year can apply.
Funding model: First-come, first-served until money runs out each fiscal year.
The reality: $202K sounds incredible until you do the math against a $761K median home price. The program serves hundreds per year in a city where thousands need help. HPAP has run out of money three years running. The funding dashboard shows money depleting mid-year. And DHCD's processing time averages 90+ days, killing deals in the pipeline.
DC Open Doors
DCHFAHow it works: Below-market first trust mortgages + deferred DPA loan (repaid only on sale/refi/move within 5 years). First-time AND repeat buyers qualify.
Current rates (April 2026): FHA 6.125-6.750% | Conventional 6.500-7.000% (depending on DPA and AMI level).
The reality: 1,800 homeowners over 10 years is 180 per year. DC has roughly 700,000 residents. The rates with DPA (6.75-7.00%) are barely below market in many periods. Compare: Virginia Housing originated 4,057 loans in a single year using zero taxpayer dollars.
EAHP
DHCDWho qualifies: DC government employees ONLY. Educators added in FY2022. First responders and educators get an additional $10K recoverable grant (5-year service obligation) + up to $15K matching grant. No income cap.
The reality: A teacher or firefighter gets $35K max. In a $761K market, that's 4.6% of the purchase price. The program hasn't been meaningfully updated since FY2018. Budget is flat at ~$6M. If you don't work for DC government, this program doesn't exist for you.
DC4ME
DCHFAWho qualifies: Full-time DC government employees only, including public charter schools. Zero-percent deferred subordinate loans, reduced-rate first mortgages, optional DPA.
The reality: Even more restrictive than EAHP. Government workers only. No public volume data available. No public budget figures. When a program can't tell you how many people it serves, that tells you something.
Total DC homeownership capacity:
- Combined annual budget/volume: ~$70-75M estimated
- Combined families served: ~500/year (FY2022-23, all DCHFA programs)
- Two of four programs are restricted to government employees
Five hundred families per year. In a city of 700,000 people facing a median home price of $761K.
Now look at the rental side.
While DCHFA's single-family division helps ~500 families/year become homeowners, the multifamily division operates at a completely different scale. These are just the bond issuances I could document:
DCHFA multifamily bonds: a partial list.
That's over $250 million in multifamily rental bonds from just six projects across two fiscal years. Now zoom out:
DCHFA's 45-year track record: over 50,000 affordable housing units financed. The overwhelming majority are rental. Multifamily bonds outstanding as of 9/30/25: $384 million. FY2025 tax-exempt bond issuance: $238.7 million, virtually all multifamily rental.
The infrastructure to do single-family lending at scale exists at DCHFA. They have the credit rating (AA-), the MBS capability, and the lender network through DC Open Doors. They've chosen not to use it.
Programs DC let die.
FRPP (First Right to Purchase Program)
Gave tenants, disproportionately Black and brown, the opportunity to purchase their buildings. One of DC's few programs that created a pathway from renting to owning.
DHCD has not accepted applications in more than 5 years. The program is no longer funded.
HPAP Enhancement / NSP3
Provided additional homeownership funds in targeted neighborhoods hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis.
Expired. Not renewed.
Inclusionary Zoning (For-Sale Component)
Was supposed to require homeownership units alongside rental in new developments. The program has produced ~4,800 units in 17 years. Every documented unit is a rental apartment.
Zero homeownership units documented in 17 years of the program's existence. DC Policy Center recommends phasing out IZ entirely.
What doesn't exist at all.
DC has no program for:
- Existing homeowner preservation (keeping people in homes they already own)
- Homeowner rehabilitation at scale (small repair programs exist but are chronically underfunded)
- Wealth-building through ownership (no equity-sharing model, no community land trust at scale, no cooperative ownership pipeline)
- Down payment savings matching (no DC equivalent of an IDA program for homeownership)
- Targeted homeownership in Wards 7 & 8 (where Black homeownership is collapsing fastest)
Black homeownership is collapsing.
While DC talks about closing the racial wealth gap, the numbers are going the wrong direction.
Black homeownership rate in DC
Black homeowners east of the Anacostia
Mayor Bowser pledged 20,000 new Black homeowners by 2030. But the budget doesn't match the rhetoric. The one program that created a rent-to-own pathway for Black and brown tenants (FRPP) has been defunded for five years. The median DC home price is up 385% since 2000. And Black homeownership dropped 14 percentage points in 19 years.
DC's housing production pipeline is also collapsing. Multifamily permits dropped from 7,234 in 2022 to 1,239 in 2024, an 83% decline. Each affordable unit funded in 2022 cost over $530,000. And the DC Policy Center notes that "most residential areas in Wards where housing production has been low are almost entirely zoned for single-family homes," meaning the zoning itself blocks new homeownership-style development.
The federal cliff.
The local picture is bad. The federal picture may make it worse.
Community Development Block Grants, sent to 1,250+ cities. Proposed elimination.
Primary federal tool for affordable housing construction. Proposed elimination.
Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity Program. 75% cut proposed.
Housing Choice Vouchers: new work requirements + 60-month time limit proposed.
DC also faces a $1.1 billion local budget gap driven by federal workforce reductions that lowered revenue estimates by over $1 billion across three years. The Mayor already cut $250 million in "unsustainable" programs in FY2026. Emergency Rental Assistance took steep cuts. Homeownership programs were not prioritized for protection.
If federal cuts materialize, DC loses supplemental funding, and remaining local dollars face even more pressure to fund rental programs at the expense of homeownership.
The million-person question.
DC wants to be a million-person city. The current growth model won't get there. Here's what the model actually looks like:
DC's current growth model: Import young renters. Price them out when they start families. Export them to Maryland and Virginia as homeowners. Replace them with the next wave of young renters. Repeat.
This is not a path to a million people. It's a revolving door. Young professionals move to DC for the energy, the jobs, and the culture. They rent. They hit their early 30s, get married, start thinking about kids and equity and space. They look at DC's $761K median home price, the 1.5% of the housing budget that goes to homeownership, the programs that run out of money every year, and they do the math. Then they move to Arlington. Or Montgomery County. Or Prince William. Or Frederick.
DC keeps the tax revenue from their 20s and loses the tax revenue from their 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s. It keeps the renter years and exports the homeowner years. It captures the consumption phase and loses the wealth-building phase.
A million-person city needs people who stay. People stay when they own. Homeownership is the anchor. The budget needs to reflect that, or the million-person goal is a talking point, not a plan.
The numbers in this article aren't opinions. They're line items, statutes, bond issuances, and program performance data pulled from DC's own agencies. If DC's leadership disagrees with the conclusion, the counter-evidence should be just as specific.
Have a response? I want to hear it: Book a conversation.
Christian Kosko is a mortgage advisor that founded the Mortgages in the District team of Fairway Home Mortgage, licensed in DC, MD, and VA. He has helped guide over 700 families with more than $420M in mortgage needs since 2016.
Christian Kosko | NMLS# 1415795 | Fairway Home Mortgage
NMLS# 2289 | Equal Housing Lender | Licensed in DC, MD, VA
Sources: DC Council Budget Office, DC Code 42-2802, DHCD, DCHFA BondLink, DC CFO Budget Documents, DC Policy Center, DCFPI, CNHED, Axios DC, Washington City Paper, Redfin. Full source list available on request.