Closing the Racial & Economic Gap in Housing

High quality housing is the first step to good health, educational achievement, financial security, 

and social connection. More than 50,000 people in DC can’t afford that housing. 

Affordable Housing Shortages Slow Progress Towards Equity

Without high-quality, affordable housing people’s ability to stay healthy, learn new skills, secure decent work, and connect with loved ones are limited and their quality of life is reduced.

Limited access to high-quality, stable housing can:

  • Reduce school readiness
  • Interrupt learning
  • Increase asthma related emergencies
  • Increase depressive symptoms
  • Decrease job performance
  • Increase difficulty of getting to work
  • See how housing impacts health, education, and employment

    Profit-first Housing Increases Finanical Insecurity for Many

    The profit-first housing model has put high-quality housing out of reach for increasingly more families and made it harder for them to cover living costs, save, and invest.

    Profit-first housing in
    DC has led to:

  • A loss of 37,980 units of deeply affordable rental housing between 2008 and 2018
  • 47% of renters in DC being housing cost-burned (paying more than 30% of their income for housing)
  • Learn more about the availability of affordable housing in DC

    Systemic Racist Housing Policies Still Cause Harm Today

    Black and Brown residents still confront the historic harms of racist policies like restrictive deed covenants and redlining on their ability to achieve housing security or homeownership.

    Racial housing disparities that still exist today include:

  • The number of Black and White renters that are housing cost-burdened in DC
  • The $355,000 wealth gap between White and Black homeowners and the $325,900 wealth gap between White and Latino homeowners
  • Read a brief history on DC's discriminatory housing practices

    Closing the Racial & Economic Gap in Housing

    We envision a world where everyone has equitable access to housing in diverse and vibrant communities. 

    See how we pursue our mission to make that a reality. 

    In 2022, there was a shortage of more than 62,000 homes affordable to low and extremely low-income households.

    We provide deeply affordable housing to close that gap. 97% of people living in Mi Casa developed housing earn low to moderate incomes with 82% earning low or extremely low incomes.

     

    Because of systemic racist federal laws and bank policies, Black, Latino, and Indigenous people make up a large section of DC residents that cannot access rental or homeownership opportunities that are affordable to them. 

    We work with immigrant, Black, and Latino communities to close that housing gap. Currently, 40% of people living in a Mi Casa developed home identify as Latino and 49% identify as Black.

    Our work is community led and the communities we work with are diverse. They are made up of immigrants and multi-generation Washingtonians. They speak multiple languages and range from young families to seniors. What holds these diverse groups together and makes the work successful is our collective interest in affordable, high-quality housing.

    Centering the Power of Community

    We Leverage TOPA for
    Community-led Development

    Our work is made possible by DC’s Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA), a law that gives tenants the power to decide what happens to their building when the landlord decides to sell. 

    Whether it’s a co-op we helped to develop or a rental building we purchased and renovated, the residents in each of those buildings led our process, deciding what form of housing they wanted, and what type of improvements they would like to see all along the way. 

    Learn more about how we leverage TOPA in our work >

    We Center Inclusion
    at Every Level

    Immigrant founded, we believe in holistically integrating the needs of Black, Latino, and other immigrant communities into the way we work. From our staff to our Board of Directors, we have team members who are immigrants, multi-lingual, residents of Mi Casa developed housing, and multi-generation Washingtonians. 

    Learn more about our team >