-Todd St Hill

May 31, 2025

D.C. housing providers, tenants advocates, and residents testified before the Council's Housing Committee to share feedback on Mayor Bowser’s proposed RENTAL Act and Eviction Reform Amendment Act.

Housing providers and tenants advocates testified at a hearing of the D.C. Council Committee on Housing this week. The hearing of the committee gathered advice and opinions from D.C. residents,  and housing experts  about the D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s proposed Rebalancing Expectations for Neighbors, Tenants and Landlords (RENTAL) Act and Eviction Reform Amendment Act Provisions Act.

The two bills were proposed earlier this year and aim is to protect and strengthen Washington D.C.’s housing ecosystem according to a press release from the Mayor’s office earlier this year. 

Richard Jordan, a D.C. resident who gave testimony against the RENTAL Act  said this wasn’t the first time investors have decided they knew what was best for DC housing and not the District’s residents, citing the 1830 Indian Removal act and    D.C. 's 1975 Community Development Act.

“We are funding our own disinvestment, you might as well call it the ‘Black families removal act,” Jordan said. 

Harrison Miller,Vice President of Gelman Management said he was in favor of the proposed RENTAL Act, sounded the alarm about failed attempts to work with government agencies to evict tenants who they determined violated the terms of their lease. Miller spent a year attempting to evict a tenant who failed to pay rent, was harassing neighbors and was selling drugs on the property.   

“We have a resident who lives in completely unsanitary conditions, frequently disturbs neighbors, openly sells and uses drugs on the property, and does not pay rent.” 

For-profit and nonprofit housing providers agreed that the city is facing a housing crisis, but it’s not just unruly renters who are delinquent on their rent payments . Housing  providers said developers are passing up the nation's capital for less regulated housing markets like Northern Virginia and Maryland. The reason, according to housing providers is D.C.’s Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) laws. 

When a multifamily unit goes up for sale, tenant associations, under TOPA, have the first right to purchase the property, or determine the terms of the sale and who can purchase property. The policy is widely understood to be a form of housing protection unique to D.C. because of its impact on housing preservation and by offering tenants the power to negotiate terms in which potential owners can purchase their property. 

Micheal Cohen Senior Policy Analyst for D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute said TOPA is vital for tenant’s rights in D.C.’s complex housing market, and it works, but passing the RENTAL Act and Evictions Reform Amendment Act would only tighten the stranglehold the unaffordable housing market has on renters not balance it.

“They do nothing to tackle the affordability crisis that tenants are facing, and instead strip away TOPA rights, weaken tenant protections, remove critical eviction requirements, and give tenants less time to stave off pending evictions,” Cohen said. 

Over 44% of D.C. residents are rent burdened and the number jumps to over 50% for the District’s Black residents, according to D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute, which defines “rent burdened” as paying more than 30% of income toward rent, something that has not changed since 2021, according to a study from D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute. 

Councilmember Robert White, who chairs the Committee on Housing raised concern regarding language in the RENTAL Act that would expedite eviction proceedings if a tenant is arrested or charged with a crime on or near their rental property, before they are even convicted of a said crime. 

“Folks get arrested all the time, that are ultimately found innocent,” councilmember White said. 

The hearing came just a day after Mayor Muriel Bowser unveiled her proposed budget to members of City Council. The budget which the administration billed as the Mayor Bowser's growth plan outlined at least $250 million cuts including cuts to programs for fiscal year 2026 like and comes at a time of fiscal crisis imposed by congress. The proposed budget will continue to fund the Housing Production Fund and will preserve TOPA funding. 

The Wednesday hearing went on for a marathon 15 hours. The city council has yet to vote on the Eviction Reform Amendment Act and the RENTAL Act.