For Immediate Release
Contact: Communications Director, Samantha Graubard
Sgraubard@dccouncil.gov
PRESS RELEASE: COUNCILMEMBER PINTO INTRODUCES PACKAGE TO INCREASE HOUSING PRODUCTION & AFFORDABILITY IN DC
Washington DC — Today, Ward 2 Councilmember Brooke Pinto introduced a legislative package to build more housing, increase housing affordability, and boost homeownership in the District. The “Housing Opportunity, Mobility, Equity, and Stability (HOMES) Omnibus Amendment Act of 2026” (HOMES Act) will increase housing production and increase pathways to homeownership for DC residents in order to stem the rising cost of housing.
The HOMES Act will increase housing production and homeownership by:
- Creating a new pilot pathway to homeownership by allowing residents who are close to ownership-ready but still need more support before taking on a mortgage by allowing them to take part in a lease-to-ownership model.
- Instituting a five-year mortgage interest tax credit for first-time homebuyers.
- Streamlining the process for homeowners to subdivide residential lots, which will create more space for new housing.
- Creating a Housing Acceleration Fund to help speed up construction of new, mixed-income rental housing for shovel-ready projects to increase supply for residents.
- Improving construction permitting by forming the Permit Process Advisory Council to work collaboratively with the Department of Buildings to make the permitting process faster and clearer to accelerate construction timelines.
- Making smart and creative changes to the housing tax increment financing (TIF) program creating a noncontiguous DC affordable housing TIF program, which uses future revenue from property taxes to pay for building new housing and housing preservation.
- Establishing a new dedicated program to transform vacant, abandoned, or blighted properties into affordable housing units.
“We have an affordable housing crisis in DC, and we have to take bold action to make homeownership accessible for more Washingtonians, stabilize rent, and make it easier to build new types of housing to help bring costs down,” said Councilmember Pinto. “My HOMES Act will help ensure more residents can afford to live and stay in the District — everyone deserves a place to call home."
"As D.C. continues to grapple with a housing shortage, this legislation takes meaningful, practical steps to expand supply. By creating a lot subdivision process and predevelopment grant program, this bill could create housing units in areas of the city where development has been low,” said Emilia Calma, Director of the Wilkes Initiative for Housing Policy, D.C. Policy Center. “Cities like Portland have demonstrated that enabling more flexible use of residential land, including lot subdivision, can meaningfully grow housing stock and lower home prices. D.C. would be wise to follow that lead.”
You can read the HOMES Act here.
