DC At Issue - November 2023

Multifamily/Commercial

Public Safety Update: AOBA Successfully Advocates for Expedited Court Process and Testifies on Public Safety Bill

This year has seen a significant spike in violence and criminal activity across the District, affecting multifamily and commercial members alike. In response, AOBA’s DC Government Affairs team has made advocating for and achieving policy changes to bolster public safety our primary advocacy objective. Already, AOBA's efforts have resulted in the creation of an expedited eviction process for cases involving a range of dangerous behavior. This new process comes in the form of a change by the DC Superior Court to the landlord-tenant complaint form. Cases involving the types of conduct outlined below will have an initial hearing set within 30 days.

Additionally, the Mayor and the Council are working on multiple pieces of legislation to tackle public safety issues more broadly.  The Council's Committee on Judiciary & Public Safety, Chaired by Councilmember Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2), recently held a public hearing on the “Addressing Crime through Targeted Interventions and Violence Enforcement Act.” Some of the provisions of the Act include:
 

• Requiring individuals on probation, supervised release, or parole following a conviction for a gun offense to submit to searches by law enforcement upon request when they are in a public place;
• Creating a Prearrest Diversion Task Force charged with developing recommendations for increasing the use of prearrest diversion;
• Requiring that sentences for possession of extremely dangerous weapons like machine guns be stacked on top of baseline penalties, not run concurrently, and creating a new offense of unlawful discarding of firearms and ammunition; and
• Amending the definition of carjacking to include situations where the victim is not in or immediately next to their vehicle.

 
AOBA testified at this hearing in support of the legislation. That testimony can be accessed here.     
 
Muriel Bowser has also moved her own separate and extensive legislative package called the Addressing Crime Trends Act, which will receive a hearing later this month. 
 
Member Action: In response to the raft of public safety incidents in and around member properties, Staff created a Public Safety Incident Submission Form that residential and commercial members can use to share information with AOBA. Members are advised to share the form with their property management staff and encourage them to submit information as these incidents occur. This information will continue to be highlighted with the Council as Public Safety bills move through the legislative process.

Tax Revision Commission Issues Tentative Proposals, Will Make Formal Recommendations by End of Year

DC’s Tax Revision Commission (TRC) will be making a set of formal tax policy recommendations at the end of this year. The Commission recently issued and is currently analyzing a tentative suite of policy options.
 
AOBA’s Government Affairs team participated in a Town Hall this past Monday on this initial set of proposals.  Staff expressed overall support for proposals to lower the commercial property tax and to provide vacant commercial properties additional time to market their properties before being subjected to the vacant property tax rate.
 
However, we stood vehemently against any efforts to increase property tax rates on multifamily properties to offset revenue reductions in the commercial sector and stressed the importance of offering incentives to build more affordable housing.
 
The proposals will now move to a “Chairman’s Markup” slated for release later this month. 
 
Member Action: The best source for detailed information on meetings, presentations, and the 80+ tax proposals before the TRC is the TRC webpage. We encourage members to review all the proposals and flag any that you support or have concerns with to the Government Affairs team via email.

Council Confirms Multiple Mayoral Nominees as Bowser Reshapes her Administration

The Council confirmed a number of Mayoral nominees on Tuesday, November 6: Pamela Smith as Chief of Police, Nicole Rogers as the Chief Building Official, Brian Hanlon as Director of the Department of Buildings, and Tiffany Crow as Director of the Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection.
 
-  The Council unanimously confirmed Acting Police Chief Pamela Smith. With her confirmation, she became the first African-American woman to serve in the position. Chief Smith comes to the District from the federal government and has three decades of experience in law enforcement at various levels.
 
-  Nicole Rogers replaces Clarence Garrett Whitescarver, who retired as Chief Building Official this summer. Ms. Rogers has served in the DC Government since 2011, holding various positions within the DC Department of Consumer & Regulatory Affairs (DCRA), the Office of Risk Management, and the DC Department of Buildings (DOB). Ms. Rogers has been confirmed to a five-year term and will serve independently of the Director of DOB per the rules enacted as part of the breakup of DCHA into two separate agencies.
 
-  Brian Hanlon was appointed as DOB's Acting Director by Mayor Muriel Bowser on May 8, 2023. He becomes the first permanent Director in DOB's brief history. Director Hanlon, who met with the members of AOBA’s leadership upon his initial appointment this summer, served the District as the first Director of the city’s Department of General Services (DGS) under former Mayor Vincent C. Gray. Prior to his current position, he worked in the private sector, including time with an AOBA member company from 2019 to 2021.
 
-  Tiffany Crow was appointed as Acting Director of DLCP on September 7, 2023. Like Hanlon, Crow now holds the distinction of becoming the first permanent director of DLCP.  Director Crow previously served as Senior Advisor and Counsel to the Associate Director of Supervision, Enforcement, and Fair Lending at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from 2012 to 2019. She also served as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Administrative Officer for DCRA, and Associate Chief Technology Officer at the Office of the Chief Technology Officer.
 
Following this latest round of confirmations, Mayor Bowser has begun to reshape her administration. AOBA’s Government Affairs team will continue to communicate valuable opportunities for members to engage in scheduled events with these executive-level agencies through At Issue, the AOBA Advisor weekly events rundown, AOBA Connect, and separate event marketing emails. Members with questions are asked to reach out to the Government Affairs team via email.

Multifamily

AOBA Hosts Bridge Series Webinar with DCHA on Voucher Program

AOBA worked with DC’s Housing Authority and a focus group of AOBA members this past year to identify the most significant issues members face when engaging with the agency. This work culminated in a “Spooktacular” Bridge Series event with DCHA on October 31. The webinar with DCHA staff and subsequent Q&A focused on the new rent reasonableness process, the appeals process for voucher rent determinations, and the new voucher program web portal.
 
Member Action: If you missed the event, you can access the presentation slides, which include contact information for agency staff, here. If there is an agency with which you would like AOBA’s help interfacing, please email AOBA’s Policy Communications Director Alex Rossello at arossello@aoba-metro.org. Keep an eye out for our next Bridge Series event with DC’s Department of Health and Human Services next month.