Washington, DC – Today, Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development John Falcicchio announced an expansion of the District’s partnership with Landed, a personal finance company aimed at helping public servants afford to buy homes, to all DC government employees. In 2019, the District partnered with Landed to offer DC’s public-school teachers and staff guidance and financial assistance in purchasing a home.
“As we continue our work to make homeownership accessible to families and workers across the income spectrum, we must prioritize avenues that make it easier for our city employees to live near the communities they serve,” said Deputy Mayor Falcicchio. “This expanded partnership with Landed will help us continue to attract and retain the best and brightest to make our city government thrive and ensure that DC continues to be an attractive place to live and work.”
The expanded partnership with DC is Landed’s first expansion into serving local government employees with a major city, which comes on the heels of the company’s recent milestone of helping 500 employees in the education sector nationwide access homeownership through down payment assistance and other homebuying services. Landed’s down payment program and homebuying services have been available to DC educators and staff since late 2019, having helped 25 DC educators purchase a home so far.
“We are thrilled to expand our homebuying support programs beyond educators to begin serving city employees in DC government” said Landed Head of Partnerships Ian Magruder. “As home prices continue to rise in the nation’s capital, it’s critical to help public servants build financial security through home ownership, and we are honored to help uphold those who uphold this community on a daily basis.”
Since its founding in 2015, Landed has helped hundreds of educators purchase homes in the San Francisco, Denver, Los Angeles, San Diego, Honolulu, Seattle, Portland (Ore.), Washington DC, and Boston metro areas.
At the start of her second term, Mayor Bowser set a bold goal to deliver an additional 36,000 units of housing – including at least 12,000 units of affordable housing – by 2025. From January 2019 through March 2020, the District has produced 14,613 units, of which 2,099 are affordable. You can track the District’s progress toward #36000by2025 at open.dc.gov/36000by2025.
Mayor Bowser reaffirmed her commitment to investments in affordable housing with her Fiscal Year 2021 budget, recognizing that both short- and long-term efforts must be ongoing to preserve housing affordability and stability for all District residents. The Mayor’s FY21 budget includes an investment of $100 million in the Housing Production Trust Fund – for the sixth consecutive year – and a $1 million investment in the Housing Preservation Fund.
Today’s announcement was made at the annual March Madness event and is part of March Madness Week in the District. The week features a series of economic development events and announcements, focused on Health/Housing, Opportunity, Prosperity, and Equity.