Header Photo: The Fuller is one of four buildings for development in Phase I, and one of seven supported by the newly announced grants. An addition at The Fuller will enable Jubilee to enroll more students in its Early Start (K–3rd) afterschool and summer programs. Courtesy of Jubilee Housing
Jubilee Housing Awarded Nearly $2.2 Million in Grants from Amazon Housing Equity Fund and National Fair Housing Alliance
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — Jubilee Housing has been awarded a $2 million grant from the Amazon Housing Equity Fund and a $185,000 grant from the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA)’s Inclusive Communities Fund to further the organization’s mission to create and preserve justice housing — high quality, deeply affordable housing with supportive services in Washington, DC’s resource-rich Ward 1 neighborhoods of Adams Morgan and Mount Pleasant.
“We are grateful to the Amazon Housing Equity Fund and the National Fair Housing Alliance’s Inclusive Communities Fund for these grants, which will help us continue to provide justice housing to families who face the greatest structural barriers to finding a home they can afford in a location where they can thrive,” said Jim Knight, President and CEO of Jubilee Housing. “Approximately two-thirds of Jubilee’s units are reserved for households making 30% or less than DC’s median family income, or just $43,000 for a family of four.”
The Amazon Housing Equity Fund’s $2 million grant will support Jubilee’s Phase I Project, which will renovate four properties totaling 118 units in Adams Morgan: The Ritz, The Mozart, The Fuller, and The Marietta. These renovations will ensure properties remain high quality and will include updated kitchens, bathrooms, and building accessibility. The project will also install solar panels that provide credits directly to residents through a partnership with New Partners Community Solar, PEPCO, and DC’s Solar for All program. A similar program already in place at Jubilee’s Maycroft building sees an average monthly credit of $40–$50 on residents’ utility bills.
Phase I will also include the redevelopment of spaces for Jubilee’s onsite supportive services, a critical pillar of Jubilee’s justice housing model. The ground floor space at The Ritz will be reconfigured to better host a growing slate of programs focused on housing stability, food security, financial empowerment, health and wellness, and community building. An addition at The Fuller will enable Jubilee to enroll more students in its Early Start (K–3rd) afterschool and summer programs.
“We are delighted to provide our support to Jubilee Housing so that these 118 homes can stay affordable,” said Senthil Sankaran, principal of the Amazon Housing Equity Fund. “The fact that these homes will remain deeply affordable and that they will be adjacent to services that will help residents thrive makes this an ideal match for the Housing Equity Fund.”
Phase I renovations are expected to begin in December 2023.
NFHA’s Inclusive Communities Fund grants were made available as part of last year’s historic settlement with Fannie Mae that provided $35 million to promote homeownership, neighborhood stabilization, access to credit, property rehabilitation, and residential development. The Inclusive Communities Fund Grant Program invests fair housing settlement funds intended for community relief into neighborhoods or populations destabilized by housing discrimination.
“Too many neighborhoods have been destabilized by systemic housing discrimination. We are ready to invest in these areas to rebuild communities of color,” said Lisa Rice, President and CEO of NFHA. “By partnering with these organizations, we will revitalize block after block, the neighborhoods most impacted by the 2008 Mortgage Crisis, and build more inclusive and equitable communities. We look forward to working with our partners to ensure everyone has access to safe, sustainable, and fair housing choices and well-resourced neighborhoods.”
NHFA’s $185,000 grant to Jubilee will support the development planning for three properties in the Mount Pleasant Preservation project, which will create 135 new units of deeply affordable housing in the vibrant Mount Pleasant neighborhood. The buildings were acquired by Jubilee in October 2022 through a partnership with tenants under DC’s Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act. Before renovations take place, Jubilee staff is meeting with residents to assess each household’s composition, which will inform architectural design and unit reconfiguration to match resident needs. Jubilee will use a portion of the NHFA funding to support project staffing costs and architectural design work ahead of building renovations, which are expected to begin in 2024.
About Jubilee Housing
Jubilee Housing builds diverse, compassionate communities that create opportunities for everyone to thrive. We do this by building justice through housing — justice housingTM. Homes are deeply affordable for families with low incomes and those facing the greatest barriers to housing, have onsite and nearby services to address additional systemic barriers to thriving beyond housing, and are located in resource rich neighborhoods with access to high performing schools, transit, grocery stores, and employment. For more information, visit www.jubileehousing.org.
About the Amazon Housing Equity Fund
Amazon’s Housing Equity Fund is a more than $2 billion commitment to help preserve and create affordable, inclusive housing developments through low-rate loans and grants to housing partners, traditional and non-traditional public agencies, and minority-led organizations.
About the National Fair Housing Alliance
The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) is the country’s only national civil rights organization dedicated solely to eliminating all forms of housing and lending discrimination and ensuring equal opportunities for all people. As the trade association for over 170 fair housing and justice-centered organizations throughout the U.S. and its territories, NFHA works to dismantle longstanding barriers to equity and build diverse, inclusive, well-resourced communities.
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