This article explores tenants purchasing a building in D.C. Texas is expanding a homeless employment program, and Los Angeles homeless encampments spring up in the Mojave Desert. Under Washington, D.C.’s Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA), residents of an apartment complex in the Shepherd Park neighborhood have secured financing crucial for their ownership transition. The project, facilitated by $16.3 million in tax-exempt bonds from the District of Columbia Housing Finance Agency, alongside $1.8 million in Low Income Housing Tax Credits and an $11.7 million loan from D.C.’s Housing Trust Fund, aims to create 64 affordable apartments catering to residents earning between 30-60% of the Area Median Income. 

Harris County announced an expansion of the Employ2Empower program, originally launched in 2021 with $150,000 in funding from the American Rescue Plan. The program employs unhoused Houston residents at $15 per hour to perform tasks such as cleaning county-owned buildings and graffiti removal. It provides daily employment to 20 people, with a total of 79 individuals having been paid through the initiative since its inception. Following a unanimous vote from the county’s commissioners, the program’s budget will now increase significantly to $21 million.

In Mojave Desert, north of Los Angeles County, unsheltered homeless individuals have settled after being displaced without being offered adequate housing solutions. Many of these residents were originally driven out of Lancaster, a city in L.A. County, due to encampment sweeps, camping bans, and citations for loitering, effectively leaving them stranded in remote desert areas. According to a reports, more than 200 people settled in an encampment under harsh conditions, with severe shortages of water and minimal protection from summer heat waves posing significant risks of heatstroke and other health hazards. The crisis highlights the need for more compassionate and effective strategies to address homelessness in the area.

https://nextcity.org/urbanist-news/housing-in-brief-tenant-owned-housing-boost-in-washington-dc