More than a third of D.C. landlords have rental delinquencies exceeding two years, as city lawmakers drag their feet on ending pandemic eviction protections, the Small Multifamily Owners Association reported this week.
The association, which represents the city’s multi-dwelling tenements, found in a survey of 621 landlords that 35% reported tenants not paying rent for more than two years, with arrears climbing to $1 million.
The survey found that 58% of providers delayed or canceled maintenance and capital improvements as a result.
Dean Hunter, the association’s CEO, joined several landlords Thursday in urging the D.C. Council’s Committee on Housing to pass legislation requiring an initial eviction hearing within 60 days of a nonpayment complaint.
“A deadline does not tell a judge how to decide a case,” Mr. Hunter said. “It does not favor either party. It ensures that disputes over possession reach the process while real remedies still exist.”
Yanire Brana said she and her late husband rented a small apartment to a woman who stopped paying rent for nearly a year and refused to leave.
They initiated eviction proceedings in 2023, but faced long court delays as Mr. Brana died of colon cancer and his wife struggled to care for their two children. Ms. Brana said the renter now has the apartment, a job and a car.
“It’s very unfair that there is no support for landlords, and that after three years there’s no way I’m going to get paid,” Ms. Brana said. “I’m not a big investor; I’m a regular citizen.”
Officials at MRP Realty said three of their D.C. properties are accruing $132,000 a month in unpaid rent.
“An earlier hearing date helps residents understand that failure to pay rent is a serious issue,” said Matthew Robinson, MRP’s principal. The company manages more than 5,000 multi-family units in Wards 5, 6 and 7.
Patrick McAnaney, a member of the Housing Production Trust Fund Advisory Board who consults with the mayor on affordable housing, said it will take “years of work” for evictions to catch up.
“We are essentially in trial-and-error mode now as we try to climb out of this crisis,” said Mr. McAnaney, development director for Somerset Development Company, which operates more than 1,000 units in Wards 1, 4 and 6.
The Housing Committee held the hearing for feedback on the Housing Investment Protection Act of 2026, which seeks to streamline eviction procedures. The act will undergo markups and requires two successful votes by the full D.C. Council before going to the mayor for approval.
Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, at-large Democrat, introduced the act on behalf of Mayor Muriel Bowser. She originally included a 45-day hearing deadline in her proposed RENTAL Act last year, but the council stripped it out of the final law it approved.
Council member Robert White, at-large Democrat and committee chairman, said the council has addressed “almost every single request” from landlords over the past three years.
He estimated that completed evictions rose from 1,967 in fiscal 2024 to 2,614 in fiscal 2025, both up from 1,460 in 2016. He also noted that the Senate confirmed six D.C. Superior Court justices last month, helping address a judicial vacancy that has slowed evictions.
“We cannot allow longer timelines to create a false narrative that the District is not evicting residents for non-payment of rent,” Mr. White said during the hearing.
Council member Brooke Pinto, Ward 2 Democrat, cited federal funding cuts.
“I also want to note how frustrating it has been to see a Congress hold flat the funding for our courts over the last several years, even as we’ve seen a demand grow, and last year passed a budget that will lead to a $20 million reduction in our courts,” Ms. Pinto said.
Opposing evictions
Those speaking against the bill included Mel Zahnd, supervising attorney for Legal Aid DC.
“Legal Aid has already seen repeated efforts by landlords of affordable buildings to clear out current tenants so they can engage in large-scale construction projects to add new, higher-priced units,” Mr. Zahnd said.
According to Legal Aid DC, roughly 20% of eviction cases are resolved at initial hearings, which are conducted virtually.
Makenna Osborn, a housing policy attorney at Children’s Law Center, said there are roughly 6,000 extremely low-income renter households at risk of homelessness citywide. She endorsed amending the act to strengthen affordable housing subsidies and protections against “harmful evictions.”
Kevin O’Malley, CEO of CIH Properties Inc., which operates 2,019 rental units east of the Anacostia River in Wards 7 and 8, told The Washington Times that his company takes 90 to 110 days to secure an initial eviction hearing.
He estimated that delinquent rent at his properties grew from $148,000 in 2019 to $3.2 million this year, roughly $6,300 per household, and that his company has lost roughly $11 million in unpaid rent since March 2020.
“Reserves intended for roofs, mechanical systems, elevators and other long-term capital needs cannot indefinitely be used to replace uncollected rent,” Mr. O’Malley said in an email.
Emilia Calma, a housing policy analyst at the nonpartisan DC Policy Center, urged the city to hold in-person eviction hearings.
She noted that the median rent owed in 12,700 eviction cases last year was just $4,851, meaning “early resolution” would benefit both renters and landlords.
“The statutory deadline for eviction hearings, while important, is not alone going to fix the current backlog that we currently see in the courts,” Ms. Calma said. “Predictable timelines are what we need to get back to.”
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