Application forms for affordable housing are not standardized. District Housing provides a simple unified application system for social workers and their clients.
As housing opportunities and client circumstances change, District Housing allows social workers to add new application forms and edit applicant details.
Pen and paper shouldn't be the norm. District Housing automatically fills out applications for multiple buildings at once.
For the past year, the District Housing team has been working with a local non-profit, Bread for the City, to streamline the process of applying for low-income housing in DC. There are over 100 HUD-subsidized properties in the District, each with its own paper-based application form. According to Bread for the City, the people they serve typically apply for 4-6 buildings. This is time consuming for social workers and their clients. Even so, a housing match is not guaranteed.
To address this problem, Code for DC is building an easy-to-use online form that, when filled out, automatically populates each building's original application form. With many property managers and no consensus on what information applicants are required to provide, this is a necessary first step toward a more straightforward and efficient application system.
If we can demonstrate the benefits of a common application for affordable housing, our dream is for such a system to be officially adopted and for our project to be made obsolete.
