How many subsidized housing units are available in Washington, DC?
Data updated August 27, 2024
About 34,957 subsidized housing units in the District of Columbia in 2023. Approximately 24% of these units were unoccupied and available to rent. Federally subsidized rental housing began with 1937’s US Housing Act, which created the United States Housing Authority and provided financial assistance to state and local governments for housing low-income people. Since then, the government has provided housing assistance to low-income renters through programs overseen by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Showing data for
In 2023
35K
subsidized housing units existed in Washington, DC
In 2023
8.4K
subsidized housing units were unoccupied and available to rent
In 2023
24%
of all subsidized housing units were available to rent
There were about 26,170 occupied subsidized housing units in 2022, and around 192,912 occupied rental units — subsidized and unsubsidized — in the District of Columbia. That means 13.6% of all occupied rentals in the District of Columbia were provided by housing assistance programs. In 2022, 24% of all subsidized units in the District of Columbia were vacant, compared with 6.2% of all rental properties.
The number of subsidized housing units in the District of Columbia is administered by local public housing authorities (PHAs). Availability is shaped by local policy and factors like geography (e.g., urban vs. rural vs. suburban), need, and more.
Subsidized housing can take different forms — from high-rise buildings to garden-style apartments to single-family dwellings, duplexes, and more — but all are accessed via eight different housing assistance programs under HUD. These are classified as either public housing; tenant-based programs; or privately-owned, project-based housing.
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Tenant-based programs — known today as the Housing Choice Voucher program — are the most common form of housing assistance, providing 2,752,351 housing units in the United States in 2023. Housing vouchers allow recipients to choose their own housing in the private market, provided it meets program requirements. These account for approximately 53.66% of the subsidized housing stock in the United States. In the District of Columbia, tenant-based programs account for about 47.64% of the subsidized housing units.
Tenant assistance was the most common type of housing program in 2023.
Privately-owned, project-based programs provide subsidized housing in larger, multifamily housing developments through agreements between landlords and HUD, and account for approximately 29.84% of all subsidized housing in the District of Columbia.
The remainder of subsidized units — 22.52% of the total — are public housing, where units are built and managed by local housing agencies.
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Methodology
USAFacts standardizes data, in areas such as time and demographics, to make it easier to understand and compare.
The analysis was generated with the help of AI and reviewed by USAFacts for accuracy.
Page sources
USAFacts endeavors to share the most up-to-date information available. We sourced the data on this page directly from government agencies; however, the intervals at which agencies publish updated data vary.
United States Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program and American Community Survey (ACS)
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Office of Policy Development and Research
