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DC mayor proposes housing bills aimed at affordability, tenant protections

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D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser is backing a pair of housing bills she said would help preserve affordable housing, support tenants and encourage continued housing development.

Announced Friday, the package includes the Housing Investment Protection Act and the Illegal Occupancy Enforcement Amendment Act.

The Housing Investment Protection Act would provide additional support for tenants during repairs or rehabilitation projects, expand the Local Rental Supplement Program and clarify when housing providers can enter units to make repairs.

The bill would also establish a 60-day timeline for eviction hearings, which Bowser said would make the process more predictable for tenants and landlords, while modernizing how eviction notices are delivered and received.

The Illegal Occupancy Enforcement Amendment Act would update short-term rental laws to clarify that guests have no legal right to remain in a vacation rental beyond the terms of their stay. The measure would also allow D.C. police to remove guests who refuse to leave.

“By adding tens of thousands of new homes over the past decade, we’ve been able to blunt the rise in housing costs and get more Washingtonians into affordable housing,” Bowser said in a statement. “But to keep making housing more affordable, we have to make sure DC is a place where people want to keep building.”

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