Cracking down on landlords: Use it or lose it!

Independent DC mayoral candidate Khan is advancing a strategy to aggressively address housing shortages by penalizing owners who leave properties vacant in high-traffic corridors to exploit tax structures and loopholes. Khan’s plan, designed to incentivize leasing or turnover of properties for affordable housing, combines financial penalties, legal action, and public shaming / accountability measures.

Enforcement Mechanism for Vacant Property Penalty

The proposal focuses on utilizing existing DC legal frameworks while escalating penalties to ensure compliance, similar to recent efforts by the Office of the Attorney General to crack down on tax evasion.

• Elevated Taxation (Class 3 & 4): Implement strict, rapidly increasing tax rates on vacant and "blighted" properties, often reaching up to $10.00 per $100 of assessed value for blighted properties, making it financially unsustainable for owners to keep units empty.

• Rapid Designation & Mandatory Registration: Mandate that properties sitting empty for more than 30 days be registered, using the DCRA/DOB online portal to track and identify high-traffic culprits.

• Intensified Inspections & Fines: Increase inspections by the Department of Buildings (DOB) specifically along commercial and high-traffic corridors, issuing immediate fines of up to $5000 for subsequent violations.

• Forced Receivership/Eminent Domain: If fines and taxes fail, initiate legal action to have a court-appointed receiver manage the property or leverage eminent domain to acquire the property for the city, converting it to affordable housing through the DC Land Bank.

Public Shaming & Transparency Tactics

To complement financial pressure, the platform proposes using transparency to make the owners of vacant properties socially accountable.

• Public "Vacancy" Dashboards: Enhance the existing DOB Vacant Properties Dashboard to feature a "most vacant" list, explicitly listing the owners and property addresses in high-traffic corridors.

• "Shame Signage" on Properties: Require that all officially designated vacant properties, particularly those in high-traffic areas, display a prominent, city-mandated sign stating: "This Property Is Vacant and Contributing to the Housing Crisis."

• Public Notice Publication: Publish annual reports in local media and on city websites highlighting the top 50 owners of vacant property, creating a "naughty list" that exposes entities prioritizing tax loopholes over community needs.

• Community Watch Programs: Empower residents and Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) to report vacant properties via a dedicated app, feeding into a publicly visible database.

Targeting High-Traffic Corridors

The policy focuses on areas such as commercial corridors, Metro corridors, and dense areas where vacant properties "blight" the community, reduce safety, and hinder economic activity.