Affordable Housing Residents Should Not be Burdened by Fossil Fuel Costs

Testimony
of
Sami Wines
Sierra Club District of Columbia Chapter
Committee on Housing Oversight Hearing
DC Department of Housing and Community Development
Thursday, March 5, 2026

Introduction

Thank you, Councilmember White, for the opportunity to testify today about the performance of the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) and the Housing Production Trust Fund. My name is Sami Wines and I am a member of the Energy Committee of the Sierra Club DC Chapter. The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In DC, we have about 2,000 dues-paying members and over 7,000 DC supporters. We are proud members of the Fair Budget Coalition.

Councilmember White, thank you for introducing the Greener Government Buildings Amendment Act (B24-0785) (GGBA),^[i] which mandates that buildings owned or financed in significant part by the District government must adhere to net zero energy standards. Unfortunately, since that Act was passed in 2022, the mayor has worked to circumvent its requirements on government buildings rather than pursuing effective implementation. We do not expect anything different from the mayor this year. We urge the Council to stand firm against harmful changes to the Greener Government Buildings Act. Councilmember White, we recognize that your temporary bill made changes to the Greener Government Buildings Act to address concerns from affordable housing developers^[ii] and refer you to the Sierra Club’s January testimony on that bill as well as my comments today.^[iii]

My testimony today will make two points. First, when District taxpayers subsidize new and substantially renovated affordable housing, that housing should be all-electric. Second, this same requirement should be part of the Housing Production Omnibus Amendment Act, which you co-introduced a few weeks ago. 

First, this Committee should ensure that all new construction and substantial renovation of District-financed affordable housing is all-electric. This is by far the most important component of the net-zero standards that the Greener Government Buildings Act requires. The District does not have to choose between its affordable housing needs and its statutory climate commitments. It can meet both by mandating that new construction and substantial renovations of affordable housing are all-electric. 

This is important for four reasons. First, burning fossil fuels in our homes harms our health because it fills our homes with dangerous and unhealthy pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, particulate matter, and formaldehyde. Eliminating these pollutants from new affordable housing will help to protect some of our most vulnerable residents, including children, from asthma and improve public health.^[iv] 

Second, heating and cooking with fossil fuels is expensive, now that more efficient electric options are readily available. And as residents of the District switch from fossil fuel use to electric in the coming years, maintaining the gas utility’s pipeline system will become even more expensive as the fixed costs of distribution are spread among a diminishing group of consumers. We should be trying to reduce utility bills for residents of affordable housing, not increase them. 

Third, including fossil fuel burning appliances in new affordable housing locks residents into using these outdated and unhealthy systems for decades. Ensuring that new construction of all housing including affordable housing is all-electric is one of the most important ways of pushing forward the energy transition in the District. 

Finally, as we are all aware, burning fossil fuels in our homes harms our planet. The gas we burn in our homes is methane gas, which the EPA says is over 80 times as powerful as carbon dioxide as a climate pollutant in a 20-year period.^[v]In short, new affordable housing should be all-electric construction. 

The Sierra Club recognizes that all-electric retrofits of existing affordable housing are not always feasible because of cost, and that there are occasional issues with electricity prices or a particularly cold or hot month that could mean an electric bill is higher than expected. However, we ask that DHCD consider the longer-term benefits, including health benefits, of replacing fossil fuel burning appliances with electric appliances whenever possible. 

Finally, Councilmember White, we would like to address the Housing Production Omnibus Amendment Act, which you co-introduced a few weeks ago. This Act would replace the Housing Production Trust Fund with five special purpose funds which play different roles in developing and preserving affordable housing in the District. In its current form, it does not require that new District-financed affordable housing be all-electric. It should. And proposals for new affordable housing should receive higher scores if they are more energy-efficient.^[vi]

Conclusion

Thank you again, Councilmember White, for the opportunity to provide testimony today. Amid the severity of the climate crisis we face, and the other pressing environmental issues in the District, we believe DHCD needs to do more to ensure that new District-financed affordable housing complies with the GGBA, and does so in a way that protects low-income District residents from footing the bill for our increasingly obsolete gas infrastructure.