§ 47–857.05. Tax abatements for new residential developments — Tax abatement for new, mixed-income housing projects downtown.

(a) Subject to § 47-857.02, there shall be allowed as an abatement of the real property tax imposed by § 47-811 on an eligible real property in eligible area #1 an amount computed as follows: $1.38 per residential FAR square foot, multiplied by the building’s total residential FAR square footage as certified by the project architect and the Mayor; provided, that:

(1) If a project does not use concrete construction throughout the building or does not include underground parking, the per residential FAR square foot tax abatement shall be determined by the Mayor and shall be determined so that the total tax abatement is estimated to be equal to 78% of the difference between the residential real property tax imposed on the project by § 47-811 before and after development.

(2) Ten percent of the housing units in the eligible real property shall be affordable to, and occupied by, low-income households for 20 years after the certificate of occupancy for the eligible real property is issued.

(3) The dwelling units occupied by low-income households shall be equivalent in size and quality to other dwelling units in the development.

(4) The variety of the sizes of dwelling units occupied by low-income households shall be reasonably similar to the variety of sizes of dwelling units in the eligible property as a whole.

(5) The tax abatement for an eligible real property allowed by this section shall expire at the end of the 10th tax year after the tax year in which a certificate of occupancy is issued for the eligible real property.

(6) If, during a tax year for which the tax abatement is authorized by this section, the property for which the abatement was granted contains fewer than 10 dwelling units, the abatement shall not be allowed.

(b) If, during one of the last 10 years of the 20-year period of affordability required by subsection (a)(2) of this section, 10% of the housing units are not affordable to, and occupied by, low-income households, the owner of the property shall be assessed a penalty of $10,000 per year for each unit which should be, but is not, affordable to low-income households; provided, that the Mayor may waive the penalty upon a showing of good cause.

(c) The Mayor may require an owner to demonstrate that the rents and tenant income for the eligible real property are consistent with the requirements of the tax abatement. If the requirements are not met, the abatement shall not be allowed and the owner shall remit all taxes owed for the period of non-compliance.