Long-term Affordable Housing Development Initiative

In 2005, SOME launched its Affordable Housing Development Initiative to help address the District's severe shortage of affordable housing. With a goal of creating 1,000 new units of affordable housing for homeless and extremely low income families and single adults, the Initiative aims to bridge the housing gap and reduce homelessness in Washington, DC.

William Conway, Co-Founder and Managing Director of the Carlyle Group, and Campaign Chair of SOME’s Housing Development Initiative, has helped make great progress towards this goal through his leadership, and generous $5 million gift from his Bedford Falls Foundation.

SOME has since opened 170 new safe, affordable apartments, single rooms and efficiencies for 66 families and more than 100 single men and women, including those with mental illness and the elderly. Three additional properties now under development will provide 170 more units of housing for our city's poorest residents.

The men, women and children who live in the nearly 300 affordable apartments, efficiencies and single rooms developed by SOME prior to and as part of the Initiative have experienced remarkable gains. Nearly 90% of the individuals and families who live in SOME's housing programs have maintained their incomes, and the children in all of SOME's housing programs for families have significantly improved their basic math and reading skills and their academic performance.

These outcomes highlight the importance a safe, stable home to the success of children, families and individuals. Many of the single men and women who live in SOME's affordable housing programs are graduates of SOME's Center for Employment Training or have accessed other services along SOME's comprehensive continuum of care. Our affordable housing programs stand at the end of this continuum to offer the long-term stability that our residents need to build on their gains and move towards increasing independence.