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D.C. Housing Industry Awaits Swell Of Investment With TOPA Reform | Bisnow

October 02, 2025
  • D.C. Policy Center

On September 30, 2025, Emilia Calma, Director of The Wilkes Initiative for Housing Policy, was quoted in Bisnow:

The D.C. Policy Center completed an analysis showing that as of this year, the 15-year exemption would apply to 401 apartment buildings in the city. Those exempted buildings house 46,591 units, 33% of all the apartments in D.C.

Emilia Calma, director of The Wilkes Initiative for Housing Policy, told Bisnow that her team spoke with local and national developers about this issue in D.C. 

“A lot of the developers have talked about having trouble attracting investment in their project, and a lot of the investors we talked to mentioned pivoting towards development in states that have less regulatory hurdles,” she said.

Read More: D.C. Housing Industry Awaits Swell Of Investment With TOPA Reform
Additional reading: TOPA’s Promise and Pitfalls: Balancing tenant rights, affordability, and housing investment in Washington, D.C.

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D.C. Policy Center


Established in 2016, the D.C. Policy Center is a non-partisan research and policy organization committed to advancing policies for a strong and vibrant economy in the District of Columbia. Through rigorous research and collaboration, the D.C. Policy Center develops and tests policy ideas, disseminates its findings, and engages in constructive dialogue and debate.

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