SMOA urges D.C. attorney general to back court deadlines and end virtual calendar

The Small Multifamily Owners Association is pressing Attorney General Brian Schwalb to support legislation that would restore in-person Landlord and Tenant hearings and impose a 60-day initial-hearing deadline. The group says delays in D.C. Superior Court are worsening rent arrears, discouraging investment and threatening affordable housing stock.

Why it matters: - SMOA says D.C.’s rent nonpayment crisis is being worsened by court delays, not just by finances or housing conditions. - The group argues the current system is pushing affordable housing providers toward foreclosure or bankruptcy, which could erase rent restrictions tied to their properties. - SMOA says slow hearings are also discouraging private capital from investing in the District.

What happened: - SMOA called on Attorney General Brian Schwalb to back legislation ending the D.C. Superior Court’s pandemic-era virtual calendar. - The group also wants Schwalb to support the Housing Investment Protection Act, or HIPA, and its 60-day initial-hearing deadline in Landlord and Tenant cases. - The appeal came after testimony on October 26 before the Committee on Housing on the Shared Housing Agreements and Resolution Effort, or SHARE, Act, B26-0829. - In that testimony, senior counsel Beth Mellen said affordable housing providers face “a perfect storm of millions of dollars in rent arrears.” - Mellen also said those providers are facing “ongoing economic vacancy rates of 20 to 30 percent” and are collecting “70 to 80 percent of the rent that is due.”

The details: - Mellen warned that if landlords are forced into foreclosure or bankruptcy, the covenants keeping rents restricted “may be lost.” - Mellen said tenants who are still paying rent are seeing worse property management and housing conditions. - One affordable housing developer told Councilmember Robert White at last month’s HIPA hearing, “This is what a death spiral looks like.” - Dean Hunter, founder and CEO of SMOA, said the Attorney General’s office documented the damage but did not address the court’s responsibility. - Hunter said the office’s testimony said nothing about the virtual calendar or hearing deadlines. - SMOA says the Landlord and Tenant Branch now hears less than half as many cases as it did before the pandemic, even though it has twice as many judges. - SMOA says the court added a magistrate judge and a fourth courtroom, but capacity still has not returned to pre-pandemic levels. - Before the pandemic, the court heard about 100 cases a day in person, Hunter said. - The group says the virtual calendar never restored that capacity. - The SHARE Act would create a mediation pilot for nonpayment cases. - As introduced, the SHARE Act would require mediation before a case can be filed, adding at least 11 days, according to OAG testimony. - The pilot would not begin until fiscal year 2028 and would depend on funding. - SMOA says the SHARE Act does nothing to end the virtual calendar. - Virginia law requires a first hearing within 21 days of filing. - Maryland law requires a hearing five days after filing. - The District has no deadline for a first hearing in these cases. - D.C. now ranks last among major U.S. real estate markets for investment, according to PwC and the Urban Land Institute. - The District’s housing agency has cited Landlord and Tenant court backlogs as one reason private capital is reluctant to invest.

Between the lines: - SMOA is framing the issue as a court-process problem as much as a housing-market problem. - That argument puts pressure on city leaders to treat hearing timelines as a policy lever, not just an administrative issue. - The group is also signaling that a mediation-first approach may slow cases further before it helps. - By pointing to Virginia and Maryland, SMOA is arguing that the District is an outlier on speed and predictability.

What's next: - SMOA wants the Attorney General to support ending the virtual calendar and backing HIPA with the 60-day deadline intact. - The group wants the Committee on Housing to pass HIPA with the deadline unchanged. - SMOA also wants the Council to end the virtual calendar, either through an amendment to pending legislation or a separate bill. - The group is pointing to Banks v. Hoffman, a 2025 en banc ruling that said the Council may set procedures governing how cases are decided in D.C. courts. - SMOA says a hearing deadline and an in-person hearing requirement fit within that authority. - Hunter said every month of delay adds to evictions, rent arrears, property disrepair and investor flight. - SMOA argues the issue will not fix itself and should not be left to a new Council or administration. - SMOA directs readers to the one-page legislative briefing for more information.

The bottom line: - SMOA says D.C. needs faster, in-person landlord-tenant hearings now if it wants to stop rent arrears from damaging affordable housing and driving away investment.