Attorney General Brian Schwalb wants the D.C. Council to more than double a proposed eviction mediation pilot. The current plan is too small to dent a backlog that leaves landlords and tenants waiting months for their day in court, his office argued.

Schwalb's office testified Monday, Oct. 26 before the Council's Committee on Housing, chaired by Councilmember Robert C. White Jr., on Bill 26-0829, the Shared Housing Agreements and Resolution Effort (SHARE) Pilot Program Amendment Act of 2026. The bill would create an early mediation program for nonpayment-of-rent eviction cases.

Beth Mellen, senior counsel for housing protection and affordability at the Office of the Attorney General (OAG), delivered the testimony. She laid out four changes the office says are needed for the pilot to work.

The biggest: raise the program's cap. The OAG testimony describes the current limit as 2,000 rental units; the office's press release frames it as 2,000 cases per year. Either way, the OAG wants at least 5,000. About 15,000 eviction cases are filed annually in the District, and a 2,000-unit pilot could yield only a few hundred actual mediations, the testimony said.

Delays hurt both sides

Mellen told the committee that eviction timelines have ballooned since the pandemic. Initial hearings that once occurred about 30 days after filing now take up to 90 days. Follow-up hearings once scheduled two to three weeks out now come two to three months later.

The slowdown compounds the damage. Tenants' unpaid balances grow until catching up becomes impossible, according to the testimony. Affordable housing landlords are collecting only 70% to 80% of the rent owed, straining their ability to maintain buildings and pay mortgages. If those landlords face foreclosure, affordability covenants on their properties could be lost.

Less than 1% of eviction cases went to trial in 2025, the testimony noted. Most settle, but months into a case. Early mediation would use the 60- to 90-day gap between filing and the first hearing to push both sides toward agreement sooner.

Three more proposed changes

Beyond raising the cap, the OAG asked the committee to:

  • Start mediation at case filing, not before. As written, the SHARE Act requires landlords to mediate before filing in court, adding at least 11 days. Landlords flagged that delay as a dealbreaker in the Housing Unity DC working group that helped shape the recommendations.
  • Guarantee funding for tenant legal services. The current bill says the Department of Housing and Community Development "may" award grants for housing counseling and legal aid. The OAG wants required funding, saying tenants are unlikely to participate without an attorney.
  • Remove a stabilization-grant preference for participants. The bill would give SHARE landlords priority for Housing Production Trust Fund grants. The OAG called the provision unfair because the pilot's limited scope would exclude many qualified landlords.

Court funding squeeze

The testimony also flagged a broader problem: federal funding for D.C. Courts has been flat for four years. The proposed fiscal 2027 federal budget includes a 13% cut.

"The SHARE Act is a meaningful step in the right direction," Schwalb said in a statement. "These amendments are based on extensive conversations with both landlords and tenants, and will help resolve eviction cases more quickly."

White described the pilot's purpose in a Sept. 24 statement: to identify early which tenancies can be stabilized and which cannot, before debt and legal costs spiral. If a tenant declines mediation or the parties cannot agree, the landlord can proceed to court.

The Committee on Housing has not announced a markup date for the bill.