Our Organization
Robert Pierre Johnson Housing Development Corporation (RPJ Housing), founded by the National Capital Presbytery in 1978, is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization whose mission is to develop and preserve affordable housing for limited income individuals and families and to strengthen communities in the Washington Metropolitan area. RPJ Housing offers a continuum of affordable housing opportunities from multifamily rental housing, to transitional housing, affordable homeownership and volunteer home repair programs. It has built, renovated, and managed over 2,700 affordable housing units. This includes developing 634 housing units in Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia, of which 254 were done in partnership. RPJ Housing operates 374 affordable rental-housing units at fourteen locations in Fairfax County (VA), three locations in Arlington County (VA), two locations in Warren County (VA) and three locations in Alexandria (VA). Ninety six percent of the households living in these units make less than 80% of the area's median income (ami), 73% of the households make less than 50% of ami and 21% of the households make less than 30% of ami.RPJ Housing's transitional housing has provided over 230 formerly homeless singles and families a bridge between life in a shelter and permanent housing. RPJ Housing provides transitional housing services to 6 formerly homeless families at homes and apartments located in Fairfax County. Residents earn less than 30% of ami. In addition to providing affordable transitional housing, this program also offers support services designed to assist residents to move toward self-sufficiency within a two-year period. In addition, RPJ Housing organizes two volunteer home repair programs. RPJ Housing's Rebuilding Together in Fairfax and Arlington Counties, and the Cities of Fairfax and Falls Church utilizes about 1,900 volunteers the last weekend of April to repair 55 single-family homes owned by very-low income, elderly, and disabled homeowners or non-profit shelters/group homes. RPJ Housing's Hearts and Hammers program is a year round, volunteer home repair program that addresses small repair needs in the homes of low income homeowners in Arlington and Fairfax Counties and the Cities of Fairfax, Falls Church, Washington and Winchester, helping about 45 households each year. These two volunteer home repair programs provide a cost-effective response to preserving existing affordable owner-occupied housing by leveraging volunteer labor and community donations. Over 57,000 volunteers have repaired some 2,100 single-family homes using these programs.
Robert Pierre Johnson
For thirteen years, Reverend Robert Pierre Johnson, for whom RPJ Housing was named, was a Presbyterian minister dedicated to social justice. During his tenure as minister of the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC, Reverend Johnson, in a joint venture with Georgetown Presbyterian Church, initiated and carried out the first successful affordable housing rehabilitation project in the District of Columbia, of a 26-unit apartment building . His spirit of dedication and concern for social justice serves as a role model for RPJ Housing today.Our Donors
We gratefully acknowledge the financial and in-kind contributors whose generous donations enable us to develop and preserve affordable housing. Please click here to view a current contributor list. (We apologize for any ommissions or mistakes and request that you bring them to our attention.