DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene Bemoans Rising Housing Costs While Profiting From Rent Hikes

DelBene owns a stake in low-income apartment that has raised rents 55 percent since she invested DCCC Chair Rep. Suzan DelBene. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images).

Suzan DelBene (Democratic congresswoman, Wash.) has been vocal in her condemnation of rising rents as well as establishing a reputation for being a proponent of federal housing subsidies. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s newly elected chair has made a handsome profit from a low-income apartment block that was subsidized through the same policies she supports in Washington.

DelBene is one of the most well-off members of Congress. She holds a stake at a Seattle apartment block that receives an annual $1065,246 Low Income Tax Credit. It’s part of a federal program that she championed in Congress. According to DelBene’s financial disclosure statements the building has seen an increase in rents of at least 55 percent since DelBene invested into it in 2014. In-kind value of her investment has also increased by at most two since then, according to her financial disclosure statements.

The Washington State lawmaker isn’t the first progressive in Congress to reap profits from a low-income apartment building. Following a lawsuit, Sen. Raphael Warnock, D. Ga. was attacked during his reelection bid. Washington Free Beacon Report This revealed that his church owned an Atlanta apartment complex that was used to expel residents during the pandemic. The rent was as low as $28.55 per month.

DelBene has a stake in Balfour Place Apartments through Balfour Place Investors. This LLC she disclosed in her financial disclosures from 2014 to date as an LLC. “co-investment in multi-family housing building located in Seattle, Washington.” An attorney representing Balfour Place Investors and two other business entities identified DelBene’s LLC as one of the owners of the apartment building in a June 2016 Letter Contact a Seattle planner. Seattle real estate Records The LLC should also be identified as the owner of this building.

DelBene’s investment in the property has become substantially more valuable since 2014, when she valued Balfour Place Investors, between $250,001 – $500,000. In 2021, her latest available financial disclosureThe value of her investment increased to between $1,000,000.001 and $5,000,000. Her financial disclosures reveal that she has received interest payments of between $80,000 to $265,000 from the LLC over the same period.

Seattle’s appraised In recent years, the property’s value has doubled. It is now worth $54.2 million. The