DC's condominium advisory council has never met in nine years
DC's condominium advisory council has never met in nine years
2026-09-09 · District of Columbia · Regulation
The District of Columbia created a Condominium Association Advisory Council by statute in 2017 and required it to meet at least four times a year in public. It has never met. That is not an inference — it is the finding of the District's own Office of Open Government, issued on August 28, 2026 in Advisory Opinion #OOG-2026-0007.1
How it came out
A resident complained that they could not locate a website or any quarterly meetings for the Council, and asked for a working link or current member contact information.
Director Allen dismissed the complaint — not because the body was complying, but because there was nothing for the Open Meetings Act to reach. The investigation found that the Council “is inactive and has not convened to consider, conduct, or advise on public business,” and that it “had not met since its creation in 2017.” As the opinion puts it, nonmeeting does not violate the Open Meetings Act.
Enforcement of the appointment and meeting mandates, the Director concluded, lies with the Department of Housing and Community Development, the Mayor's Office of Talent and Appointments, and the Council of the District of Columbia — not with the Office of Open Government.
What the statute requires
D.C. Code § 42-1903.08a, added by D.C. Law 21-241 effective April 7, 2017, establishes a 14-member body.2
Eight members are community representatives, one from each ward, appointed by that ward's councilmember; each must be “a resident of the District who has been a member in good standing of a unit owners' association for at least one year,” with preference for board experience. One is appointed by the chairperson of the committee with housing oversight. One is appointed by the Mayor. The Director of Housing and Community Development sits ex officio. Three more are Mayor-appointed professionals: a community association manager with at least seven years' experience, a mortgage-industry representative with at least five, and an attorney with at least five years' experience with associations.
Its function is to “serve as an advisory body to the Mayor, the Council, and District agencies on matters relating to condominiums located in the District.” Its obligations are specific: “Meetings of the CAAC shall be open to the public and shall take place at a public location at least 4 times a year,” and it must maintain a public listing of members by ward, meeting notices and minutes on a website.
Why this matters more in DC than it would elsewhere
The District has no condominium ombudsman. Unlike Nevada, Virginia and Florida, DC offers an owner in a dispute with their board no agency to call — no complaint intake, no informal mediation, no administrative determination. The Condominium Act supplies rights and a court to enforce them, and the practical distance between those two things is what an ombudsman or an advisory body would normally cover.
The Condominium Association Advisory Council is the closest thing the statute books contain. It is not an adjudicator — it advises — but it would be the one standing forum in District government dedicated to condominium matters, with eight ward representatives who are themselves association members and a statutory obligation to publish notices and minutes.
Nine years at four meetings a year is roughly 36 missed statutory meetings, and a website that was never built.
The practical consequence for boards
There is no institutional memory to consult. When DC legislation touching associations moves — the condominium insurance bill, management-firm licensing, virtual meetings — the statutory body meant to advise the Council on it does not exist in operating form. What fills that space is trade-association advocacy and individual testimony, which is a different and narrower channel.
Seats are open. The Mayor's Office of Talent and Appointments has been accepting applications for Council seats: three-year volunteer terms, with a stated preference for representation from all eight wards. A board member with association experience is precisely the profile § 42-1903.08a describes.
The oversight route is identified. The Open Government opinion names DHCD, the Mayor's Office of Talent and Appointments and the Council as the bodies responsible. The Committee on Housing's oversight portfolio includes the Council. An association or owner who wants this fixed now knows exactly where to direct the question, and has a District agency's written finding to attach to it.
Where it intersects with live business
One recent item makes the vacancy concrete. In May 2026, Advisory Neighborhood Commission 1E adopted a resolution asking DHCD to notify condominium associations when a developer's warranty security is received or modified, and asking DHCD to work with the Condominium Association Advisory Council on plain-language guidance. That request is covered in our report on the resolution — and it was addressed, in part, to a body that has never convened.
What to watch next
Appointments. The Council cannot meet until members are appointed, and appointments run through eight individual councilmembers plus the Mayor. Watch for a Mayor's Office of Talent and Appointments announcement, a Committee on Housing oversight question, or a first meeting notice — which, under the statute, would have to be public.
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