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Elissa Caren Silverman
Council At-Large Special Election
Opportunity DC's Questionnaire
Opportunity DC advocates for priorities that grow our local economy, make government work better and faster, and make DC a more affordable place to live. We partner with pragmatic leaders to pass
effective legislation and help elect champions capable of leading our city forward.
Our questionnaire project is dedicated to providing DC Voters with the information to make the best decision possible for the District. No answers have been edited for the candidates, except light formatting changes.
Biographical Information
Please share any accomplishments or experiences that reflect your commitment to
advancing Opportunity DC's policy priorities
*Champion of D.C.’s paid family and medical leave program, which makes DC businesses
competitive and keeps workers healthy and loyal to their employers
*Creator of the healthcare intermediary between DC Hospital Association and Workforce
Investment Council to train DC residents for jobs with our biggest employers
*Funder of an innovative approach to adult literacy called Integrated Education and
Training, which has put thousands of residents with low level reading skills into good
paying jobs
*Helped create a maintenance and repair fund for DC’s public housing communities so
retail workers and others in jobs earning minimum wage have safe and healthy places to
live in DC
*Initial funder of the Attorney General’s Cure the Streets program to address violence
*Strong voice for spending tax dollars on evidence-based programs that get results
Please share any accomplishments or experiences that reflect your commitment to
advancing Opportunity DC's policy priorities
*Champion of D.C.’s paid family and medical leave program, which makes DC businesses
competitive and keeps workers healthy and loyal to their employers
*Creator of the healthcare intermediary between DC Hospital Association and Workforce
Investment Council to train DC residents for jobs with our biggest employers
*Funder of an innovative approach to adult literacy called Integrated Education and
Training, which has put thousands of residents with low level reading skills into good
paying jobs
*Helped create a maintenance and repair fund for DC’s public housing communities so
retail workers and others in jobs earning minimum wage have safe and healthy places to
live in DC
*Initial funder of the Attorney General’s Cure the Streets program to address violence
*Strong voice for spending tax dollars on evidence-based programs that get results
All endorsements to date:
None
Previous offices held:
DC Council, At-Large (non majority seat) for 2 terms
District Priorities
DC residents tell us their three most important issues are the cost of living, public safety, and jobs and the economy. Please list one legislative or regulatory solution you support to address each policy challenge.
1. Affordable Housing: We need policies and regulations adjusted to build more. I agree with the
Abundance philosophy here. We need to increase supply and use every tool in the tool box for that:
make it easier to build by looking at streamlining permitting and relaxing zoning, where
appropriate; reforming our Housing Production Trust Fund to strategically use it to both preserve
and build targeted housing for low-income and moderate income families; use LIHTC and combine
trust fund dollars for other projects; work with Zoning Commission to expand inclusionary zoning,
and finally work with the DC Housing Authority on its redevelopment to get as much affordability
out of publicly owned land.
2. Living Wage Jobs: We need to train our own residents for the jobs of the present and the future.
Focus on health care and technology. Right now, three out of four of our health care workers live
outside of DC. We need to flip that around. I’d do that by working to make UDC and its community
college the workforce provider for our biggest employers–our hospitals.
3.Public Safety: We need to get our kids in school. Period. It is unacceptable that one out of three public school students are chronically absent. We need to work with the Chancellor on community schools to make school the center of a kid’s life. That means high-quality teachers in every classroom, at least one social worker and nurse in every school, quality before and after care, and fully funded sports and arts programs. This is our future workforce. Let’s invest in them.
Accessible & Affordable Housing
DC’s average housing costs are 140% above the national average. DC laws, rules, and
regulations make building housing here more expensive, time-consuming, and bureaucratic compared to other jurisdictions—creating a scarcity of available housing that drives up rent and home prices. Do you agree that increasing the supply of available housing, including market-rate, will lower the cost of rent and homes for residents over time?
Agree
Zoning and land use policy can restrict where housing is built and the number of units for a specific project. Transit-oriented development—building housing near thoroughfares and public transit—helps local governments plan housing near key services and transportation hubs. Do you support or oppose requiring all areas of the District currently zoned for commercial development to be automatically zoned for high-density residential development?
Support
In 2025, DC lawmakers modernized the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) to make DC a more attractive and viable place to build housing. Building enough housing to address DC’s supply shortage will require local government to revise legislative code and pass regulatory reforms so that DC can compete within our region and across the country for limited capital investment. What 1 – 3 legislative or regulatory proposals do you support to make DC a more attractive place to build both affordable and market-rate housing.
1. Our comprehensive plan–the roadmap for development in the city–needs to reflect our priority in
building more housing and allow us to do it.
2. We need to restore the good faith compact between renters and landlords: That tenants will do
their best to pay the rent, and landlords will provide safe, well cared for housing that meets building
code and other housing regulations. And when tenants don’t pay the rent and have been given a
chance to do so with a payment plan, there are consequences. Many of our affordable housing
providers, including large national groups like Enterprise Community Development, feel that our
landlord/tenant court system is broken. It makes them not want to operate here. We need to fix that
pronto.
3. Get rid of the permitting dysfunction and inefficiency. I experienced this on a personal level at
my own home. I’ll explain in a later answer.
Economic Innovation & Workforce Development
In July of 2024, DC lawmakers increased the paid family leave tax (a payroll tax on District employers) from .23% to .75% of total wages. The additional revenue went to offset $2 billion in new general fund expenditures rather than towards expanding paid family leave. The higher payroll tax makes it harder for local employers, especially schools, hospitals, and small businesses, to grow and hire District residents. Do you support or oppose eliminating the 2024 payroll tax increase on DC employers over the next four years?
Support
Currently, all DC small businesses are required to file an annual personal property tax form (FP-31), even if their property assets are below the threshold that would subject their business to the tax. FP-31 is a cumbersome form that forces entrepreneurs to spend hours on compliance for a tax that most businesses are not even subject to. Do you support or oppose B26-0229, The Personal Property Tax Form Simplification Act, which eliminates the requirement for businesses to file personal property tax form (FP-31) if they are below the proposed $325,000 property threshold?
Need more information about this. I look forward to understanding this issue
In DC, some workers must obtain occupational licenses from government-appointed boards and pay large fees to work in fields like interior or landscape designer, barber—including hair braiding, cosmetologist, and manicurist, among others. These barriers artificially limit employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for District residents. Do you support or oppose reducing the time and financial requirements necessary to obtain occupational licenses in the fields where licensure is unnecessary and presents no material risks to
consumers?
Support
Efficient & Effective Government
Since 2020, the District’s budget spending has dramatically outpaced new revenue growth. DC will have to spend more efficiently and grow the tax base, without raising tax rates, to sustainably fund core services moving forward. Do you see DC's dramatic budget growth as a challenge that needs to be addressed through increased efficiency while avoiding new taxes on residents and businesses?
Yes, but I’d like to hear your definition of increased efficiency. My definition is we need to get what we pay for, which means performance-based contracting and a stronger emphasis on holding agencies accountable with performance metrics.
What three strategies would you propose to reduce DC government spending or grow our tax base to ensure long term fiscal stability?
1. Performance-based contracting: In many programs in District government, we don’t
actually hold contractors accountable for what we are paying them to do. They don’t
produce results, and then they get the same contract next year. That needs to end.
2. Get our kids in school, learning, addressing their mental health. Let’s depend more on
growing our workforce organically, rather than importing talent.
3. Meaningful performance metrics: the Mayor and Council have added lots of new programs
over the years, but we do little if any tracking to see if they’re actually working. The Mayor
sets meaningless performance metrics, which the Council never looks at. Let’s make them
mean something, and hold agencies accountable to actual results. If programs aren’t
helping us meet our targets, we should cut them.
Over time, DC lawmakers have added more rules, regulations, and fees that increase costs for small businesses, which are often passed onto consumers, raising prices for everyone. Having more information about the unintended consequences from new legislation can help prevent higher costs for entrepreneurs and residents. Do you support or oppose requiring the Council to review economic impact assessments, generated by the Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO), for all new legislation and regulations that increase regulatory or financial costs for District employers?
Support
Are there any government rules or regulations that should be updated, streamlined, or eliminated to make government more efficient and lower administrative burdens on residents? Please list up to 3 rules/regulations & how you would change them:
1. It took me two years to legally and properly install a wrought-iron railing next to the
outdoor steps in front of my house. I needed 1 permit from DCRA with a historic
endorsement PLUS 2 permits from DDOT for use of public space because my front yard is
considered public space. There are no instructions telling a homeowner you need this. I had
to go repeatedly to the DCRA/DDOT customer service centers to get my permits completed.
At least once, I was referred to an expediter who offered to get my permit in exchange for
$700. I finally got the project completed. It was ridiculous and burdensome and completely
unnecessary. Homeowners should be exempted from DDOT permits in this case. My railing
project did not need a permit to explain how emergency vehicles would get down my street.
2. I’ve heard from too many businesses about how long it takes them to get a new business
open. That only hurts the city. As the next at-large councilmember, a priority of mine will be focusing
on how to fix our broken process for starting or growing businesses. It shouldn’t take 8 months or
more for a new restaurant to open in a spot a previous restaurant was just in.
More officers
Do you support legislation to authorize the Chief of Police to declare dedicated zones with earlier curfews for large groups of young people as needed?
Support
Please provide 1 – 3 policies or strategies you support to make residents, workers, and businesses safer in DC.
1. Get our kids in school. Again, a line can be connected between our truancy rate and our
public safety issues. We need school to be the center of kids' lives. They need trusted
adults, they need good teachers, they need nutrition, they need to see hope in the future.
2. Increase MPD to meet the force’s needs, especially detectives so we can close cases. One
of the biggest deterrents of crime is swift and certain punishment for breaking the law and
that requires homicides and other violent crime cases to get solved.
3. Really focus on getting returning citizens into living wage employment and completely
overhaul Project Empowerment. We spend a ton of money on temporary employment that
leads to nowhere. Let’s stop doing that.
Quality Education
In 2006, DC had one of the worst performing public school systems in the country. Only 12% of eighth graders were proficient in reading and 8% in math, only 43% of students graduated in five years, and the system was mired in mismanagement. Following the passage of the Public Education Reform Amendment Act (PERAA) of 2007 and enabled by PERAA’s governance reforms, DC tripled proficiency in reading and math and saw the highest rate of post-COVID test score improvement in the country. Do you support or oppose Mayoral control with Council oversight of the District’s public school system, as established by the Public Education Reform Amendment Act of 2007?
Support
Approximately 48% of DC public school students attend charter schools, which are free, public, and open to all students from all wards. Do you support or oppose funding DC Public School (DCPS) and DC public charter school students at equal levels, weighted by student need, through the Uniform Per Student Funding Formula?
Support
Chronic truancy among DCPS students has increased dramatically in recent years. How do you propose we reduce truancy levels to ensure students receive a quality education?
Truancy will be a major focus of mine as the next at-large councilmember. When almost half of our
students are chronically absent every year, that’s a crisis. I think the DC Policy Center has done
some great work looking at chronic truancy and its predictors. We need to be more intensively
focusing on stopping it before it begins, making sure our older middle schoolers keep up the practice
of going to school, and bringing more supports to bear when their absences start to escalate.
(Optional) Notes Provided by Candidate
Please see my Washington Post letter to the editor below.
https://x.com/tweetelissa/status/1800998542367977887?lang=hu
Letter to the editor regarding question 5.