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1.24.2020 Edition | Volume 5 | Issue 1

A Message from DCRA Director Ernest Chrappah

Greetings and Happy New Year! As we look back over the last year, we’re ecstatic about the progress we’ve achieved with our Vision 2020 campaign. Vision 2020 is DCRA’s 19-point strategic plan for reforming the agency by the end of the 2020 calendar year. These goals include improving responsiveness, enhancing transparency and accountability, innovating to become more efficient, and changing our internal culture. DCRA is working to systematically improve our work by leveraging new tools, people, and technologies. Here are the ways we’re making it happen:

• Inspection demand increased from 90,000 to 150,000 in the last year alone. To combat this demand, DCRA launched its pilot Resident Inspection Training Program to help with the increased demand for vacant building, illegal construction, and housing inspections. DCRA added 133 new inspectors to our roster, and the list is growing every month.
• We’ve revamped our customer service model to ensure that when you connect with us, we get you the help you need within three business days. This is possible through our customer relationship management system (CRM) system that allows us to more effectively track each individual interaction with customers to ensure coordinated and streamlined responses by DCRA staff.
• For the first time in three years, over the last six months, DCRA has met or exceeded all 12 of our performance metrics, ranging from permit reviews to inspections. 
• During the last quarter, DCRA met our goals – without cutting corners while saving customers time – by completing business license renewals within 1 business day 70% of the time; issuing business licenses within one business day of submission 88% of the time; and issuing permits faster by completing plan reviews within 30 business days 90% of the time.
• DCRA streamlined the business licensing program, shrinking the number of license categories from more than 120 to 12 consolidated options.
• DCRA also streamlined the building permit process, and in the past year, the agency has cut five days off of the average time to issue a permit for projects that require a plan review. 
• DCRA launched virtual plan review for residential and commercial projects under 10,000 square feet through a pilot called Project X. This is important because it consolidates work flows between plan reviewers, the project owner, and the design professionals resulting in permits being issued about 70 days faster. 
• DCRA recently launched a new website that’s much easier to navigate, includes updated and clearer content, is optimized for mobile devices, and includes the digitization of as many forms as possible to save people from having to visit our offices. 

Less time standing in line means getting more things done – it’s all part of Vision 2020. These snapshots are just the beginning of a transforming agency. We encourage you to use the DCRA Dashboard to track our agency’s performance and hold us accountable to our commitments to better service. 

Director Ernest Chrappah

This DCRA Vet Rings in 2020 with a Huge Milestone

DCRA’s Homeowner Permit Resource Center came to fruition in 2005, and that’s when DCRA employee, Virnder Bhogal issued his first permit. Fast-forwarding to present day, 14 years later, Bhogal hit a professional milestone issuing his 27,000th permit! Bhogal explains that there were times when he completed as many as 33 permits in a single day. He credits permit applications going from paper to digital as a huge help in allowing him to efficiently process permits. All in all, Bhogal says his workload is positively increasing everyday as residents become more aware of how DCRA can help them. Good work, Virnder!

DCRA Empowers Middle School Students to Start a Small Business

DCRA recently teamed up with Johnson Middle School to host a business development workshop. The workshop was aimed at inspiring and encouraging the young business leaders of tomorrow, and equipping them with the resources and knowledge they need to be successful.

“It’s not unheard of for a child to become the CEO of a business,” said Joy Douglas, Program Analyst in DCRA’s Small Business Resource Center. “We want the next young entrepreneur who makes it big to come from right here in the District.”

Several students around the room immediately knew what they wanted to do if they started a business today. From cosmetology to programming video games to even writing books, it was clear that the students gained plenty of knowledge and inspiration from the workshop.

With the additional help of the US Dream Academy, an after school mentor program for those most at risk of incarceration, DCRA is confident that these students are ready to start making their business dreams a reality.

Interested in attending a small business workshop? Sign up here.

What is a Passive House? A Look Inside One of DC’s First 

Located on Harrison Street, NW, DCRA was able to get a first-look inside the house that was designed to meet the goal of net-zero energy. So what is a Passive House? Specifically, a Passive House is a building designed and constructed to require about 80% less energy to operate than a conventional building, according to the American Institute of Architects. Some basic features of a Passive House include: Super-insulation  High-performance, triple-glazed windows  Airtight building shell  Energy-recovery ventilation to exchange interior air with fresh outside air  Passive Houses are one of the many ways that DCRA is succeeding in its Net-Zero Energy Program. DCRA, in conjunction with DC Sustainable Energy Utility, designed this program to help projects of all types and sizes meet the goal of going net-zero. Learn how you or someone you know can get involved and invest in DC's green economy by visiting dcra.dc.gov/page/zero-energy-zero-carbon.

Special Feature Workshop

 
Licensing Your Rental Property

If you have any questions regarding this newsletter, please contact the DCRA Communications Team at dcracommteam@dc.gov. DCRA actively uses feedback to improve our delivery and services. Please take a minute to share your feedback on how we performed in our last engagement. Subscribe to receive DCRA news and updates.