Mathis v. District of Columbia Housing Authority

Stevon Mathis seeks review of the decision of the District of Columbia Housing Authority (“DCHA”) to terminate his federally funded rental assistance administered through the Housing Choice Voucher Program (“HCVP”). He argues that the DCHA’s termination decision was unsupported by the agency’s factual findings and was based on reasons for which Mr. Mathis was never given proper notice.

Potentially impeding our review of the merits of Mr. Mathis’s case is a procedural wrinkle caused by a DCHA regulation, 14 DCMR § 8905.4(a) (2005), which suggests that HCVP participants must file suit in the Superior Court to obtain judicial review of adverse decisions by the DCHA. Mr. Mathis did this with the DCHA’s tacit approval (which was later explicitly expressed in its briefing to this court). The alignment of the parties notwithstanding, the Superior Court questioned its jurisdiction because it determined that Mr. Mathis’s agency case was “contested” and, under the District of Columbia Administrative Procedure Act (“DCAPA”), D.C.Code § 2-510(a) (2012 Repl.), should have been reviewed directly by this court. It is the Superior Court’s order dismissing Mr. Mathis’s case for lack of jurisdiction that Mr. Mathis initially asked us -to review in his Notice of Appeal.

As the DCHA ultimately conceded at re-argument, given the nature of the DCHA’s termination proceedings, the Superior Court was right. We thus affirm the trial court’s determination that it lacked jurisdiction to review the DCHA’s voucher termination decision.

We nevertheless directly reach the merits of the DCHA’s voucher determination decision because, while this appeal was pending, Mr. Mathis filed with this court a petition for review of an agency order. See D.C.App. R. 15(a)(2). We conclude that Rule 15’s thirty-day filing deadline is a claim-processing rule that may be equitably tolled, and, under the circumstances presented, we find ample basis for equitable tolling. Assessing the DCHA’s termination decision, we are persuaded by Mr. Mathis’s challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, and thus we reverse.

I. Facts and Procedural History

In April 2008, Stevon Mathis signed a lease for an apartment on 86th Street N.E. with the assistance of a HCVP voucher. The HCVP, colloquially referred to as the “Section 8” program, is the federal rental housing subsidy program that waá created by Section 8 of the Housing and Urban-Rural Recovery Act of 1988, which amended the United States Housing Act of 1937. See 42 U.S.C. § 1437f (2013). The program was established “[f]or the purpose of aiding low-income families in obtaining a decent place to live and of promoting economically mixed housing.” Id. at § 1437f(a). The subsidy or “voucher” is portable and allows HCVP participants some measure of choice in which apartment to rent. The program is administered locally by Public Housing Agencies (“PHAs”); the DCHA is the PHA that administers the program in the District. D.C.Code § 6-202(b) (2012 Repl.).

In October 2009, a year and a half after he signed his lease, Mr. Mathis received notice that DCHA was terminating his participation in the HCVP. The notice, which was in the form of a postcard, stated that Mr. Mathis had “fail[ed] to comply *1093with [his] Family Obligations in the Housing Choice Vouchei’ Program.”1 Under a heading entitled “Summary of Facts” it stated: “TENANT ARRESTED FOR CRIMINAL [sic] RELATED ACTIVITY: ON 09/11/2009, PURSUANT TO A SEARCH WARRANT AND UNAUTHORIZED OCCUPANCY.” And, under a heading entitled, “Regulation Reference,” it listed without further explanation three federal regulations: 24 C.F.R. § 982.553(c) (2015),2 24 C.F.R. § 982.551(Z) (2015),3 and 24 C.F.R. § 982.551(h)(2) (2015).4 The postcard notice advised Mr. Mathis that he had the right to “appeal” the DCHA’s termination decision at an “informal hearing,” and that to do so, he had to sign and date the postcard and return it to the agency “within 30 days of the postmark on this letter.”

Within a week of receiving his postcard notice, Mr. Mathis requested a hearing. In the letter acknowledging his request, the DCHA informed Mr. Mathis that he had “the following rights: a) to examine before the hearing, and, to copy all documents, record, and regulations of DCHA that are relevant to the hearing; b) to be represented by counsel or other representatives at [his] expense; c) to confront and cross-examine adverse witnesses; [and] d) to present evidence on [his] behalf.”

The hearing was conducted in April 2010 by a Hearing Officer from the DCHA’s Office of Fair Hearings. An attorney appeared for the DCHA; Mr. Mathis represented himself (he had been given a continuance to try to find counsel but his efforts were unsuccessful). At the hearing, counsel for the DCHA acknowledged that Mr. Mathis could not have been arrested for drug activity on September 11, 2009, as the termination notice stated, because Mr. Mathis had been incarcerated on that day. Nonetheless, the DCHA’s new theory was that Mr. Mathis’s “brother,” *1094Ernest Leon Ratchford, had been arrested on September 11, 2009, in conjunction with the execution of a search warrant at the 36th Street apartment; the DCHA argued that Mr. Ratchford was not “part of the [HCVP] approved family composition,” the implication being that he was not authorized to reside in the subsidized apartment for more than thirty days, and that, having done so, he became a de facto “family member”5 for whose conduct Mr. Mathis could be held liable.6

To prove its case, the DCHA called one witness, a DCHA investigator. The investigator testified that he had received- a complaint from the landlord about a search warrant being executed at the 36th Street apartment on September 11, 2009. He obtained a copy of the warrant and determined that Mr. Mathis was' not at home when the warrant was served, but two other men, identified in police réports as Ernest Leon Ratchford and Ralph A. Coleman, were.7 Based on these documents, the investigator testified that the two men were arrested, and that one of them told the police he was Mr. Mathis’s brother.8 The investigator also testified that he visited the 36th Street apartment on October 7, 2009, and spoke to Mr. Ratchford, who identified himself as Mr. Mathis’s brother. According to the investigator, Mr. Ratch-ford said that Mr. Mathis was no longer incarcerated but that he was not at home because he was out looking for a moving truck as “they were in the process of moving.” The investigator then testified that Mr. Mathis called him “[a] day or so later” and that Mr. Mathis told the investigator that he had not been at home on September 11, 2009, that Mr. Ratchford was his brother, and that Mr. Ratchford had stayed with him for an unspecified amount of time.9

Mr. Mathis made an opening statement and testified on own behalf at the hearing. He explained that he had been incarcerated on a probation violation during the time when drugs were sold from his apartment and the search warrant was executed.10 *1095He argued that he should not be held responsible for what had taken place in the; 36th Street apartment while he was incarcerated. He explained that there had been a lot of criminal activity in the building and that other residents had already moved out. He too had found “another apartment the month before all this happened,” but then “was locked up.”11 Mr. Mathis denied giving anyone permission to stay in his apartment. He explained in his opening statement that “somebody broke into [his] apartment ... while [he] was gone,” and he subsequently testified that he had given Mr. Ratchford (who Mr. Mathis said was his cousin) his keys and let Mr. Ratchford “come down and check ... on the unit for [him].”12 Mr. Mathis testified that he had tried to get Mr. Ratchford to come to the hearing, but had been unsuccessful.13

The Hearing Officer issued a written “Informal Hearing Decision” upholding the DCHA’s decision to terminate Mr. Math-' is’s voucher. In her findings of fact, she determined that there was no evidence'' that Mr. Mathis had personally engaged in any drug-related criminal activity in the-36th Street apartment on September 11, 2009, and that the allegation in the notice of termination that he had been arrested at his residence was “not accurate.”' The Hearing Officer also found that “it [was] somewhat of a leap to assume that [Mr.] Mathis necessarily knew that [Mr.] Ratch-ford was selling drugs from [Mr.] Math-ises] apartment”; and that not only was Mr. Mathis “in jail” at the time “and clearly not directly involved,” but also that the record evidence was consistent with his testimony that “he was trying to leave the drug-infested building prior to” this incident.

The Hearing Officer noted that Mr, Mathis’s voucher could nevertheless be terminated if Mr. Ratchford had exceeded the thirty-day time limit to stay in Mr. Mathis’s apartment as a visitor, thus becoming “a member of [Mr. Mathis’s] household,” such that Mr. Mathis could be held liable for his conduct.

The Hearing Officer acknowledged that “[n]o evidence. was presented by either party to establish whether [Mr.] Ratch-ford’s presence in the unit exceeded the duration permitted for visitors,” by which the Hearing Officer appeared to mean “no direct evidence” had been presented. The Hearing Officer looked to circumstantial *1096evidence, which it identified as the fact that Mr. Mathis “a) admitted he is unaware of any known address for [Mr.] Ratchford, b) acknowledged giving his apartment key to [Mr.] Ratchford, c) was aware of the chronic illegal activity in his building and had reported the same to his landlord, and d) had been burglarized.” The Hearing Officer determined that this evidence supported a finding that Mr. Mathis “did expect [Mr.] Ratchford to stay in the unit to protect his property during [his] month-long absence.” The Hearing Officer further relied on the September 11, 2009, “police report [that] indicates that [Mr.] Ratchford furnished [Mr. Mathis’s] address as his own” to make a finding that Mr. Ratchford was an “unauthorized occupant.”

The Hearing Officer concluded that Mr. Mathis could be “deemed liable for the actions of individuals related to him and their behavior in or around his federally assisted unit,” and that “[b]ased on ... the activity of his guests (with or without his knowledge and consent),” the DCHA had proved “by a preponderance of the evidence that [Mr.] Mathis ha[d] violated his family obligation.” Accordingly, the Hearing Officer recommended affirming the DCHA’s decision to terminate Mr. Mathis’s participation in HCVP.

With the Informal Hearing Decision, Mr. Mathis was given notice that he had two weeks to exercise his right to review within the agency. Mr. Mathis timely exercised that right but gained no relief.14 Nine months later, on February 14, 2011, the Executive Director of the DCHA issued a three-page decision entitled the “Final Informal Hearing of the District of Columbia Housing Authority,” affirming the termination of Mr. Mathis’s participation in HCVP.15

In this final agency decision, The Executive Director noted that

[t]he Hearing Officer found that Mr. Mathis’[s] relative was an unauthorized family member as defined by the [Administrative P]lan because, among other reasons: Mr. Mathis admitted that he gave his relative a key to gain entry to his residence to stay in the unit while he was incarcerated, and Mr. Mathis was unaware of any other known address for his relative.

Because “it appeared] that [Mr. Mathis’s] relative resided in the home longer than the 30-day period guests are afforded,” the Executive Director determined that “the Hearing Officer did not err in finding that Mr. Mathis[’s]” relative was “an unauthorized occupant.”

Moreover, the Executive Director determined that, because “Mr. Mathis’[s] relative was an unauthorized family member,” the Hearing Officer properly determined that Mr. Mathis could be held accountable for that relative’s drug-related criminal activity. The Executive Director stated that this was so whether or not Mr. Mathis was *1097aware of this activity, because a HCVP participant is strictly liable for criminal drug activity by household members under 24 C.F.R. § 982.551(Z). In addition, the Executive Director reasoned that in light of Mr. Mathis’s “admi[ssion] that he was aware of the drug activity taking place in his building, .... it follows that he was or should have be well aware that his relative was also engaging in illegal activity before he was arrested.”

The Executive Director’s final agency decision contained a notice at the bottom informing Mr. Mathis it was “not precedent setting for [the] DCHA or the courts and cases thereafter taken to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia are de novo, are not an appeal of an administrative decision, and are not based on the record of the informal hearing.” A cover letter accompanying this decision further informed Mr. Mathis that “[t]his decision [did] not affect [his] right to due process through the judicial system.”

Notwithstanding the receipt of this “final” decision, Mr. Mathis immediately sought further review within the agency. In a letter addressed to the DCHA Office of Fair Hearings, he asked to “appeal the decision” he had just received, noting that he “struggle[d] with mental health problems as well as past drug abuse.” Mr. Mathis asked the DCHA . to “send all paperwork regarding this matter to [his] case manager ... at the contact information below in order to keep track of the information better.” Ignoring this request, the DCHA mailed a letter only to Mr. Mathis informing him that the agency’s decision was final and that he was not entitled to further administrative review, but that “this decision does not affect your rights to due process through the judicial system.”

Then nothing happened. More than two years passed during which time DCHA continued to pay Mr. Mathis’s housing benefits without further communication to Mr. Mathis. It was mot until April 2013 that DCHA sent Mr. Mathis a notice advising him that, based on the “DCHA’s Final Decision on your Informal Hearing ... on 2/15/ll[,] ... [y]our assistance will be terminated effective May, 31 2013.” The notice concluded that “[t]his decision is final and no further appeals are afforded to you by the [DCHA].”

Mr. Mathis responded to this development by filing a pro se complaint in Superior Court seeking “[t]o overturn termination of houseing [sic] voucher on 531-13.” At the only hearing in this matter,16 the Superior Court immediately expressed skepticism that it had authority to vacate an administrative decision that Mr. Mathis had not appealed. Mr. Mathis tried, to explain that he had pursued an appeal with DCHA and he “thought [he] was doing the right thing,” by coming to Superior Court. Meanwhile, counsel for the DCHA stated that it was her understanding that Mr. Mathis “could get a de novo review with the Superior Court.” After much back and forth between the court and Mr. Mathis in which it became clear that Mi. Mathis had limited ability to advocate for himself,17 the court continued the case to give Mr. Mathis time to try to find counsel.

*1098DCHA subsequently moved to dismiss Mr. Mathis’s pro se complaint under Super. Ct. Civ. R. 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim. The Superior Court granted the motion and in addition ruled that “jurisdiction over appeals from decisions on contested matters from the [DCHA] is vested in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals,” citing the DCAPA and Powell v. District of Columbia Housing Authority, 818 A.2d 188 (D.C.2008). This appeal followed.

II. Jurisdictional Issues

This case comes to us as an appeal from Superior Court; that is where the DCHA indicated Mr. Mathis should go when it notified him, pursuant to 14 DCMR § 8905.4(a), of his right to seek judicial review of the Executive Director’s final agency decision to terminate his housing voucher. This notice notwithstanding, the Superior Court determined that it did not have jurisdiction to hear Mr. Mathis’s original action because, under the DCAPA, this court has exclusive jurisdiction whenever an individual seeks judicial review of an agency decision arising out of a “contested case.” In an unusual turn, Mr. Mathis and" the DCHA filed initial briefs in this court in which they both argued that the Superior Court was incorrect, and Mr. Mathis’s cáse should be remanded to Superior Court to allow him to litigate his case.18 •

This court ordered supplemental briefing. Mr. Mathis argued in his supplemental brief that this case was a contested case, properly routed directly to this court under the DCAPA, and he subsequently filed a petition for review of the DCHA’s decision with this court. For its part, the DCHA continued to maintain in its supplemental brief that it had properly directed Mr.. Mathis to Superior Court to seek judicial review of its voucher termination decision, but at oral argument it conceded that this was a contested case “for purposes of the Administrative Procedure Act and this court’s appellate jurisdiction.”

This court has an independent obligation to confirm our jurisdiction, or lack thereof, to hear ah appeal from Superior Court and/or' to entertain a petition for review of an agency’s decision. See Nun-nally v. District of Columbia Metro. Police Dep’t, 80 A.3d 1004, 1006 n. 4 (D.C.2018) (citing Murphy v. McCloud, 650 A.2d 202, 203 n. 4 (D.C.1994)). We now examine (1) whether this is a contested case and (2) whether we may consider Mr. Mathis’s untimely petition for review so that we may reach the merits of his challenge to the DCHA’s voucher termination decision.

A. Whether the DCHA Administrative Proceedings Are Contested Cases under the DCAPA

Whether a case is “contested” and thus properly routed directly to this court under the DCAPA is a question of law that-we review de novo. See American University in Dubai v. District of Columbia *1099Educ. Licensure Comm’n, 930 A.2d 200, 207 & n. 17 (D.C.2007).

In the District of Columbia, “[a]ny person suffering a legal wrong, or adversely affected' or aggrieved, by an order or decision of ... an agency in a contested case, is entitled to a judicial review thereof ... upon filing in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals a written petition for reviéw.” D.C.Code § 2 — 510(a); see D.C.Code § 11-722 (2012 Repl.).(“The District of Columbia Court of Appeals lias jurisdiction ... to review orders and decisions of ,, any agency of the District of Columbia . in accordance with the [DCAPA].”). “Where-the agency proceeding meets the definition of a ‘contested case,’ judicial review is exclusively in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, not the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.” Ne. Neighbors for Responsible Growth, Inc. v. AppleTree Inst, for Educ. Innovation, Inc., 92 A.3d 1114, 1121 (D.C. 2014); accord, 2318 Ainger Place Tenants Ass’n, Inc. v. District of Columbia, 982 A.2d 305, 308 (D.C.2009) (“Where the [DCAPA] vests exclusive jurisdiction in this court over review of administrative actions, the Superior Court may not maintain concurrent jurisdiction.”).

The DCAPA defines a “contested case” as “a proceeding before ... any agency in which the legal rights, duties, or privileges of specific parties are required by any law (other than this subchapter), or by constitutional right,, to be determined after a hearing before the Mayor or before an agency.” D.C.Code § 2-502(8) (2012 Repl.). This court has distilled that definition into a two-part test: A “contested case” is (1) “a controversy involving a ‘trial-type’ hearing that is required” by the agency’s enabling statute, its implementing regulations, or constitutional right, and (2) which is an “adjudicative, as opposed to a legislative, determination.” Powell, 818 A.2d at 192-93 (citing Donnelly Assoc. v. District of Columbia Historic Preservation Review Bd., 520 A.2d 270, 276 (D.C.1987); quoting Rones v. District of Columbia Dep’t of Housing & Community Dev., 500 A.2d 998, 1000 (D.C.1985)).

Mr. Mathis’s informal hearing before the DCHA concerned only the propriety of the termination of his benefits and was indisputably adjudicative.’ See Powell, 818 A.2d at 193 (explaining that an adjudicative determination assesses “the rights of specific individuals” (quoting Donnelly, 520 A.2d at 278». So the only question we need closely consider is whether Mr. Mathis was legally "entitled to a “trial-type” hearing. Cf. id. at 193 n. 7 (explaining that whether an individuál'in fact receives a trial-type hearing is “irrelevant”; the only question is legal entitlement). We conclude that he was.

As we recognized in Powell, a trial-type hearing is one that incorporates “due process protections such as representation by counsel, cross-examination of adverse witnesses, [and] fact-finding by an impartial adjudicator.” Id. at 193.. The right to obtain .pre-hearing discovery, and to make opening and closing arguments are “other accoutrements pf a trial-type hearing.” See id. Pursuant to federal and District of Columbia,law, Mr. Mathis was entitled to all of these procedural protections at his hearing before the DCHA.

Pursuant to-federal statute, any PHA receiving funds for the HCVP program such as the DCHA “shall by regulation ... establish and implement an administrative grievance procedure under which tenants” must be given notice “of 'the specific grounds of any proposed adverse public housing agency action” and “an opportunity for a hearing before an impartial party upon timely request.” See 42 U.S.C. § 1437d(k), "(k)(l)-(2) (2013).. In conjunction with that hearing, the tenant must be given “an opportunity, to examine any documents or records or regulations related to *1100the proposed action.” Id. at § 1437d(k)(3). And- at that proceeding, the tenant is “entitled to be represented by .another person of their choice at any hearing; ... to ask questions of witnesses and have others make statements on their behalf; and ... to receive a written decision by the public housing agency on the proposed action.” Id. at § 1437d(k) (4) — (6).

.Federal regulations reinforce that so-called “informal hearings” are required when a PHA seeks to terminate a HCVP participant’s voucher “because of the family’s action or failure to act,” 24 C.F.R. § 982.555(a)(l)(iv). (2015); see 24 C.F.R. § 982.555(a)(2), and specify a tenant’s procedural protections at such hearings: a tenant has a right to examine relevant documents before the hearing, to be represented by counsel, to have the case heard by someone other than a person who made or approved the decision under review or a subordinate of this person, to present evidence, and to qúestion witnesses. See id. at § 982.555(e)(2)-(5). These régulations also provide that the individual who conducts the hearing “must issue a written decision,” stating the reasons therefor and using a preponderance of the evidence standard for factual determinations. Id. at § 982.555(e)(6).

Finally, DCHA regulations conform ’ to federal statutory and regulatory requirements. See 14 DCMR § 8902.1(j) (2009) (notice and a hearing must be provided when the agency seeks to “[t]erminat[e] ... assistance for any reason”); 14 DCMR § 8903.4(b) (2013) (prehearing discovery is required); 14 DCMR . § 8904.1(a)-(d) (2005) (at a hearing, a tenant has a right to examine documents, to be represented by counsel, to present evidence and question witnesses, and to make “written or oral objections to the DCHA’s determination”); 14 DCMR § 8904.3 (a hearing must be held before an impartial adjudicator); 14 DCMR § 8904.4(a) (hearing “shall concern only the issues for which the [tenant] has received notice in conformance with subsection 8901.3”);19 14 DCMR § 8905.1-8905.4 (requiring a written decision by a Hearing Officer or, if further agency review is sought, by the Executive Director).

Having determined that Mr. Mathis was legally entitled to. an adjudicative, trial-type hearing, we conclude that the test for what constitutes a contested case deserving of this court’s review has been met in this case. There is the matter, however, of 14 DCMR § 8905.4(a), which directs DCHA to give notice to HCVP participants that a final adverse decision by the DCHA is, “not precedent setting for DCHA or the courts and cases thereafter taken to Superior Court ... are [to] be tried de novo.” The DCAPA excludes from the definition of “contested case” “[a]ny matter subject to a subsequent trial of the law and the facts de novo in any court.” D.C.Code § 2-502(8)(A). But we do not construe 14 DCMR § 8905.4(a), an agency regulation, as purporting to confer upon Superior Court' jurisdiction over cases that would otherwise come to this court, an action that would seem to far exceed the DCHA’s authority.20 Rather, *1101like the parties, we interpret this regulation merely to direct that notice of judicial review be provided. We highlight that the regulation requires the DOHA to supply HCVP participants with incorrect or at least misleading information, see infra at Part II.B.2, and we trust that the agency will amend it without delay.

B. Whether this Court has the Authority to Entertain Mr. Mathis’s Untimely Petition for Review and Reach the Merits of His Case

Because this case was a contested case, it should not have been routed through Superior Court, and we affirm the Superi- or Court’s determination that it lacked jurisdiction. But that does not end our analysis. During the pendency of this appeal, Mr. Mathis filed a petition for review of DCHA’s voucher termination decision pursuant to D.C.App. R. 15(a)(2) (“Rule 15”). Rule 15 generally requires a petition for review to be filed within thirty days of notice of the adverse decision. Thus, we must examine whether the timing requirements of Rule 15 may be equitably tolled and, if so, whether equitable tolling is warranted in this case.

1. Whether the Timing Requirement of Rule 15 May Be Equitably Tolled

Whether the timing requirements of Rule 15 may be equitably tolled turns on whether the rule is a “jurisdictional” rule or a “claim-processing” one. Jurisdictional rules may not be tolled, because noncompliance deprives this court of jurisdiction even to consider equitable arguments; claim-processing rules, on the other hand, may be tolled if equity compels such a result. See Neill v. District of Columbia Public Employee Relations Bd., 93 A.3d 229, 238 (D.C.2014), (explaining that claim-processing rules “may be relaxed or waived”).21

The dividing line between jurisdictional and claim-processing rules has been in flux over the last decade. The Supreme Court, whose jurisprudence on this issue we follow,22 has made clear that “a rule should not be referred to as jurisdictional unless it governs a court’s adjudicatory capacity, that is, its subject-matter or personal jurisdiction.” Henderson ex rel. Henderson v. Shinseki, 562 U.S. 428, 435, 131 S.Ct. 1197, 179 L.Ed.2d 159 (2011). Furthermore, the Court has made clear that stringent requirements must be satisfied for a rule to have the effect of automatically stripping a court of “jurisdiction” in this sense.

Preliminarily, the Supreme Court has clarified that only a statute and not court rules may alter the “classes of cases ... falling within a court’s adjudicatory authority.” Kontrick v. Ryan, 540 U.S. 443, 452-53, 455, 124 S.Ct. 906, 157 *1102L.Ed.2d 867 (2004); accord Bowles v. Russell, 551 U.S. 205, 210, 127 S.Ct. 2360, 168 L.Ed.2d 96 (2007) (“[B]ecause ‘[o]nly Congress may determine . a lower federal court’s subject-matter jurisdiction,’ it was •improper for courts to use ‘the term jurisdictional to describe emphatic time prescriptions in rules of court.’ ” (internal citations omitted) (quoting Kontrick, 540 U.S. at 452, 454,124 S.Ct. 906)).

Even more recently, in Sebelius v. Auburn Regional Med: Ctr.,— U.S. -, 133 S.Ct. 817, 824, 184 L.Ed.2d 627 (2013) and United States v. Kwai Fun Wong, —.U.S.-, 135 S.Ct. 1625, 1632, 191 L.Ed.2d 533 (2015), the Supreme Court has made clear that the modern “bright line” default, Auburn, 133 S.Ct. at 824, is that procedural rules, even those codified in''statutes, are “nonjurisdictionál in character.” Id. (quoting Arbaugh v. Y & H Corp., 546 U.S. 500, 515-16, 126 S.Ct. 1235, 163 L.Ed.2d 1097 (2006)). Filing deadlines in particular are “ ‘quintessential claim-processing rules,’ which ‘seek [only] to promote the orderly progress of litigation,’ ” and generally’do not have jurisdictional force. Wong, 135 S.Ct. at 1632 (quoting Henderson, 562 U.S. at 435, 131 S.Ct. 1197). Such rules “cabin a court’s power only if Congress has ‘clearly state[d]’ as much.” Wong, 135 S.Ct. at 1632 (quoting Auburn, 133 S.Ct., at 824). In order to “imbue[ ] a procedural bar with jurisdictional consequences,” the legislature “must do something special.” Id. It is not enough that the legislature articulated the deadline using .“mandatory” language. Id. Rather, a deadline- is not jurisdictional unless “traditional tools of statutory construction [ ] plainly show ” that the legislature meant for noncompliance with the deadline to have jurisdictional consequences. Id. (emphasis added); see Auburn, 133 .S.Ct. at 824, (explaining that courts must inquire whether the legislature “has ‘clearly state[d]’ that the rule is jurisdictional”).

This court has since endorsed this “bright line” divide between jurisdictional and claim-processing rules. Neill, 93 A.3d at 238 n. 37 (citing Auburn for the proposition “that even statutory restrictions governing the cases courts may hear are not to be deemed jurisdictional unless the intent of the legislature is clear”); Gate-wood, 82 A.3d at 47 (explaining that this court’s “more mianced examination” of whether a rule “is truly jurisdictional or merely a ‘claim-processing’ rule” is grounded in “recent Supreme Court decisions” including Auburn). But in the midst of this sea change in how.Supreme Court delimits jurisdictional rules—after Kontrick (2004), Bowles (2007), and Henderson (2011), but before Auburn (2013) and Wong (2015)—this , court decided Capitol Hill Restoration Society v. District of Columbia Mayor’s Agent for Historic Preservation, 44 A.3d 271 (D.C.2012), addressing whether the timing requirements of Rule 15 could be equitably tolled. Acknowledging the issue was subject to “some question,” id. at 277, this court concluded that Rule 15 could not be equitably tolled because it was a jurisdictional rule. Id. We reasoned that because “the applicable provision of the [DC] APA ... provides that ‘[a] petition for review shall be filed in such Court within such time as such Court may by rule prescribe,’ D.C.Code § 2-510(a) (emphasis added), the time for appeal provided in Rule 15 acquires the force of a statutory jurisdictional mandate.” Id.

In deciding Capitol Hill Restoration Society, we did not anticipate Auburn or Wong, and our characterization of Rule 15 as a jurisdictional rule cannot be squared with those decisions. As discussed above, see supra at Part II.A, D.C.Code § 2-510(a) of the DCAPA generally provides that this court has exclusive jurisdiction to review contested cases. These jurisdictional provisions are located in the first sentence of § 2-510(a), assign*1103ing review of contested cases to this court,23 and in the sixth sentence of § 2-510(a), providing that “[u]pon the filing of a petition for review, the Court shall have jurisdiction of the proceeding.”24 Notably, the sixth sentence does not-require the filing of a “timely” petition for jurisdiction to attach.

Meanwhile, the timing provision in the fourth sentence of § 2-510(a) gives no indication that it has jurisdictional import. It states simply that a “petition for review shall be filed in such Court within such time as such Court may by rule prescribe ■ _” D.C.Code § 2-510(a) (emphasis added). Under Auburn and Wong, this language does not “imbue” Rule 15 with the force of a statutory jurisdictional mandate. To the contrary, plainly read, the DCAPA takes no position on issues of timeliness- and delegates all decisions about timeliness to our court, including, apparently, the decision to have no time limits at all. Cf. Gateivood, 82. A.3d at 48 (observing that “the Council for the District of Columbia did not force [the agency’s internal filing deadline] upon the agency” and because “the regulation’s deadline [wa]s a self-imposed restriction, [it] b[ore] the in-dicia of a claim-processing rule”).

In the absence of a clear statement of legislative intent to make Rule 15’s thirty-day filing deadline jurisdictional, ■ as -required by Auburn and Wong, we hold that this deadline is not a jurisdictional rule, that Capitol Hill’s pronouncement to the contrary does not bind us,25 and that, as a claim-processing rule, Rule 15’s thirty-day filing deadline is subject to equitable tolling.26

*1104 2. Whether Equitable Tolling is Warranted

Whether Rule 15’s thirty-day filing deadline should be tolled in this case is a fact-specific question that turns on our balancing the fairness to both parties. We have said that “equity aids the vigilant,” and have indicated that whether a timing rule should be tolled turns on whether there was unexplained or undue delay and whether tolling would work an injustice to the other party. Simpson v. District of Columbia Office of Human Rights, 597 A.2d 392, 403-04 (D.C.1991). There is no unexplained or undue delay in this case, and we discern no prejudice to the DCHA if we were to reach the 'merits of Mr. Mathis’s untimely filed petition for review.

Mr. Mathis’s failure to file a timely petition for review after the DCHA issued its final decision is wholly attributable to the DCHA’s failure to give him proper notice regarding his right to judicial review.- As we have explained, see supra at Part II.A, because the proceedings before the DCHA constituted a contested case, the DCHA should have informed Mr. Mathis that he had thirty days to file a petition for review directly with this court. It did not do this. Instead, it gave him notice indicating that, if he wanted judicial review of the agency’s decision, he would have to commence an original action in Superior Court.27

Demonstrating that he did want to contest the agency’s decision but that he, as a pro se litigant, did not understand what he was supposed to do next, Mr. Mathis initially tried to internally “appeal” the DCHA’s final agency decision by sending a letter to the Executive Director. In that letter, sent two weeks after the issuance of the final agency decision, he indicated that he was struggling with “mental health problems as well as past drug abuse” and he asked that “all paperwork regarding this matter” be sent to his case manager. In response, the agency sent a letter (only to Mr. Mathis) notifying him that its decision was final and giving him vague direction that he had “rights to due process through the judicial system.” Again, DCHA failed to direct Mr. Mathis to this court, much less inform him of the limited timeframe to petition for review under Rule 15.

*1105Notably, when Mr. Mathis subsequently filed a timely action in Superior Court,28 the Superior Court judge identified its lack of jurisdiction sua sponte. Although the DCHA had sought to dismiss Mr. Mathis’s suit, it did so not on jurisdictional grounds. Instead the DCHA invoked Rule 12(b)(6) of the Superior Court Rules of Civil Procedure and argued that Mr. Mathis had failed in his pro se complaint to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. It appears (particularly in light of its briefing to this court siding with Mr. Mathis on the issue of whether the trial court properly dismissed his case for lack of jurisdiction) that the DCHA believed the Superior Court did have jurisdiction over Mr. Mathis’s case and that he had properly and timely sought judicial review in that forum. Given that even the DCHA was confused about where Mr. Mathis could seek judicial review, we cannot fault Mr. Mathis, proceeding pro se, for not appreciating that he had a right and an obligation to come to this court to seek judicial review within thirty days of the DCHA’s final decision to terminate his voucher and for pursuing relief in Superior Court instead. Cf. Simpson, 597 A.2d at 402 (declining to “retroactively require [the appellant] to have obtained a crystal ball many years earlier and to have predicted ... the development of this court’s ‘contested case’ jurisprudence”).

Nor can we identify undue or unexplained delay after Mr. Mathis obtained counsel to assist him in his appeal of the Superior Court’s order dismissing his case. To the contrary, it was counsel for Mr. Mathis who alerted this court in its initial brief to the fact that the “DCHA’s ‘informal hearings’ regarding voucher terminations have all the hallmarks of ‘contested cases’ under the [DCAPA]” and so noted that the contention that Mr. Mathis’s case should have come directly to this court had “considerable force.” But counsel also noted that this court had issued a number of unpublished decisions holding otherwise. Thus, counsel reasonably argued in Mr. Mathis’s initial brief (as did the DCHA) that the Superior Court was wrong and that Mr. Mathis had properly filed an original action in Superior Court. Even so, counsel argued that if this court in fact had jurisdiction to review the DCHA’s informal hearings directly, then we “should permit Mr. Mathis to petition for appellate review.” And, as soon as it became clear that there was a possibility that this court might hold (as it now does) that this case was a contested case, counsel for Mr. Mathis filed a petition for review.

In sum, Mr. Mathis has diligently sought to challenge the DCHA’s decision since the time it was issued. The notice the DCHA provided him about his right to judicial review was at best ambiguous and at worst misleading.29 Mr. Mathis pursued the only *1106avenue that he reasonably understood was available to him: to go to Superior Court. And as soon as he became aware that this court’s direct review of the agency’s decision was a possibility, he filed a petition for review.

.On the other side of the ledger, we discern no prejudice that would flow to the DCHA if we were to toll Rule 15’s timing requirement and .reach the merits of this case. The DCHA fully briefed and argued the merits issue in supplemental briefing and at a second oral argument. At no time did it indicate it had been hampered in doing so by the passage of time.

Accordingly, we conclude that it is appropriate under the circumstances to equitably toll the deadline under Rule 15 for Mr. Mathis to file a petition for review.

III. The Propriety of the DCHA’s Voucher Termination Decision

Having resolved that this court is the proper forum for review of the Executive Director’s final agency decision to terminate Mr. Mathis’s voucher and that we can and should consider, his untimely petition for review of that decision, we' turn to the merits of Mr. Mathis’s petition. Mr. Mathis makes two arguments: (1) the Executive Director’s decision that Mr. Ratchford was an' unauthorized household member was not supported by the factual findings made by the DCHA Hearing Officer, and (2) the Executive Director terminated Mr. Mathis based on. conduct (by Mr. Ratchford) not included in the notice of'termination. Because we. agree with Mr. Mathis’s first argument, we do not address the second.

This court’s review in contested cases of agency decision-making is generally deferential. When a challenge is made to the evidentiary basis for an agency’s decision-' making, “[a]n agency’s findings of fact are conclusive on this court unless unsupported by substantial evidence in the record.” Proulx v. Police & Firemen’s Ret. & Relief Bd., 430 A.2d 34, 35 (D.C.1981). (internal quotation marks omitted); D.C.Code § 2-510(a)(3)(E) (directing this court to examine whether the agency decision is “[u]n-supported by substantial evidence in the record”). We have previously explained that “[sjubstantial evidence is relevant evidence such as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion.” District of Columbia Appleseed Ctr. for Law & Justice, Inc. v. District of Columbia Dep’t of Ins., Sec., & Banking, 54 A.3d 1188,- 1216 (D.C.2012) (internal quotation marks omitted).

In the DCHA’s final decision, the Executive Director determined that Mr. Mathis’s voucher could be terminated both because he had an “unauthorized family member” living with him and because he was responsible for Mr. Ratchford’s drug-related criminal activity,30 which required a showing that Mr. Ratchford had acquired status as a “family” or “household” member.31 *1107To establish that Mr. Ratchford was an unauthorized “family” or “household” member, the DOHA had to show by a preponderance of the evidence32 that Mr. Ratchford had stayed in Mr. Mathis’s apartment for more than thirty days. The Hearing Officer, who bore the responsibility to resolve factual disputes and make the necessary factual findings for the agency,33 did not make such a finding, it appears, because she could not.

The Hearing Officer imprecisely determined that Mr. Ratchford was an “unauthorized occupant” based on the fact that Mr. Mathis’s address was listed as Mr. Ratchford’s home address on Mr. Ratch-ford’s arrest report. But, even if Mr. Ratchford told the police on the day of his arrest that he lived there (but see note 8 supra), that statement did not resolve whether Mr. Ratchford had been residing in the apartment for more than thirty days. The Hearing Officer also determined only that thei’e was circumstantial evidence that Mr. Mathis “expect[ed ]” Mr. Ratchford to stay in his apartment for a month, (emphasis added). Mr. Mathis’s expectations were hardly dispositive, but in any event the Hearing Officer’s four-point foundation for her findings about those expectations was flawed and did not establish that Mr. "Ratchford resided in Mr. Mathis’s apartment for over thirty days so as to become an unauthorized family or household member.34

First, the Hearing Officer noted that Mr. Mathis “admitted he. is unaware of any known address for [Mr.] Ratchford,” the implication being that he must have known that Mr. Ratchford was using his apart: ment as his own residence because he knew that Mr. Ratchford had no other. But when Mr. Mathis indicated that he did not know where Mr. Ratchford lived, he was referring to the state of his knowledge at the time of the hearing in April 2010, seven months after Mr. Ratchford’s arrest and after Mr. Mathis had moved to a different apartment: he was explaining why he had been unable to get Mr. Ratch-ford to come to the hearing to testify. See supra note 13. This “unaware[ness] of any known address for [Mr.] Ratchford” had no bearing on whether Mr. Ratchford stayed in Mr. Mathis’s apartment for more than thirty days in the fall of 2009.

Second, the Hearing Officer noted that Mr. Mathis had given Mr. Ratchford a key, but this fact would not establish that Mr. *1108Ratchford had resided in Mr. Mathis’s apartment for more than thirty days. At the very least, there would need to be evidence as to when the key was conveyed such that one could discern when Mr. Ratchford first gained entry. There was none. At oral argument, counsel for the DOHA, suggested that Mr. Mathis must have given Mr. Ratchford a key before he began the jail term for his probation violation, but at Mr. Mathis’s hearing, in an otherwise poorly-transcribed response to the question, “[s]o did you give them [the] keys to your unit,” Mr. Mathis testified clearly that “I didn’t have keys.”

Third and fourth, the Hearing Officer noted that Mr. Mathis “was aware of the chronic illegal activity in his building and had reported the same to his landlord,” and that he “had been burglarized.” But the fact that Mr. Mathis had reason to be concerned about the security of his apartment did not establish that he expected Mr. Ratchford to live there for more than thirty days and was consistent with his explanation that he had asked Mr. Ratch-ford to check on his apartment while he was in jail.

In short,' the Hearing' Officer did not identify any sound reasons for a determination that Mr. Ratchford had in fact resided in' Mr. Mathis’s apartment for more than thirty days, thus making him an unauthorized family or household member for whose' conduct Mr. Mathis could be held accountable. Indeed, implicitly con-cedin'g that she lacked the evidentiary foundation to make this determination, she ultimately punted on this critical finding of fact: Even as the Hearing Officer determined that Mr. Mathis had “violated his family obligations” based on Mr. Ratchford’s “activity,” ■ she described Mr. Ratchford as a “guest[]” in Mr. Mathis’s apartment, instead bf classifying him a “household” or “family” member.

For our part, examining the record as a whole, we cannot see a substantial, reasonable basis for a determination that Mr. Ratchford resided in Mr. Mathis’s apartment for more than thirty days and thus became a “household” or “family” member for whom Mr. Mathis became responsible. There is evidence that Mr. Ratchford was arrested at Mr. Mathis’s apartment on September 11, 2009.35 And there is evidence that the DOHA investigator later saw Mr. Ratchford at the apartment on October 7, 2009.36 But even if one were to assume Mr. Ratchford continuously resided in the apartment between those dates (which presumably he did not, given his September 11 arrest), that does not add up to thirty days.

Because the DCHA’s determination that Mr. Ratchford was an “unauthorized family member” was not supported by the agency’s factual findings or substantial evidence in the record, the agency lacked a valid foundation for terminating Mr. Mathis’s voucher. We thus reverse that termination decision and remand to the DOHA *1109for Mr. Mathis’s housing benefits to be reinstated.

So ordered.

Opinion by Associate Judge MCLEESE, concurring in part and dissenting in part.