Community Tenant Meeting in Chinatown

Community Tenant Meeting

Is Museum Square’s Owner on a Mission to Displace All Affordable Housing Renters?

Residents at Museum Square‘s sister property, Mount Vernon Plaza, received letters mandating a $500+ a month rent increase.

Azieb Tesfamariam, a recent immigrant from Eritrea and single mother of three, was looking for housing early last year. She couldn’t afford her yearly rent increase of $50 a year so she went out searching for something more affordable. She found Mount Vernon Plaza. Even though she laments that many Americans cannot understand her Eritrean accent, she carefully explained to the leasing consultant in April 2013 that she needed a housing unit that had little to no annual rent increases a year. He assured her that Mount Vernon Plaza had an excellent affordable housing program that would not exceed her budget.

Mount Vernon Plaza

Mount Vernon Plaza–one of only two affordable apartment complexes remaining in DC’s Chinatown.

She moved into the unit on April 1, 2013, paying a little over $1000 a month for her two-bedroom apartment. On December 16, 2013, she received a letter from Mount Vernon Plaza’s Associates telling her that her rent will no longer be affordable. She will have to start paying $1624.50 a month starting March 31st 2014. Confused, she took her letter to all of the government-sponsored housing assistance agencies in the city. She asked them how is this possible. She’s a single mother who works at a nearby hotel cleaning rooms; paid work is never a certainty since she does not have seniority yet. “Why did the management ask me to move into this apartment, if they were going to end the program that year,” she questioned?

Over the Christmas holiday instead of worrying about what gifts to purchase for her children, she was desperately searching for affordable housing. By January 31st, the final date the management demanded a decision about whether she will leave or stay, she signed a new lease with the MVP. Dejected and financially broke, she currently spends all of her money on rent, occasionally asking family members to help when she can’t earn enough money from her part-time job.

Eventually, someone referred her to Organizing Neighborhood Equity, a long-time organizing group that organizes residents around their right to affordable housing and good living-wage jobs. ONE DC and Mount Vernon Plaza residents discovered they are not covered by project-based Section 8 protections, unlike MVP’s sister property, Museum Square. MVP residents are not guaranteed a voucher or even the right to purchase when the building goes on sale or when the project-based section 8 affordability ends. Residents under this program must either pay near or at market-rent or move out. This is the reason the Mount Vernon Plaza’s owner/lawyers gave when residents cried foul.

But MVP residents insisted something sinister and unethical is going on. Not only is the same owner moving to demolish its sister company, Museum Square, the owner refuses to be transparent with the MVP residents about their now-expired LIHTC program. When residents moved in, the management company gave no indication that the program would end in 2013 or that they would have to move or pay exorbitant rents after the program expired. “The management had to know that the program would be ending in 2013; why did they leave us in the dark for all this time?,” Trayawn Brown asked. “And they still haven’t told everyone in the program that the program is over. I think they are just trying to avoid mass vacancies.”

Instead, they were given a two-month notice and expected to pay for units that many residents argue are in various states of disrepair. In state of panic, residents have been moving out left and right; some are moving in with family members, becoming essentially homeless.

Through organizing, residents realized that there’s a bigger –citywide—problem. The city has almost universally relied on LIHTC to produce “affordable” housing in the city. Yet this type of affordable housing goes by income that’s based on the Area Median Income (DC’s AMI currently stands at $108,000 for a household of four). LIHTC is generally priced at 60% AMI or 80% AMI. As the general income of DC and the surrounding areas rises, so does the LIHTC rents—which now hover around over 1000 for a one bedroom, when priced at 60% AMI. Without a voucher and supplemental income, residents like MVP renters cannot find comparable housing in the quickly gentrifying areas of NW, where many of them have lived for close to two decades.

But more than that, LIHTC has no provision mandating affordability after the tax credits expire. In 1990, the city mandated additional 15 years on all LIHTC properties after the initial 15 year affordable period ends, but that law does not apply to MVP residents because the law was not retroactive.

All of DC’s primary affordable housing programs are under attack—Public Housing, LIHTC, and Project-Based Section 8! “We are a sign of things to come for LIHTC properties in the city,” Quitel Andrews, MVP resident says. “If we don’t change this policy now, thousands and thousands of LIHTC renters will be homeless by 2020.”

Mount Vernon Place residents recommend the city enforce two immediate legislative actions now. We stand with MVP residents. We urge the mayor & city council to enact these demands today!

  1. The city should immediately subsidize the tenants who were on the LIHTC program, including those who were forced to signed new leases with MVP management under duress like Ms. Tesfamariam.
  2. Expand Rent Control to all “set aside” affordable housing/LIHTC units already in place and to a portion of newly built apartment units

MVP residents and ONE DC have been moving swiftly to compel the city council and Mayor Gray to act now. The time is of the essence.  Click the link below to:

Help Us Take Action!

Save Museum Square

For more information, contact:

Quitel Andrews, Mount Vernon Plaza Resident
q930andrews@netspace.net
CELL: 2024152608

Traywan Brown, Mount Vernon Plaza Resident,
trayawnbrown@gmail.com
CELL: 2023405812

Rosemary Ndubuizu, ONE DC community organizer
rosemary.ndubuizu@gmail.com
CELL: 3233978247

Breakdown of America’s Recent Immigration Crisis

Central Americans on Train
Central American immigrants traveling on the tops of trains through Mexico in order to reach their final destination. John Moore/ Getty Images

These past seven months have seen a noticeable spike in the number of underage children crossing the border. So far this year, the number of unaccompanied children entering the United States that the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigrant and Customs Enforcement arrested surpassed 47,000. This alone is a 92% increase from last year’s numbers.

But why the drastic increase?

Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador are going through a turbulent time. According to Eric Olson, Associate Director of the Latin America Program at the Wilson Center, these three countries have some of the highest murder rates in the world.

Although, murder rates have decreased in comparison to last year, this does not mitigate the rampant violence that occurs throughout this region. Gang activity is as high as ever. Nevertheless, the lack of stability in this region is pushing parents to send their children to the United States.

Whatever doubts people had on the lengths these gang members are willing in order to continue their regional dominance is long gone now. People throughout this region live in consistent fear. Not only that, but there is no sense of continuity—the belief that life will get better by the time one’s children become adults—and widespread poverty does nothing to alleviate their living conditions.

Human traffickers, known as coyotes, are taking full advantage of this situation. They promote the idea that if there is any time to leave for the United States, that time is now.  And parents in Central America buy it. They are willing to pay traffickers thousands of dollars despite being warned of the trip’s dangers and the numerous obstacles the children must face throughout their journey.

The problem becomes what to do with these minors.

Protesters in Murrieta
Police cautiously monitoring the two opposing protesting groups in Murrieta, California as tensions mount while they all wait for immigrant detainees set to arrive by bus to the U.S. Border Patrol facility.  Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times

Should the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement deport all of these children or provide them with temporary housing until each minor’s situation is determined? This question has created a rigid dichotomy amongst much of the population. Human rights advocates argue that these children should not be treated as immigrants but rather as refugees.

On the other hand, others, such as members of the Tea Party, blame President Obama’s approval of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), created to allow those who entered the country illegally while they were minors to receive a grant of deferred removal action. In other words, eligible immigrants remain legally in the United States for up to 2 years with a possible extension. This is not a path to citizenship, nor is it a guaranteed permanent residence but it allows immigrants who came here illegally to avoid deportation.

Some suggest that the U.S. government deport these minors immediately. However, some international organizations, including the United Nations, argue that many of these children have legitimate claims to stay as they are fleeing desperate situations.

Underaged Immigrants in Detention Centers
Children detained at a center in Nogales, Arizona.   Ross D. Franklin / AP

According to the New York Times, President Obama requested $3.7 billion from Congress in order to respond to this influx of child migrants. Previously, significant amounts of money were spent in trying to secure the border. Given this large influx of immigrants, it is evident that pouring more money into the border is not the solution.

Even if the Obama administration pushed to deport all unaccompanied minors with full force, it could not. The William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 passed by the U.S. Senate during the Bush administration is intended to help human trafficking victims, however a portion of this act relating to unaccompanied illegal immigrants under the age of 18 makes immediate deportation for them difficult. As stated in a news article from The Oklahoman, “The legislation said they must ‘be promptly placed in the least restrictive setting that is in the best interest of the child.’ The U.S. Health and Human Services Department is to provide for their custody and care while deportation hearings are under way. The department is to attempt to find a parent or sponsor in the United States while providing free legal representation and a child advocate.

This past Friday, the presidents of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras met with president Obama to discuss this immigration crisis. NPR’s Eyder Peralta writes, “…with Plan Colombia and the Merida Initiative, the U.S. has helped combat violence in Colombia and Mexico”, yet by doing so, pushed organized crime into Central America.

Central American Presidents with Obama
L-R: Salvadoran President Salvador Sanchez Cerén, Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina, President Barack Obama and Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez   Reuters

Regardless of history in the past, all four countries must focus on the present. The United States must decide how it will improve the manner in which it deals with incoming unaccompanied immigrants. Meanwhile, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras must determine what they need to do in order to curb gang violence and thus emigration figures.

Chinatown to Lose More Affordable Housing

Something is missing from Washington DC’s Chinatown. Of course we can all notice the elaborate friendship arch topped with characteristic pagoda style roofing, and the yearly Chinese New Year festival. There’s a handful of bustling restaurants and decorations throughout its streets, and Chinese characters adorn each of the storefronts and street signs throughout the few blocks that constitute this cultural icon in our nation’s capital. But despite the Chinese decor, Chinese shop displays, and Chinese food, what’s becoming increasingly hard to find in Chinatown are Chinese people. The very human beings responsible for the existence of this much loved and increasingly desirable destination for so many. And with recent news of plans to demolish Museum Square, one of the two remaining buildings still home to low-income residents in Chinatown as well as the majority of the district’s Chinese population, it seems that those left are being perpetually pushed towards displacement.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAMuseum Square sits at 401 K Street NW, today surrounded by many new buildings of luxury apartments and condos, grocery stores, restaurants from Subway to Sweetgreen to wine bars and gourmet eateries, all interspersed throughout a plethora of new development. The building holds a Section 8 subsidy contract, and families living in its 302 units pay rent that is adjusted to be no more than 30% of their average monthly income. This contract has preserved most of the only remaining rental housing in the neighborhood still available to low income residents in the face of a wave of development and soaring housing prices that leave no corner of Chinatown unturned.

In October of 2013 tenants received a notice explaining that the owner of the building intended to terminate their contract with HUD, thus ending all meaningful affordability requirements. More recently tenants were issued another notice which revealed plans to demolish the building. The notice also offered tenants of Museum Square the opportunity to purchase the property, and was posted throughout the building’s hallways per the provisions of DC’s Rental Housing Act. This act has made the district notorious for its “tenant-friendly” laws, which require that before any rental property in the district can be sold or demolished, it must first be offered to the tenants who call it home. Theoretically, this creates opportunities for tenant ownership and long term affordability of rental property in DC, and could be instrumental for tenants like those of Museum Square who wish to preserve their building as affordable. But it only seems that way before taking into account the $250 million that it would cost to acquire the building, which works out to just over $827,800 per unit. In reality, the astronomically inflated price tags that developers are able to attach to these properties in up-and-coming areas of the city often render tenant purchase rights virtually useless for tenant ownership, or to aid tenants in avoiding displacement by maintaining affordable rents throughout the city.

chinatown1

In addition to the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act, or TOPA, owners of buildings where at least 25% of apartments have rents considered to be affordable are also required to issue DOPA notices. Per the District Opportunity to Purchase Act, properties that are home to low-income tenants are offered to the city before they can be sold or demolished  (in addition to being offered to tenants) as another opportunity to preserve affordable rents in DC. But out of the vast majority of rental properties sold in the district each year which qualify as affordable based on rent levels, only a tiny fraction comply with this part of the law requiring that they be offered to the district. And of the few that have complied over the years and issued the appropriate notices to the district, the city has not sent a single response to a DOPA notice, rendering DOPA another of the district’s efforts to preserve affordable housing that doesn’t extend beyond paper. If it were actually utilized, DOPA could be a beneficial tool to protect its residents’ housing in the face of economic interests in development that cause hundreds upon hundreds of people to be displaced each year. But again, to date this tool goes completely unused.

Washington DC’s Chinatown hasn’t always been such an expensive hot spot in the city. Even before the recent wave of gentrification that has resulted in a rapid drop in the number of Chinese businesses and residents, Chinatown has had a turbulent history of displacement and endurance. During the development of the Federal Triangle, DC’s original Chinatown was uprooted completely. Once established in the blocks surrounding H and 7th Streets NW, the riots in 68 also took their toll on the neighborhood, causing many residents to permanently relocate to suburban areas of Virginia or Maryland. But even so, in 1990 Chinatown was still predominantly made up of low-income Asian residents and Asian owned businesses. As of 2010 the neighborhood was home to less than 20% Asian residents, the majority of which lived in Museum Square or Wah Luck.  As one resident of Museum Square describes it, “we have endured so much. We lived in this neighborhood when it was not safe for us, when things were hard. We should now be able to see some of the fruits of our endurance. It is not fair for them to displace us like this. We must fight to stay here now.” Surely the long term residents of Museum Square are willing to fight in any way they can to preserve what for many of them has been their home for decades. Unfortunately, the infamous Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act may not be much help in their struggle to stand up to the determination and economic interests of developers, despite the justification of the act’s existence as a means available to tenants to try and protect their housing.

Friendship ArcIronically, all the authentically ‘Chinese’ elements that defined Chinatown and were indicative of its attractive urban cultural diversity are the same ones now being priced out of the area by its high desirability. An especially visual illustration of this can be found in the signage throughout the neighborhood. In accordance with a city mandate for cultural preservation of Chinatown, all stores and businesses must bear signs that display Chinese characters. In the face of such rampant gentrification, these Chinese characters become adornments for huge chain corporations like Starbucks and Urban Outfitters, and no longer signal locally owned businesses intended to serve the local community of primarily Asian low-income residents. Chinatown has become an Asian-themed amusement park for young professionals that continue to price long-term residents out of the neighborhood.

While the situation in Chinatown is certainly a chillingly illustrative depiction of the harsh effects of gentrification, we need only to zoom out slightly to see that Chinatown is not unique; in fact this is a city and country-wide phenomenon. As with Mount Pleasant, Petworth, and countless other neighborhoods, Chinatown has become a hot new urban commodity for those able to afford the luxury of living there, while long term residents, who along with their families and histories were part of the formation of this “cultural enclave”, continue to be incessantly pushed out. It is a process by which neighborhoods become empty, expensive shells of their former selves, and new residents get to wear the badge of “U Street” or “H Street” or “Chinatown” for free, no matter how high they pay in market rent.

The Human Heart and How It Works

Bey with heart

The heart says, “I will take care of you; if you will take care of me!”

According to The New People’s Physician the human heart is a hollow muscular organ located in the breast that pumps blood received from the veins into the arteries. The heart beat is regulated in two different ways:  the heart muscle itself possesses what is called a rhythmic quality of its own and if removed from the body and placed in proper environment it will go on contracting at about forty beats a minute, and may maintain its natural rhythm indefinitely. The heart in its normal function, however, beats seventy to eighty times a minute, and is responsive to all the calls which the body makes on it. The blood in the course of its circulation traverses three varieties of blood vessels when it leaves the heart.

Blood enters the arteries which from there move through capillaries to feed our tissue (i.e., muscles and skin). Capillaries are arteries that divide again and again, until they finally become so small that they are invisible except through a microscope. They are arranged in the form of a network, the size of the mesh depending on the needs of the particular tissue. The blood flows through the capillaries at the speed of about an inch per minute to join the veins. The capillary bed is the great controlling factor of subcutaneous and muscular circulation. The blood flowing through the capillary vessel holds oxygen, and carries away carbon dioxide and other metabolic end products. Life can continue only if the composition of the blood is kept constant by circulation through the organs that replenish its expendable constituents and rid it of its wastes. So small is the reserve of oxygen contained in the blood and tissues that when the heart stops life goes out, in higher animals in a matter of minutes. The rate of circulation varies at different hours of the day; in the afternoon it is at the maximum; in the early morning hours, when we are asleep it is at its minimum.

The arteries are strong, thick and elastic tubes, whose walls are made up of three distinct layers. The innermost is thin and smooth and allows the blood to flow over it without friction or obstacle; next comes a layer of muscle, which by its contraction can lessen the size of the artery and thus diminish the amount of blood flowing through it; the outermost layer is gifted with great elasticity by which it retains an even pressure on the blood in the vessel, and by its recoil gradually drives it on wards. The artery is surrounded with a bed of loose tissue, which allows it a certain amount of freedom of movement. The muscular middle coat of an artery is an exceedingly important provision of nature. The blood supply to an organ must vary with its demand for blood, and this is not constant. The stomach, for instance, during digestion, when it is manufacturing gastric juice, obviously requires a much larger supply of blood than when it is in the resting state. This variation of the supply depends on the state of contraction of the muscle fibers in the walls of the arteries. If the vessels are narrowed the supply of blood is lessened, and vice versa.

The contraction of the arterial walls has another important effect. If it occurs simultaneously in many arteries throughout the body, by offering resistance to the flow of blood, it must increase the blood pressure. An efficient water supply to a town or to a house can be maintained only if the water pressure is sufficiently high, and the same is true of the supply of blood to all parts of the body. In most arteries the branches communicate freely with those of other arteries, a condition known as anastomosis. In this way, if the blood supply of one trunk artery is cut off the supply can be maintained through another. The largest and thickest artery is the aorta. It is the main trunk artery leading out of the heart and conveying the whole stream of blood from that organ to the various parts of the body. In an adult man it is a tube large enough to accommodate two or even three fingers. It runs upwards out of the heart and then sweeps to the left in a wide curve. At the top of this curve it gives off its first large branches, the vessels going to the head and arms; thereafter it runs downwards, behind the heart, passes through the diaphragm and branches to the stomach and bowels. Lower down it divides into two branches, one going to each leg. In health this huge artery is exceedingly elastic like a very large rubber tube. This is of great importance, since the elasticity acts as a reservoir of power between the heartbeats.

Each beat fills the aorta with blood and expands it. The white blood corpuscles can make their way out of the blood vessels by passing between the cells. This migration is enormously increased in inflammation. Ordinarily the red blood corpuscles do not pass out of the capillaries, but this may occur in inflammation. The presence of capillaries is the cause of the rosy tint of healthy skin and mucous membrane; in blushing more capillaries are flooded with blood. If the capillary network is well-filled with blood, then in contact with cold air the temperature of the blood, and therefore the body, will be lowered. In order to prevent undue heat loss, therefore, nature closes up many of the capillaries by contracting the smaller arteries, and this is the reason of the pallor induced by cold weather. On the other hand, if the weather is warm the skin becomes flushed and the loss of heat greater. This important mechanism for controlling the body temperature can be easily impaired by the common habit of wearing too much clothing. It can also be made more active by training the skin to exposure.