By Emily McDonald, on August 29th, 2016 
Emily McDonald is a graduate student in the sociology department of George Mason University. She has been a volunteer intern for Grassroots DC since May 2016.
THE FIGHT FOR PUBLIC HOUSING IN 2016
In my time with Grassroots DC, I was given the underestimated task of tracking DCHA’s budget from the founding of Potomac Gardens on Capitol Hill until now. I began looking through HUD documents, only to find different structures of information for each year. I was able to track large budget numbers, indicating a large pullback in federal spending, but little evidence of what was appropriated specifically to DC. Rather, I found changing agreements between the federal and the local every few years with little overall consistency in the federal government fully funding the DC Housing Authority, leaving public housing residents feeling the pinch.
As a sociologist, I started to see connections between what is happening with public housing in the United States and the current social concerns of our nation as a whole. Specifically, I started to understand that the fight for public housing cannot stop with pressuring local governments to subsidize housing authorities which were created to be fully funded by the federal government, but must also take on a the 21st century conversation about neoliberalism.
HOW IS DCHA FUNDED AND GOVERNED?
For a brief background, the process of funding DCHA is a bit more complicated than a strictly local DC agency. Funds are appropriated first to the the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), then to local housing authorities. The District of Columbia Housing Authority (DCHA) is an entity of HUD and an independent agency of DC local government. This means the agency is particularly susceptible to federal pullbacks depending on the current political and economic ideology of the time, but is governed by a board appointed by the DC Mayor. The DC local government then subsidizes DCHA, though the only legal responsibility to fund the agency lies with HUD and the federal government.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR PUBLIC HOUSING RESIDENTS AND ADVOCATES?
It is important to understand the pullback of federal funding as a national trend trickles down to local spending. According to a 2016 DC Fiscal Policy Institute report, DC Council funding is not only a subsidy, but a requirement for DCHA to sustain. I found the same through DCHA director Adrianne Todman’s 2016 testimony to the DC Council. She urges for DC local spending to continue as they have for the few years prior. Her testimony includes an appeal for funding that is not only to promote new programs, but a basic necessity for the agency to sustain itself. I make this distinction to say Todman is not asking for additional money to add programming to additionally benefit the district, but a subsidy without which the agency may not operate at its expected capacity.This indicates the federal funding is insufficient for operation.
The central problem is the basic capacity of DC local government in contrast to the federal budget. As the cost of living in the district increases for residents who have, quite literally, built DC local, they are left with little options for housing in the city that is their birthright. This remains particularly true for the elderly, disabled, and families with children. While DC local government is subsidizing the agency to ensure the operation continues, there is a changing landscape at the federal level that I argue requires a new form of understanding.
According to theories of neoliberalism, big institutions are broken down, then slowly discarded in pieces in the name of private rule and small tax burdens on the rich (Brown 2015). This is often masked as freedom and flexibility for agencies like DCHA. Government programs aimed to support the lower and middle classes under a capitalist system are chipped away. Public-private partnerships are emphasized to reduce the burden of government. In turn, what is traditionally a public good paid for by publicly accountable funds are privatized.
In terms of housing, The free market certainly has not shown the ability to self-produce adequate, accessible housing for all. Without the protection of dedicated public housing, the affordable housing market begins to dwindle, forcing low-income residents in the area to relocate elsewhere. According to a 2015 report by the DC Fiscal Policy Institute, since 2012, should the lowest DC residents not receive housing subsidies and reside solely in the private market, “the average rent for this group [would equal] 80 percent of average income” . . . → Read More: Understanding How Public Housing Is Funded… It’s Harder Than You’d Think
By Liane Scott, on December 13th, 2013 
Iris McLauren-Southall and Commissioner Aquarius Vann-Ghasri
We would like to congratulate Grassroots DC member and DC Housing Authority Commissioner Aquarius Vann-Ghasri who was awarded DCHA’s “Excellence in Resident-Driven Leadership for outstanding performance and lasting contributions to Resident Council Leadership.” The award was presented on December 12,2013. Vann-Ghasri currently serves as the Vice President of the Potomac Gardens Resident Council and is on the Executive Board of the DCHA Citywide Advisory Board. She also works with many nonprofit organizations throughout the metropolitan area and holds several certificates for nonprofit leadership.
Commissioner Aquarius Vann-Ghasri’s latest award.
Commissioner and Resident Council President Vann-Ghasri would like to thank the following residents who her interpretation of Title 24 of the Code of Federal Regulations (which governs the resident input into HUD governance) and her vision of the Potomac Gardens Family as a model for public housing: Tomasia Moore, Tina Hawkins, Shirley Marshall, Shonda, Ann Brown, Mrs. Brown, Quaina, Melinda, Shane, Carolyn Johnson, Ms. Lu, Mitchell, Ditesha, Larry Johnson, Tim Tim, Lorraine Leonard, Ms. Betty,Vernita Abney, Marry, Terry, Cortney, Carolyn Proctor and Bridget. “I thank you all. This is our award!”
Ms. Vann-Ghasri studied to become a paralegal at the Antioch School of Law, Urban Law Institute. She graduated with honors from the DCHA Community Monitoring Program. She served for two years with AmeriCorp Vista, and has worked with local groups such as Community Vision, Inc., National People Action, United Public Housing, DC Justice for Youth and the National Coalition for Homelessness. It is thanks to her support that Grassroots DC has a home at the Potomac Gardens Public Housing Complex. Our work here is fast becoming an integral part of Vann-Ghasri’s resident-driven leadership vision for public housing.
By Liane Scott, on May 15th, 2013 
If you rent in DC, and are unhappy about just how much rent you have to pay. If you rent and have concerns about health and safety issues in your apartment or apartment complex, you should go. The Tenant Town Hall is organized by the Latino Economic Development Center and the Housing for All Campaign but any DC resident who rents is encouraged to attend. It’s your opportunity to make your housing concerns known to those with the power to do something about it.
Tenants Demand Safe, Affordable Housing
Join the tenant movement for affordable housing and safe, healthy conditions! Hundreds of DC tenants will gather to raise their concerns to Councilmembers and agency directors just days before the DC Council votes on the budget and decides how to fund key housing programs. Wins made by tenants at the Tenant Town Hall have improved the lives of all DC renters. Stand for Housing For All at the Tenant Town Hall!
Saturday, May 18 All Souls Unitarian Church 1500 Harvard St NW (16th and Columbia Rd NW, 3 blocks from Columbia Heights Metro)
Free lunch, 1-2 PM Free childcare with RSVP by May 10. Interpretation in Spanish, Amharic and Chinese.
1 – 2 PM: Speak with DC housing agencies – DC Housing Authority, Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, Department of Housing and Community Development, legal service providers and non-profit organizations. Lunch
2 – 4 PM: Town Hall presentations by residents focusing on DC’s affordable housing budget and Safe and Healthy Housing (no mold, asbestos or lead!) and responses from elected officials and Housing Agencies.
For more information contact Elizabeth efalcon@cnhed.org.
By Schyla Pondexter-Moore, on November 6th, 2012 
Say Ward 8 public housing tenants after winning a victory over the DC Housing Authority.
Judge calls the Groundbreaking Tenants’ Right Case HIGHLAND TOGETHER WE STAND VS. DC HOUSING AUTHORITY “Unchartered Territory”
Schyla Pondexter-Moore with kids from the neighborhood as they celebrate her daughter’s birthday.
Schyla Pondexter-Moore, a Ward 8 public housing resident and mother of four, became fearful for her community when the DC Housing Authority informed tenants back in 2010 that Highland Dwellings would be undergoing “complete, substantial, modernization” and everyone on the property would have to move very quickly. After researching Hope VI and finding out about the scope of displacement under the program, and encouraged by her ANC Commissioner K. Armstead, Schyla took action and founded the organization Highland Together We Stand, filing suit against the DC Housing Authority (DCHA) and fighting for over a year to achieve the victory of October 9th 2012 when DCHA settled with Highland Tenants. Now working as an Affordable Housing Organizer for the community based organization Empower DC, Schyla is taking her message to other public housing communities throughout the District.
“You can fight back. You can save your housing. You have rights. Look at what we did at Highland. You can do that too, and Empower DC is here to help.”
The number of public housing units in Washington DC has been drastically cut over the years. Where there used to be at least
Schyla Pondexter-Moore’s family is forced to move from Highland Dwellings while renovations are underway. At the time, Schyla was not certain they’d be able to return.
20,000 units of public housing (before formal recognition of HOPE VI legislation in 1998) there are now only about 8,000. Public housing complexes have been demolished and redeveloped WITHOUT providing the often-promised one-for-one replacement of public housing units on the properties. Properties such as Valley Green, Arthur Cappers, Frederick Douglass, Stanton Dwellings, Parkside, Temple Courts, Sheridan Terrace, Ellen Wilson and more, most of which are located in Wards 7 & 8, have been demolished and redeveloped for private use..
Highland Together We Stand Meeting attended by ANC Representative K. Armstead.
But the residents of the 208-unit Highland Dwellings community in Ward 8 decided to organize and fight back rather than risk displacement. On Tuesday, October 9, 2012, after a year and half of back and forth litigation, the DC Housing Authority agreed to a settlement which presiding Judge Zeldon called “unchartered territory,” and which secures two major victories in the fight to preserve public housing:
In accordance with settlement guidelines, Highland Dwelling “shall remain a public housing property for 40 years” even after extensive renovation and modernization of Highland Dwellings, which is being funded both publicly and privately, is complete. In addition, “All residents at Highland Dwellings shall be afforded the benefit of the terms and conditions applicable to all other public housing complexes in the District of Columbia as those terms and conditions are defined by federal and District of Columbia laws and regulation governing the public housing program.“
In other words, tenants will have the same rights as tenants in all other public housing complexes despite the involvement of private
developers. The 208 units at Highland Dwellings for all intents and purposes will remain for PUBLIC HOUSING after renovations for 40 years. There can be no new criteria set forth that is not applicable to public housing regulations–for example, tenants cannot be asked to pay utilities, pay more than 30% of their income, meet minimum income requirements, undergo credit checks, or other such provisions which have been common in other redevelopment projects and present clear barriers to public housing tenants returning after modernization.
Highland Together We Stand came up with a list of demands that became the basis of their lawsuit.
The settlement also states, “Current Residents and Former Residents shall have the right of first refusal to return to Highland Dwellings.” Residents sought and won this legally binding written agreement in order to ensure that all residents living on the property prior to the renovation will be able to return to the property after the renovation is complete.
“We fought a good fight. Housing knew what they did was unjust and a lot of wrong doing. Myself and other tenants in Highland Dwellings fought back and now I can say justice was served,” said Ms. Renee Patterson, another plaintiff in the case.
There have been at least . . . → Read More: Gentrification Stops Here!
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