Cross-posted on behalf of Empower DC

CALL TO ACTION!!! Forward this message far and wide and join us for an important rally and then to pack the room for the DC Housing Authority budget hearing:

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30 12 NOON WILSON BUILDING 1350 PENNSYLVANIA AVE, NW (Accessible by Federal Triangle or Metro Center Stations) Rally outside followed by packing room 412 Bring ID to enter

Bus transportation is being arranged from public housing communities. To request transportation, testimony support or for more information about how you or your organization can support the Public Housing Campaign contact Schyla at (202) 234-9119 x101 or housing@empowerdc.org.

WE MUST PRESERVE & IMPROVE DC’S TRADITIONAL PUBLIC HOUSING

We stand united in support of preserving and improving our traditional public housing communities which serve a critical role in the affordable housing landscape of DC. We support a moratorium on the emptying and demolition of currently occupied units. We support improving and reopening units that have been left vacant due to disrepair.

Traditional public housing is a public resource which must be managed to serve the needs of current and future residents who can not access other private and subsidized housing because of multiple barriers. Public housing is the only permanently affordable housing owned by the city which ensures housing is available to people based on their income, with no bottom threshold and without utility costs, where families can remain intact and residents are supported by tight knit social networks.

WE HAVE LOST TOO MUCH

Due to completed and planned demolitions of public housing through the federal HOPE VI and Choice Communities programs and DC’s “New Communities” program, DC’s public housing stock has been decimated in recent years from over 11,000 units to only about 7,000 remaining units – at least 500 of which are currently vacant due to disrepair or pending demolition. During the same time the need for truly affordable housing has increased and DC has quickly become an unaffordable city to live in for low income working people and the most disenfranchised families and individuals.

THE NEED IS GREAT

The desperate need for traditional public housing is evidenced by:

– 7,000+ residents experience homelessness on any given day in DC[i]. In March of 2014, the city had 827 families in shelters including 1,591 children.[ii]

– Over 70,000 people were on the city’s waiting list for affordable housing in DC when it was closed last April[iii]

– The loss of over half of DC’s low cost rental housing units in only 10 years time, from 70,600 units to only 34,500[iv]

– The market rate cost of housing has skyrocketed to $1,500 or more for a two bedroom apartment, for which one would need to earn $60,000 per year or $29 per hour to afford.[v]

Housing vouchers and the private market can not adequately replace the need for public housing. Neither can job training or education programs. The people currently served by DC’s public housing communities include:

– over 15,000 residents – over 50% of whom are above age 50 – 23% have disabilities – With an average household income of $13,000 per year, or the equivalent of 35 hours per week at minimum wage[vi] PUBLIC LAND FOR PUBLIC NEEDS

Traditional public housing is the only form of permanently affordable housing in DC that is on public land and held in the public trust to serve the needs of current and future generations. The extremely high cost of real estate in DC is a barrier to creating more truly affordable housing. Public land is a precious resource with which we are able to provide for the long-term needs of our city. These lands must no longer be privatized and converted into middle and upper income tracts with time-limited (usually only 15 years) affordability covenants. STOP DISPLACEMENT

The loss of traditional public housing is worsening DC’s homelessness crisis, and has contributed to the push-out of over 40,000 African American residents from our city within the time period of 2000-2010.[vii]

Public housing demolition and redevelopment is promoted by the “deconcentration myth” which assumes it is detrimental for low income residents to live in a clustered area, and that individual lives improve when residents are dispersed. These assumptions are not supported by concrete results, in fact several scholars have documented the detrimental impact of the loss of social networks, stable housing, sense of place and identity.[viii] The underlying stereotypes against public housing and its residents are discriminatory and blame people for . . . → Read More: Save Public Housing and Fund Needed Repairs Call To Action