Hundreds of DC Renters Organize for Affordable Housing at 5th Annual Citywide Tenant Town Hall

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE             
June 22, 2012                 

Contact: Ash Kosiewicz, Communications and Advocacy Director
Farah Fosse, Affordable Housing Preservation Program Director
(202) 425-1303; (202) 590-4369
akosiewicz@ledcmetro.org ; ffosse@ledcmetro.org

WHAT: 5th Annual Citywide Tenant Town Hall
WHERE: National City Christian Church, 5 Thomas Circle NW
WHEN: Saturday, June 23rd, 2012; 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM
WHO (confirmed): Ward 1 Councilmember  Jim Graham; Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh; Ward 4 Councilmember Muriel Bowser; At-Large Councilmember Vincent Orange; Renters from across the city (250 attendees expected); Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs Director Nicholas Majett; DC Housing Authority Director Adrianne Todman; DC Housing Finance Agency Director Harry Sewell; Department of Housing and Community Development Deputy Director Jessica Franklin; Office of the Tenant Advocate Director Johanna Shreve; Office on Latino Affairs Director Roxana Olivas; Office on African Affairs Director Ngozi Nmezi; Office on Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs; AARP Legal Counsel for the Elderly; CARECEN; Mi Casa; Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center; ONE DC; Legal Aid DC; Bread for the City; CNHED Housing for All Campaign; Empower DC; Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless; We Are Family; Many Languages, One Voice; Ethiopian Community Center; Latino Economic Development Center.

WASHINGTON – In the wake of successful efforts to restore $18 million to the Housing Production Trust Fund in the FY13 budget and the release of new data showing a dramatic loss of low-cost rental units since 2000, the Latino Economic Development Center (LEDC) is organizing the 5th Annual Tenant Town Hall with more than 250 renters and community-based organizations from across the city.

Having identified affordable housing as the #1 issue of concern at DC Mayor Vincent Gray’s One City Summit in February, residents will follow-up with Council members and directors of DC housing agencies by presenting their housing priorities and solutions on a range of critical issues. These include the pressing need to help more tenants buy their apartment buildings using the District’s Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) and public funds from the Trust Fund to prevent their displacement from communities undergoing significant revitalization.

“DC residents have been very clear – affordable housing is their #1 issue,” said Farah Fosse, director of LEDC’s Affordable Housing Preservation Program. “Renters across the city are organized and ready for the Gray Administration and Council members to stop the dramatic loss of affordable housing by making funding for key programs a continuing priority.”

 

Over My Dead Buyout: Affordable Housing and the Price of Change in Ward 4

Today’s blog is the second in a series of stories previewing this Saturday’s 5th Annual Citywide Tenant Town Hall. The town hall will be held from 1-4 pm at the National City Christian Church, 5 Thomas Circle NW.

DC resident Sharon Lewis can see the writing on her apartment walls, and she doesn’t like it one bit.

One year ago, she and her neighbors received letters stating that their building – less than one block away from the Georgia/Petworth metro station in Ward 4 – had been put up for sale. Sharon, who retired from her job at the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2009, has called the building home for 35 years.

Although she admits the building could use some improvements – new windows, better security, and more appliances – the building’s location and reasonable rents are two reasons why she has enjoyed living in Petworth.

“We were all in a panic,” she recalls. “We had no info – we had no idea what to do.”

 

You Too Can Fight for Tenant Rights on YouTube

Today’s blog is the first in a series of stories previewing this Saturday’s 5th Annual Citywide Tenant Town Hall. The town hall will be held from 1-4 pm at the National City Christian Church, 5 Thomas Circle NW.

“Nobody should live in the terrible conditions we were living in,” says DC resident Randy Green. “And if you’re living in such conditions, you should do something about it.”

Randy’s appeal – shared just before a step-by-step explanation of how renters in the District of Columbia can fix housing code violations in their apartment buildings – is one message within a series of short, playful and informative “Tenant Rights 101” videos set for screening at the 5th Annual Citywide Tenant Town Hall.

Created through collaboration between LEDC and local community-based filmmakers, the bilingual videos aim to educate renters in the District about their legal rights as tenants through the personal experiences of four DC residents who worked with their neighbors to fight for decent, affordable housing in the up-and-coming neighborhood of Logan Circle.