By Clara Lincoln

Saturday, July 23 at 11am with the temperature pushing 100 degrees, over 40 people gathered around the Cleveland Park metro station to demand an end to the slumlord control of a Congress Heights property.


March Against Slumlords protest

Read more about the situation from Justice First here.

The protest began as people gathered at the Cleveland Park metro station, crowding into the shade of trees. Eugene Puryear of Justice First and Stop Police Terror Project DC took the mic and riled up the crowd, many of whom held signs about gentrification and slumlords. At least 5 people in the crowd were tenants either from Congress Heights or other buildings organizing to exercise their Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) rights in order to buy their building.

After Eugene's explanation of where we were going and why, we started our uphill, sticky march to Geoff Griffis' house. Griffis is the developer who partnered with Sanford Capital, a slumlord responsible for letting building conditions deteriorate to the point that there are roaches & rats, flooded basements, and trash sitting for months waiting to be picked up. Justice First retrieved the address through online research on Griffis' donations to Mayor Bowser's 2014 mayoral campaign -- a strategic move on Griffis' part. Griffis is also involved in the wharf development, which received $95 million worth of waterfront property from the city for only $1.00.


Conditions at Congress Heights building

Griffis and Sanford Capital are letting the building deteriorate to try to force the tenants to move out before they can exercise their right to buy the building. But the tenants will not back down. When we arrived at Griffis' house, three tenants from Congress Heights took the mic to talk about their experiences. They expressed how inspired they were that so many people showed up on such a hot day. One said, "We've been fighting for three years. But what we want Griffis to know is you've got rid of some, but you're not getting rid of us," referring to people who have chosen to move away and stop fighting. The President and VP of the tenant association both gave inspiring speeches as people cheered and clapped. We assumed the house was empty since we saw no signs of life, but their words were as much for the crowd as for Griffis' neighbors.

After about 20 minutes of chants and testimonies, the slumlord appeared. As Schyla Pondexter-Moore from Empower DC held the mic, Griffis stepped out of his house with a box of cold water bottles. Schyla, the tenants and the crowd all turned around, rushed to the fence, and booed. Schyla said into the mic that he was no better than a slave master for the way he's treated the tenants. One tenant yelled, "We don't want your water, we want a change of heart!" Griffis opened the gate, set the box on the ground, closed the gate, gave a curt wave, and walked back inside. Check out our twitter feed to see a video of the end of the encounter. Needless to say, no one drank the water. We had brought enough of our own.

We marched and chanted back down the hill towards Connecticut Avenue. We were so fired up that we walked straight into the intersection and blocked Connecticut Avenue for a few minutes, telling passersby who Griffis was and why we were marching. Police redirected traffic even though we had no permit to block the intersection-- a testament, in my opinion, to DC police's strategy of causing as little noise as possible during protests to keep media quiet.

The protest displayed layers of solidarity. Community members and organizers came out to support the Congress Heights tenants. Luchadorxs in other buildings trying to exercise their TOPA rights showed up for a similar fight across the river. Many individuals and organizations brought water and ice to pass out. And Griffis' neighbors even stopped to listen to what we had to say. It revitalized and inspired the tenants and organizers, educated a crowd and some Cleveland Park neighbors, and left people with a follow-up action step.

Griffis and Sanford Capital want access to even more land near the Congress Heights metro station on which to build luxury apartments. As soon as Justice First found out that the WMATA board was planning to vote Thursday (today!) on whether or not to give even more land to Sanford Capital, they did what they do best-- they organized. At the march this past Saturday, they handed out information sheets like the one below urging the crowds to contact Councilmember Jack Evans, urging him to table the vote. They spread the call to action on social media as well.



Then, Thursday morning, they learned they had won. Many ONE DC members who had emailed Evans got responses informing them of WMATA's decision. Here is the text from an email Evans sent to a ONE DC intern:

"Thank you very much for taking the time to share your thoughts on this important issue.  Upon further review of the Congress Heights sale agreement item, I agree that postponing the vote is the most prudent option at this time.  I am happy to report that the WMATA Board also agree and the item has been tabled until a later meeting."

Justice First, Congress Heights tenants, and all those who contacted Evans made this happen. Thank you to our members who called, emailed, & tweeted. This is a WIN that proves the power of collective organizing and solidarity.

But the fight isn't over. The vote will come before the board again. And the Congress Heights tenants are still living in slum conditions. Stay involved in the fight for equitable housing by following Justice First on Facebook.  #DefendAffordableHousing #SaveCongressHeights

By: Tiffany Joslin - www.notabigspender.com - Follow Tiffany @in_a_tiff

Imagine your granddaughter, age seven, is playing on the grass in front of your apartment building with a group of kids that live in your complex. You and several neighbors are watching over them. A security guard approaches and demands that you get off the grass and go on the sidewalk that lines the edges of Brentwood Road, a bustling four-lane street. This is the first time you’ve heard of this rule. Kids used to be able to play where they wanted. These new, ever-changing rules seem to be an element of the redevelopment initiative, the same initiative which is also transferring families around.

This is what Neeka Sullivan, a nine-year Brookland Manor resident, said she experienced in early May. Brookland Manor is an affordable housing complex in Northeast DC that is set to be demolished and renovated starting in 2017. Residents said they have experienced an uptick in numbers of violations and infractions given for activities like children playing on the grass or residents sitting on their front porches. “The kids don’t have nowhere to play no more. All they have is the steps, the rails, and the trash thing,” Sullivan said, referring to a dumpster that she tries to keep the children away from.

The situation has turned into a lockdown, said Will Merrifield, a lawyer who represents the tenants. “They are telling people to go inside if they’re outside. They’re hassling old women and children.” Sullivan corroborates this claim. “We don’t have nothing on paper but it’s happening,” Sullivan said. “If a lot of whites lived in this neighborhood, [security] wouldn’t be doing things like they doing.” And, according to Sullivan and other residents, the situation has worsened in the last month.

“I can’t respond to that,” Michael Meers, the Executive Vice President for Mid-City Financial Corporation, said in regards to the reported increase in harassment by security staff. “I’m not aware of any changes.” Meers said that the company’s private activities are in full support of its public commitments.

Yet tenants and advocates are concerned about the company’s public commitments as well. The new design cuts over 160 of the current low-cost units. Merrifield called this “criminal” because the District is in midst of an affordable housing crisis. The DC Fiscal Policy Institute reported that in 2015, the city contained half as many inexpensive units than in 2002.

Meers said that the new property will remain “real, deep affordable housing,” unlike several other developments around the city, and said that the planned number of affordable units was “three times what was legally required.” According to the city’s Department of Housing and Community Development website, zoning law requires 8 to 10 percent of new or redeveloped properties to contain affordable units. Brookland Manor will be 21 percent affordable. Even still, Merrifield and residents are continuing to push for the same number, and same bedroom size, of redeveloped units.

RIA—the name chosen for the neighborhood redevelopment—will be a mixed-income community. “Our thought was that a mix of incomes will create a better environment and opportunity for everyone,” Meers said.

Yet Brook Hill, a fair housing advocate at the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, disagrees. According to Hill, gentrification is the root cause of D.C.’s affordable housing crisis.“This is a uniquely African American crisis,” said Hill. Many neighborhoods are becoming out of reach to people of color. In the last 15 years, the black population in the 20001 zip code (a large strip down the middle of the city) has decreased by 33 percent. Brookland Manor’s zip code is currently 86 percent African American, but it would be easy to imagine that number falling as well if steps aren’t taken to stop displacement.

Most importantly, “if people are displaced from Brookland Manor, they will not move to communities with lower concentrations of poverty or where African Americans are underrepresented,” Hill added. “They will move to communities in Southeast and Prince George’s County that are more racially segregated and that have greater concentrations of poverty.” Hill foresees the attempt to create a racially and economically integrated community in Brentwood—another name for the community—being hampered to a large extent.

Washington City Paper reports that with other, similar mixed-income developments around the city, the owner tears down aged affordable housing structures with a plan to rebuild one-for-one. However, according to City Paper, these projects have, “faced tremendous hurdles, putting its four projects well behind schedule and leaving many residents displaced longer than expected.” Moving people off the properties caused a portion of these delays, which Merrifield said has not happened yet at Brookland Manor. Instead residents are being relocated around the property.

The relocation process itself remains opaque to tenants. Several families have been asked to move multiple times in the last year. Minnie Elliott, the President of the Board of the Brookland Manor/Brentwood Village Residents Association, was relocated to a new on-site apartment less than six months ago and is now being asked to move again for reasons that weren’t immediately explained to her. “It’s a hardship,” Elliott said of the first move. “If it hadn’t been for my family, I don’t know what I would’ve done.”

Elliott said the next move will be even harder. She doesn’t understand where management will place her and the 21 other families that are being asked to move. Elliott said, in response to management’s claims that they have enough space for all the families, “That was a lie.”

“It is certainly not the goal to move people around multiple times,” Meers said. “It is a complicated and involved process.” In regards to Elliott’s second move, Meers said it came about because of a change in plan from what was originally approved by the Zoning Commission. According to an email exchange with Meers, “the reason for the change relates entirely to being able to build as much replacement housing on site as possible at the earliest possible date.” Mid-City aims to file a Second-Stage Planned Unit Development (PUD) Application for the two buildings this summer.

Meers said he understands residents’ fear. “I get why people are anxious. But we are committed to allowing everyone in good standing to stay. Our public commitments stand and we will be accountable.”

Tenants, along with community organizers like ONE DC, are fighting back. Through canvassing and one-on-one meetings, community leaders and ONE DC members were able to raise Tenant’s Association attendance to between 25 and 50 residents each month. ONE DC also maintains a database of over 200 tenant contacts. “Tenants will be capitalizing on nearly two years of slow organizing in coming months to put pressure on the city council and zoning commission to withhold approval for the project if all the units aren’t replaced as affordable housing of the same unit sizes,” Hill said.

In the meantime, many residents think the developer should do more to ease their worries. And they say that some promises made, like money for moving assistance, have not been kept. “It’s so rough out here,” Sullivan said. “The developer needs to do something to help us relax, because right now they’re throwing people on the street.”

October 26, 2015
Press Contact: Marybeth Onyeukwu, ONE DC Organizer  - [email protected]

WASHINGTON, D.C. - On Monday, October 26th, Mount Vernon Plaza Tenant Association, People’s Platform, Justice First and Black Lives Matter DMV held a vigil in support of the Mount Vernon Plaza tenants fighting exorbitant rent increases. The vigil featured tenants, representatives from the Black Lives Matter movement and other community members sharing stories of displacement and making their demands to the Bowser administration. This vigil culminated a week of action demanding the Mayor to shift priorities from policing to reinvestment in Black communities.

After living in their homes for almost twenty years and facing a $600+ per month rent increase, fifteen Mount Vernon Plaza tenants held a sit-in last year at Bowser's office. At the time, Bowser was the Councilmember for Ward 4, running for mayor. As a result, the tenants won a seven-year housing affordability agreement. Since becoming Mayor, however, Bowser has refused to step in on behalf of the tenants. The landlord of the building, Bush Construction Companies, has engaged in numerous intimidation tactics including sending tenants to eviction court and disqualifying tenants from the new affordable housing program. Many tenants have been forced to move.

On the one year anniversary of the demonstration in Bowser’s office, tenants are, once again, demanding the Bowser administration to intervene to ensure more tenants are not displaced from their homes.

“I think it’s ridiculous the Mayor continues to express a commitment to affordable housing while doing nothing to protect the tenants at Mount Vernon Plaza,” said Eugene Puryear, organizer of Stop Police Terror Project DC and Justice First. “How is it that the Bowser administration can find the funding for more policing, but will claim their hands are tied when it comes to Mount Vernon Plaza? Truly affordable housing is simply not a priority for this administration.”

Mount Vernon Plaza is one battle in the fight for truly affordable housing in the District. Mount Vernon Plaza showcases the racial violence that underlies the city’s growing economic inequities.

What: Vigil in Support of Mount Vernon Plaza Tenants

Who: Mount Vernon Plaza Tenant Association, People’s Platform, Justice First, Black Lives Matter DMV

When: Monday, October 26th at 7:30pm

Where: Mount Vernon Plaza Apartments - 10th & M ST NW

Visuals: Signs, banners, candle light

###

ABOUT ONE DC: ONE DC (formerly Manna CDC) was founded in 1997 in the midst of neighborhood change. From early on, ONE DC's approach to community development addressed structural causes of poverty and injustice, an orientation that stemmed from deep analysis of race, power, and the economic, political, and social forces at work in Shaw and the District. As a result, ONE DC’s organizing work centers on popular education, community organizing, and alternative economic development projects.

Barry Farm Study Circle, Barry Farm Tenants and Allies Association, Empower DC, and ONE DC continue to fight to preserve the history of Barry Farm and stop displacement of public housing residents. Barry Farm organizers presented their demands to DC City Council Chairperson Phil Mendelson and City Administrator Rashad Young. Our next meeting will take place onMarch 18th with Chairperson Mendelson, the Director of DC Housing Authority, and the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development.

HERE ARE OUR DEMANDS:

1. Appeal the approval to demolish Barry Farms (From Zoning Commission, DC City Council, and National Capital Planning Commission) as there are no funds to complete these plans they approved.

2. Halt and suspend moving forward with ANY redevelopment/demolition plans for Barry Farms.

3. Audit of the Barry Farms Redevelopment Process. Audit will consist of:

ALL Documents signed by ANY resident council member regarding the redevelopment process.
A Funding report to include:
Funding necessary to complete the proposed project.
Funding necessary to provide for relocation and relocation wrap around services.

4. Analysis of how New Communities works here compared to similar programs in other areas, and how to improve:

5. Answers to the following questions:

a. Why are people relocated en masse long before construction will be complete?
b. Why are replacement units no longer public housing? Why are the leases held by the property's private management company (with hard to meet criterion)?
c. Why are units not replaced? (See Arthur Capper/Carrolsburg, Temple Courts, Lincoln Heights)

6. Immediate repairs made to units in Barry Farms. Fill ALL outstanding maintenance work orders. DCHA is purposefully neglecting this property in regards to maintenance! This is unacceptable!

7. Feasibility study on redeveloping in place to prevent displacement. (This was stipulated in the Small Area Plan approved in 2006 by the Council)

8. Immediate Moratorium on the demolition of Barry Farms. (We are in a serious HOMELESS CRISIS! It is irresponsible and very poor planning for the city to continue with the demolition now!)

9. Meaningful exploration of Converting Barry Farms to cooperative or limited equity cooperative.

Barry Farm organizers also "educated" DC City Council Chairperson Mendelsen on the "myths" of deconcentration of poverty. Check out a few articles for yourself.

http://www.huduser.org/portal/periodicals/cityscpe/vol16num2/ch10.pd

http://herbertgans.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Concentrated-Poverty.pdf

http://www.qc.cuny.edu/Academics/Degrees/DSS/UrbanStudies/FacultyStaff/Documents/Myth%20of%20Concentrated%20Poverty%20-%20Steinberg.pdf

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2014/05/the-problem-with-mixed-income-housing/

http://ssascholars.uchicago.edu/mixed-income-development-study/content/new-public-housing-stigma-mixed-income-developments

http://www.nhlp.org/files/greenbook4/Chapter12/FN%20183%20Schwartz,%20Tajbakhsh%20-%20Mixed-Income%20Housing,%20Unanswered%20Questions%20%281997%29.pdf

http://www.dollarsandsense.org/archives/2003/0703williams.html

By Caroline Hennessey

On January 22, residents of Congress Heights fought back against development aimed to line the pockets of one of the largest slumlords in the District. The development project seeks to displace families with the intention of capitalizing on their conveniently locates homes near the metro station, demolish 5 rent-controlled buildings, and eliminate an affordability requirement intended to keep eleven units accessible to low-income families. One after another residents testified at a hearing before the Zoning Commission to the deplorable conditions they have been continuously subjected to, and expressed their sentiment that “these slumlord do not deserve to be granted this new property”. Alternative forms of inclusive development were put forth as well: “I would like to see a housing co-op for our buildings” stated one resident. Ultimately, the project was not approved for the time being due to the articulately expressed concerns and ideas of residents, community members, and organizers of ONE DC.

The strength that tenants displayed at the hearing and their ability to stand up and speak the truth regarding the devastating realities of the current development model for poor black DC residents was due in no small part to a change in perspective after becoming involved with ONE DC. In December, a group of residents from Congress Heights attended a Freedom School organized by ONE DC that shaped the conversation by exposing many of those who would be affected and afflicted by the unaffordable, non-inclusive proposed development to other alternatives. Residents discussed the root causes of the hardships of displacement and the hostile living environments they have endured for years, and compared and contrasted the status-quo of capitalist, profit-driven development and “investment” with collective models based on principles of a solidarity economy. ONE DC worked with residents to expose them to the deep-seeded imbalance of power that perpetuates development beneficial only to those most privileged in our society. Together they watched videos and discussed other examples of instances where oppressed people have come together to take back power by realizing their own alternative collective visions of labor, housing, and food cooperatives. These ideas and visions were then applied to the specific situation facing residents of Congress Heights today. Some weeks later, these same residents took what they had learned through this discussion to the floor of the Zoning Commission in the first step of what will likely be a long fight for their housing.

The Freedom School is intended to grow and expand to include, unite, and empower residents throughout Ward 8 and DC to take back the city that is theirs. To this end ONE DC has and continues to work tirelessly to connect with residents and educate them in the fight for a fair and inclusive Washington DC.

On December 15th officials for the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) reached an agreement with Mount Vernon Plaza Associates L.L.P, which allows tenants in previously rent-restricted units to apply for a new program for “very low income” and “low-income” families. According to the agreement, the owner of Mount Vernon Plaza is not allowed to charge any more that 30% of the 50% area median income for the Washington, D.C. area for 63 set-aside units. Furthermore, tenants will be eligible to receive a refund of the “amount of rent collected that was in excess of the difference between the set-aside rent and the market rent.”

The agreement also stipulates that management for Mount Vernon Plaza Apartments must notify all the tenants in the previously rent-restricted units of the new program including individuals that have vacated the property. However, to this day, only ten tenants have received notices.

“It is outrageous that management expects us to wait to be notified of this program while we continue to pay the rent increase,” says Quitel Andrews, member of Mount Vernon Plaza Tenant Association. “In fact, we were threatened with legal action if we stopped paying the rent increase. Most of us could potentially be refunded for the money we have struggled to pay for the last year. Meanwhile city officials are using our story as a PR campaign, which does a complete disservice to us. We organized for the last year to get this point. For city officials to fail to hold the owner accountable feels like a slap in the face.”

“Most of us had to take a second job to be able to afford the 50% rent increase. Now they are telling us the rental housing preservation program is for very-low income and low-income families, says Danielle, a resident of Mount Vernon Plaza Apartments for the last 11 years. “I am worried that I will not qualify for the program.”

“It was a very difficult decision to leave Mount Vernon Plaza in the dead beat of winter with a child. The decision to end the program should have been given a year in advance. The increase would have taken so much away from me as a single mother. Why do developers get a break and not the tenants?”

City officials negotiated the land lease sale date as well as the remaining $3.35 million on a Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) loan in order to subsidize the new Rental Housing Preservation Program. Under the new agreement, the owner applies payments that would have been made to DHCD towards the subsidy. Upon the execution of the new promissory note, the sale of land will be considered complete and the remainder of the lease is nullified.

WHO: Mount Vernon Plaza Tenant Association

WHAT: New Rental Housing Preservation Program

WHEN: Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Press Contacts:

Marybeth Onyeukwu, ONE DC Organizer
[email protected]
(202) 590-9949

Quitel Andrews, Member of the Mount Vernon Plaza Tenant Association
(202) 415-2608

ABOUT ONE DC: ONE DC (formerly Manna CDC) was founded in 1997 in the midst of neighborhood change. From early on, ONE DC's approach to community development addressed structural causes of poverty and injustice, an orientation that stemmed from deep analysis of race, power, and the economic, political, and social forces at work in Shaw and the District. As a result, ONE DC’s organizing work centers on popular education, community organizing, and alternative economic development projects.

After successfully demanding a meeting with Councilmember Muriel Bowser, the People’s Platform Alliance, including Mount Vernon Plaza residents, won a temporary reprieve from the management of Mount Vernon Plaza Apartments. Several residents received a thirty-day extension to the initial notice to pay an extra $600 a month or vacate the property.

In a letter dated October 21^st, officials from the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) notified the owner of Mount Vernon Plaza Apartments to “cease and desist with any attempts to raise the rents on the rent restricted units without DHCD consent and in violation of affordability restrictions.” In response to this most recent development, Mount Vernon Plaza tenant, Quitel Andrews, had the following to say:

“It is clear the only way tenants are guaranteed any kind of protection is when we organize. Landlords will use any and every opportunity to take advantage of the increasingly expensive rental market even if that means pushing longtime D.C. residents out. It is imperative that city officials use every legal mechanism available to protect tenants. If we did not organize and demand Councilmember Bowser to step in, the owner would have gotten away with unethically and quite possibly illegally displacing residents.”

Despite the letter, property managers at Mount Vernon Plaza Apartments continue to employ intimidation tactics to force residents out.  On Friday, one resident, Alem Gheremariam, received a notice to vacate his apartment before his lease had expired.

The situation at Mount Vernon Plaza Apartments demonstrates the importance of passing legislation that ensures permanent housing affordability in the District and ultimately a comprehensive strategy that addresses the housing needs of all D.C. residents.

The demonstration in Councilmember Muriel Bowser’s office is the first step in holding elected officials accountable. D.C. officials must be pushed to embrace a more inclusive housing plan for the city. Most importantly, the next mayor will play an integral role in creating a truly equitable D.C for all residents.

The People’s Platform Alliance will continue to organize until the economic, racial, and gender inequities affecting low-income people are eliminated.

Press Contact: Rosemary Ndubuizu, ONE DC organizer
[email protected]
(323) 397-8347

By Sarah Anne Hughes, DCist

About two dozen demonstrators attempted to enter Councilmember Muriel Bowser's office in the Wilson Building today to ask for legislation in support of their affordable housing plan, but were blocked as a group from entering.

"This is the people's house," one demonstrator with ONE DC told a guard blocking the door. "They can't do this. ... I'm a D.C. resident, and I pay taxes here." The guard explained that, while the building is open to the public, Council staff may restrict entrance to offices if the activities are expected to create a disruption.

Five people, some residents of Mount Vernon Plaza, others affiliated with ONE DC, were eventually allowed to enter the office to explain to Joy Holland and Robert Hawkins, Bowser's chief of staff and legislative director, respectively, their demand: A written comment from Bowser on the People's Platform, which includes a call to freeze rents at places like Mount Vernon Plaza, one apartment building where local and federal affordability requirements are soon set to expire. Residents of Mount Vernon Plaza say they were not told a Low Income Housing Tax Credit was set to expire at the end of 2013, increasing their rents by hundreds of dollars.

Read More

By Aaron C. Davis, Washington Post

More than a dozen residents of a D.C. apartment building and advocates for the poor staged a sit-in Monday at the council offices of Muriel E. Bowser (D-Ward 4).

Members of ONE DC, a social justice group, said they had unsuccessfully requested a meeting with Bowser, the chair of the committee with oversight of housing issues, since July regarding rising rental costs at Mount Vernon Plaza apartments.

Under terms of public loans and grants to the property dating to the 1980s, owners of the building had long been required to maintain more than 60 apartments as low-rent units. That obligation recently expired, and tenants in the building near the Walter E. Washington Convention Center began receiving letters warning that rates would increase $500 to $600 a month, or about 50 percent. Rents would rise again next year by a similar amount, the letters said, to reach market rate.

Read More

Today long-time D.C. residents are holding a demonstration inside the office of D.C. Councilmember Muriel Bowser demanding a clear plan to preserve and create affordable housing. The demonstration highlights a very important issue: the rapid evaporation of affordable housing in desirable neighborhoods in the District.

The People’s Platform Alliance including Mount Vernon Plaza residents will not leave Councilmember Bowser's office until the following demands are met.

• A meeting with Councilmember Muriel Bowser to discuss legislation that will protect residents from Mount Vernon Plaza Apartments from displacement.
• Immediate legislation that places a moratorium on rents being raised on tenants as a result of federal or local affordability covenants expiring
• A public hearing to discuss low-cost housing specifically the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) and strengthening rent control with the elimination of hardship petitions

As Chair of the Committee on Housing and Economic Development, Bowser has the unique opportunity to stem the tide of massive displacement by introducing legislation that will guarantee stronger protections for D.C. residents.

Take Action

1. Send an email to Councilmember Bowser demanding she introduces legislation for protect residents from Mount Vernon Plaza Apartments from displacement.
2. Call Councilmember Muriel Bowser at (202) 724-8052

Call Script

3. Send a tweet to Councilmember Bowser

Sample Tweet
@MurielBowser If you truly support affordable housing, address huge issue of expiring LIHTC buildings, start with Mt.VernonPlaza #DCision14

If Councilmember Bowser does not step in several residents will in fact be homeless next week. Please consider supporting the residents protesting in Councilmember Bowser's office by making a phone call today!