LISTEN TO SCHYLA PONDEXTER-MOORE AND ADRIANNE TODMAN HERE:
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Saturday, the District of Columbia Housing Authority (DCHA) held a barbecue at Highland Dwellings, a 208-unit public housing complex located east of the Anacostia River in Ward 8. At the barbecue, Housing Authority Interim Executive Director Adrianne Todman sat down for a debate with Schyla Pondexter-Moore, a resident of Highland Dwellings.
The discussion focused on the $19.5 million in renovations which Highland Dwellings is slated for. While more than half of the funding is coming from stimulus money, $8 million is from private financing. Both Todman and Pondexter-Moore are in favor of making the much-needed renovations, but Pondexter-Moore has some concerns, including the possible consequences to the public housing units if a payment to the private interests is missed.
Pondexter-Moore said, “I like living here. I like my neighbors. I like the view. I like the area. And when you hear ‘renovations’ and ‘private developers’ you start thinking gentrification… because it’s been happening ward by ward by ward. And you start thinking, okay, you see Homeland Security is being built down the street. You see things are changing. You see construction done by Barry Farms. So you’re going to start thinking, ‘What are they really trying to do? What is really going on?’ The places need renovations. We need them bad. But at what expense? And what will happen to us? Because this is all we have.”
For her part, Director Todman said that she would prefer to use only public funding when making capital improvements to public housing, but federal funding is not sufficient. Todman said, “Industry experts will tell you that public housing has been woefully underfunded on the capital side for decades and decades. There is a multi-billion dollar backlog – almost to the tune of a $3 billion backlog – on public housing units throughout the country and their physical needs. And we just don’t get the kind of federal funding to meet that backlog… [I]t would be great to have a day where we didn’t have to turn to private financing; when that capital fund is funded to meet our assessed needs… And so hope springs eternal. But it’s my responsibility to be reactive to the concerns we have now.”
In an excellent article, City Paper’s Lydia DePillis reported on the details of how the Highland Dwellings renovations are being financed: “Had DCHA decided to just do the environmental upgrades with the stimulus money, they would have been able to start earlier and work around the residents, and no one would have had to move. Instead, the Housing Authority decided to do a more comprehensive renovation. But without enough money to make it happen, officials decided to try something new—borrowing against the fair market value of 83 units to raise $8 million in private debt financing, and “selling” them to a wholly-owned subsidiary of DCHA. Officially, they will be converted from traditional public housing into private buildings owned by the subsidiary. Residents will pay for them with the help of “project-based vouchers”—a form of Section 8 voucher—that cover the difference between the unit’s rent and an amount equal to 30 percent of the resident’s income. It’s the first time the D.C. Housing Authority has tried financing renovations by “project basing” its own buildings. And DCHA promises that it’s just a financing strategy—Highland Dwellings residents won’t know the difference between the old and the new form of housing.”
D.C.’s record in dealing with public housing tenants has been less than stellar and Highland Dwellings residents have reason to be concerned about whether they will be able to return to the renovated units. Pondexter-Moore said, “Once the renovations are done, [we question] whether we’ll be able to return… [A] lot of people are cynical about this because things have happened before where people moved and they were not allowed to come back, even though they were told that they were allowed to come back. For some reason – different reasons – they were not allowed to come back.”
Director Todman said, “Some of what we’re doing is very complex because HUD sometimes makes things complex. But our focus is straight: we’re going to be renovating the site; we’re going to be bringing residents back; and we’re going to set a goal of preserving these units for long-term, very low-income affordability.”
LISTEN TO SCHYLA PONDEXTER-MOORE AND ADRIANNE TODMAN HERE