Housing/urban Issues/Gentrification

On the 17th of February, FOX News pre-empted the crime coverage that usually starts their broadcast to focus on furious upscale residents at a Van Ness community meeting. The subject was Mayor Bowser's proposal to locate one of 8 dispersed homeless shelters in their neighborhood. Objections to opening a homeless shelter in upscale neighborhoods like anywhere in Ward 1 are usually based in NIMBYism (not in my back yard) fortified with an unhealthy heap of racism. In this case, there are legitimate questions about Mayor Bowser's objectives, given her police raids on homeless camps and her seeming belief that more arrests,searches, and police harassment can solve any social problem.

Developer Geoff Griffis of City Partners is working with Sanford Capital's Congress Heights redevelopment project that seeks to replace the Congress Heights apartments on Alabama Ave in Anacostia with a "mixed use" project of condos, retail and office space. Since he got control of the buildings, all maintainance has stopped on the buildings in an effort to force tenants to move. On Dec 16, community organizers, tenants of Congress Heights, and their supporters descended on Geoff Griffis' posh Cleveland Park home to object in front of his neighbors to his illegal attempts to prevent tenants from buying the buildings and staying put.

Video highlights of the protest(2min 37 sec)

On the 20th of November, Mayor Bowser carried out her threat to begin DPW "cleanup" raids on homeless camps with an attack on the camp in Rock Creek Park near Va Ave. A trash truck, a box truck, and a shelter van were brought in, along with at least one police van for security. Recent Dept of Justice opinions opposing prosecution of the homeless may have deterred forcible removal, but it was clear that some belongings other than the tents were either being thrown in the trash or hauled away to a government warehouse. As of 7PM, many tents were still standing, and it appeared that most residents had refused the Mayor's demands to move to city-controlled shelters. The shelters are known for everything from metal detectors to bedbugs, and some refuse to use them.

Museum Square owner Bush Properties has defied DC law and told residents of Museum Square at 401 K street that they would no longer participate in Section 8, instead issuing vouchers they demanded be used elsewhere and asking them to be out by Oct 1. On the last day of September, at least half the building backed by supporters from as far away as Boston instead participated in a rally defying these demands and emphasising they intended to exercise their legal right to stay put. Furious with Bush Properties for illegally refusing to accept their vouchers, residents took to the streets, but not in the way Bush Properties had hoped.

Update Oct 1 4PM: Bush Properties now reported to be accepting the "enhanced" vouchers one day after protest and expiration of deadline.

Video highlights of the march plus analysis