Public Housing

Publicrising Doors Slow to Open For D.C. Housing Poor Wait for Years as Crunch Worsens By SERGE F. KOVALESKI A These people are being pushed The paradox is that the better Washington Post Staff Writer out, and we have no real effective we do our jobs, the fewer people programs to mitigate the negative will get housed as occupancy stabi- In October 1992, after years of impact of this economic onslaught. lizes," Gilmore said. "It is an unin- hollow promises by District offi- The District and the federal gov- tended consequence, a tragic con- cials, advocates for the homeless ernment are just frozen in time sequence at that for many of the sued the city on behalf of the watching this happen," he said. poorest of the poor." 11,000 families mired on the public "Now, success is being measured Housing Authority records show housing waiting list. One in five of by the number of Starbucks you the waiting list stands at just over the subsidized dwellings was de- have in a neighborhood and not by 8,000 applicants. The rolls were re- crepit and unoccupied, and plain- the number of jobs or affordable cently purged of roughly 4,000 tiffs argued that the city was effec- housing you preserve." names that were either no longer tively demolishing its stock in The crisis faced by many within eligible for the subsidies or did not violation of federal law and exacer- the District's vast economic un- respond to notices of available bating a housing shortage for derclass is being played out across housing from the agency-an ad- Washington's poor. much of the nation, where the num- justment never earnestly undertak- The lawsuit landed the agency ber of poor families paying more en by the department before receiv- under a court-: pointed receiver, than half their income for severely ership. David I. Gilmore, who in five years substandard housing has reached The documents also show that has overseen dramatic improve- an all-time high of at least 5.4 mil- 4,740 applicants have been placed ments at what were once some of lion households totaling 12.5 mil- in public housing since July 1995 as the nation's worst public housing lion people, according to HUD. the authority has aggressively re- developments. Now, with his re- Meanwhile, the inventory of rental duced its vacancy rate to about 2 ceivership ending Sept. 15, he is be- units within financial reach of the percent-from almost 20 percent queathing to a new director and lowest-income Americans has con- before receivership-and stepped nine-member board a radically re- tinued its two-decade-long slide. up evictions. structured operation. The number of dwellings with Those who were moved off the But with his departure, Gilmor/ monthly rents below $300 has de- list over the last five years waited is also passing on a quandary: D. clined in excess of 13 percent since an average of 749 days-a bit over Housing Authority records sho 1996-a loss of close to 1 million two years-to receive units, a the waiting lists for public hous' such units. lengthy period but an improvement and the Section 8 voucher progr In Washington, contracts cover- over the considerably longer waits remain troublingly long, clo ing about 7,000 private units being before Gilmore took over, when the level at the time the class-a used for Section 8 housing are set some applicants waited five to 10 suit was filed against then-M to expire over the next three years, years. Sharon Pratt Kelly. raising concerns among advocates But he cautioned that in the fu- The bloated rosters-al for the homeless that landlords will ture there may be a "sharper in- 21,000 applicants-underscor add to a trend and opt out of the crease" in the waiting list as the OC- worsening shortage of decen program in favor of collecting high- cupancy situation becomes even fordable housing in the nat er market-value rents. more settled in a public housing capital at a time when the re. Social workers say the affordable system that could end up with housing crunch has become so se about 2,000 fewer units than the tate market is booming. While the crunch is being felt by the poor to vere in the District that the waiting 11,796 Gilmore started with. For time for a family seeking emergen- one thing, the agency has been sell- varying degrees throughout the Washington area, the predicament cy, transitional shelter is roughly ing off its 317 smaller scattered is by far most acute in the District, six months. Consequently, some sites, and other units are being which has one of the greatest dis- District residents are seeking more razed to make room for mixed- parities in the nation between pre- affordable living arrangements out- income communities. These new side the city in venues like Prince vailing rental rates and earnings of complexes are being built with the low-income families. George's County, much to the dis- assistance of HOPE VI federal A report last year by the U.S. De- may of County Executive Wayne K. grants and will contain fewer con- partment of Housing and Urban Curry (D), who says the spillover is ventional public housing dwellings. Development showed that fair-mar- straining his jurisdiction's resourc- Like other residents in public es. ket rent in the District as a percent- housing buildings slated for demo- age of average income of assisted In the case of the waiting list for lition, Robert Jackson, a tenant at households had hit 111.7 percent, public housing in the District, the East Capitol Dwellings in South- placing Washington second only to large numbers also highlight a par- east Washington, will be given pri- adox: Better living conditions at Newark among 20 large U.S. cities ority to either move into another the developments run by the D.C. surveyed. Nationwide, the average public housing development or re- was 76.1 percent. Housing Authority are resulting in ceive a Section 8 voucher. But at 61 "As the economic revival goes fewer people moving out of their forward, it is posing a real threat to units. In the years before receiver- and suffering from arthritis, he ship, intolerable conditions were a feels distressed and helpless about low-income people and minorities because their earnings have not major factor as an average of 80 the prospect of relocating from the families 2 month left their dwell- place he has lived for the last 19 kept pace with the surging real es- ings. The number has declined to years. tate market," said Robert L. Moore, president of the Devel- about 30 a month, including those "I feel like it was a foregone con- caught up in an aggressive pro- clusion that they were going to opment Corporation of Columbia gram of evictions of tenants who move us out. I am worried about Heights, a nonprofit community or- have chronically been remiss in where I will live out the rest of my ganization. paying rent or engaged in criminal life," Jackson said. "I have to be activity or other troublemaking. close to a bus line because I cannot walk very well. So my possibilities are even more limited." Julie Conrad said she quit as a public relations consultant for pri- vate contractors involved in the The Washington Post WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 16, 2000