Residents of apartment buildings in Van Ness have been working since 2019 to raise awareness of DC government policies that have undermined rent-stabilized housing availability and security. Developments in the past six months have served to confirm and call more attention to their complaints.
In early October, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development released a scathing assessment of the DC Housing Authority’s handling of rent subsidies.
A February 16th Washington Post investigation found the DC Housing Authority overpaying landlords millions of dollars each year, which incentivizes building owners to favor voucher holders over renters who do not qualify for subsidies.
And, most recently, a March 20th DCist story focused on one landlord’s strategy for cashing in on DC housing subsidies: “acquire rent-stabilized buildings at rock-bottom prices; buy out remaining tenants; carve up units by adding drywall to create more bedrooms; and then market them to participants in the Housing Choice Voucher Program or other housing subsidy programs, where, because of local and federal regulations (as well as poor management on the part of D.C. agencies), property owners can command double or triple what they would otherwise collect.” Neglecting building maintenance is another part of the equation.
Rent-stabilized apartments, also known in the District as rent-controlled units, are open to residents of any income. Rent increases in buildings constructed prior to 1976 are limited under DC law, and are even more restricted for seniors and those with disabilities. The rent control law also limits how much a landlord can raise the rent on a unit when it turns over. However, those rent increase caps don’t apply when a voucher renter moves in.
What the DC Council can do
Ward 3 Council member Matt Frumin introduced legislation on March 20th to address the voucher renter loophole in rent control regulations, with seven other Council members and Council chair Phil Mendelson signing on.
“I see it in Ward 3 – and it happens in other places – the way in which rent stabilized units have been cannibalized by another form of affordable housing,” Frumin told DCist. “It happens in lots of different ways. It happens in buildings where the owner … begins to see an advantage to having voucher rents as opposed to rent stabilized rents, as a way of getting around the rent stabilization rules. [And] it happens when buildings flip.”
Other opportunities for legislative remedies include the safety and security of building residents and staff.
In Ward 3, tenants associations and other advocates have urged landlords to provide 24-hour security, particularly for apartment buildings that have seen a marked increase in police calls. While some states make security part of a landlord’s contractual responsibility, DC does not. There is, however, applicable case law. In 1970’s Kline vs. 1500 Massachusetts, a judge ruled the landlord was responsible for the safety and security of a tenant who was assaulted in her apartment building’s hallway.
Apartment managers on the front line
On March 14th, the ANC 3F Housing Committee, chaired by Commissioner Teri Huet, hosted a meeting for property managers of apartment and condo buildings in the Van Ness area. The objective of the meeting, Huet said, was to provide information on resources for property managers “who are often the front line of small, medium, large, really big problems,” such as residents with mental health and addiction issues.
DC government attendees included staffers with the mayor, Council member Frumin and DC attorney general’s offices, the Metropolitan Police Department, and the DC Departments of Behavioral Health (DBH) and Buildings (DOB). The Avalon, Ava Van Ness, Connecticut House, Saratoga and Chesapeake apartments had managers in attendance. ANC 3F condos and coops were also represented by a member of the Ponce de Leon board and the president of Community Systems, a Tenleytown company that manages 30 condos and coops in Ward 3, and three in the ANC.
The managers spoke of difficulties they’d experienced with residents, in many cases housing voucher holders, exhibiting aggressive and threatening behaviors. Some reported assaults on staff members, and the difficulty of removing offenders via eviction and other means. One said that after repeated calls to 911, crisis hotlines and a caseworker about a resident who threatened to kick in the doors of apartments and kill staff members, “no one has found cause to remove this resident to get him assistance.”
Green Eyeshades says
The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released its “FY 2023 Fair Market Rents” for DC and nearby suburbs, and they appear to be very different from the “median” rents calculated by the consultant working for DCHA:
https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/fmr/fmrs/FY2023_code/2023summary.odn
For one thing, the fair market rents are reported by individual Zip Code, which seems far more granular than what DCHA’s consultant reported.
For another, HUD included this paragraph in its header on top of the rents listing:
“In metropolitan areas, HUD defines Small Areas using ZIP Codes within the metropolitan area. Using ZIP codes as the basis for FMRs provides tenants with greater ability to move into ‘Opportunity Neighborhoods’ with jobs, public transportation, and good schools. They also provide for multiple payment standards within a metropolitan area, and they are likely to reduce need for extensive market area rent reasonableness studies. Lastly, HUD hopes that setting FMRs for each ZIP code will reduce overpayment in lower-rent areas.”
I wonder where HUD was aiming this comment:
“[T]hey are likely to reduce need for extensive market area rent reasonableness studies?”
Green Eyeshades says
I apologize for posting a generic link instead of the actual District of Columbia fair market rents. The generic link could eventually lead to the actual DC data, but the pathway is fairly murky.
To get to the DC fair market rent “dataset” readers should first go to this link:
https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/fmr.html2022
Even though the link ends in “2022” it will give you the connection to the 2023 data.
At that link to “Fair Market Rents (40th Percentile Rents),” make sure the box labeled “2023” is colored dark brown, then look under this heading:
“FY 2023 Fair Market Rent Documentation System”
Under that heading is a box labeled “Click Here for FY 2023 FMRs.” FMR stands for “Fair Market Rents.”
Click that box to get to this next screen:
https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/fmr/fmrs/FY2023_code/select_Geography.odn
There are two selection boxes at that link. Under “First select a state” click on District of Columbia. Under “Then select a county” click on District of Columbia a second. Finally, click on the box labeled “Next screen …” to get to your results for DC.
The DC fair market rents are labeled this way:
“Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD HUD Metro FMR Area Small Area FY 2023 Fair Market Rents”
I don’t know if the “HUDUSER” website has a reliable search engine, so I don’t know if there is a quicker way to find these FY 2023 fair market rents for DC.
Green Eyeshades says
DC’s Attorney General sued two housing providers for discriminating against users of voucher contracts:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/04/05/dc-housing-voucher-discrimination/
The Post says the single lawsuit against both providers was filed “last month” so it’s not clear why it wasn’t revealed sooner.
Green Eyeshades says
This morning, Washington Post published another catalogue of the astounding incompetence of the DC Housing Agency (DCHA). DCHA has repeatedly missed deadlines for fixing failures identified by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). HUD gave DCHA an extension until the end of this month, but DCHA admitted to the Post that they won’t meet that extended deadline, either.
“The problems catalogued by HUD in a report last fall include deficiencies in how the Housing Authority pays rents for voucher holders; having among the lowest public housing occupancy rates in the nation; as well as dangerous and unsanitary conditions.” [snip]
“Donald said out of 103 HUD findings, the Housing Authority has satisfied the federal agency that it has remediated 27. She said the Housing Authority believes it has completed another 33 items, but is waiting to hear whether HUD agrees. Another 43 are ‘in progress,’ she said.” [snip]
“Many of the incomplete remediations involve staff training that is scheduled for this month, Donald said. She said there will remain ‘a real small number’ of fixes that ‘are just not going to be implemented or concluded’ by HUD’s deadline, which was originally in March but was extended to this month.
“One of those, Donald said, is full implementation of real estate management software by Yardi Systems for which the agency signed a $4.35 million contract in 2018. The software still can’t be used effectively because staffers were never properly trained, according to the HUD report and other records.
” ‘It just can’t happen within a short period of time,’ said Donald, who has headed the agency since June 2021.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/05/11/dc-housing-authority-hud-deadline/
The calculation of “rent reasonableness” for voucher contracts is apparently too complex for DCHA or even HUD. Despite HUD’s publication of simplified lists of fair market rents by zip codes, as described above in my April 7 comment, there is no evidence in the Post’s new story that HUD ever told DCHA to use those simplified lists.
Despite the fact that DCHA has been unable for five years to use its expensive “real estate management software by Yardi,” DCHA now claims that the “median rents” calculated by another consultant cannot be used because they are incompatible with the Yardi software, which DCHA is not using, because DCHA’s staff has not been trained yet.
DCHA seems to be immune from objective criticism. DCHA’s own words reveal their incompetence:
“In 2021, the agency signed a $40,000 contract for a software tool to determine rent reasonableness created by Novogradac, a national accounting firm specializing in real estate and housing issues. Last year, Donald told the agency’s former board that the tool didn’t work, and she pushed back against HUD’s finding that the agency needed one.
“In March, after HUD officials prevailed on her to correct the issue, Donald told the Housing Authority’s newly constituted board she was testing the Novogradac tool again, along with others. But since then, she has said the tool is not compatible with the Yardi software, and the agency has solicited solutions from other software providers.
” ‘We will have our vendor selected this month,’ Donald said Wednesday. The agency’s plan is not to change existing rents, but its goal is to begin checking rent reasonableness for new voucher contracts starting July 1, she said. ‘We still need HUD’s final approval on the plan, which we expect to get,’ Donald added.
“Donald said landlords, who in some areas say they are underpaid, will also be able to apply for rent increases. ‘But … if the rent reasonableness tool says we’re paying you too much, then their rent will be lowered,’ she said. ‘So it’s going to be a little bit of a risk, but we do know that there are a number of properties that we are underpaying.’ “