At a Council hearing Wednesday, be heard or brush up on apartment safety issues

Balloons tied up outside 4500 Connecticut Avenue in October 2024, in memory of five-year-old DeAndre Pettus. His father, a resident of the building, was charged with cruelty to children.

by Marlene Berlin

Starting at 9:30 a.m. on May 28th, the Housing Committee chaired by at-large Council member Robert White will hear testimony on four bills. The proposed Eviction Reform Amendment Act of 2025 and the RENTAL Act of 2025 seek to speed up the eviction process for tenants found to have committed serious crimes in their apartment buildings. A third bill proposes reforms of TOPA, or the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act, the process under which the Avalon the Albemarle tenants association is negotiating with would-be purchasers. The fourth, the Fair Housing Practices Amendment Act of 2025, would prohibit landlords from separately charging tenants for the utility costs associated with their buildings’ common areas.

Here’s more information about the hearing, the legislation, and ways to testify. And one place to watch the hearing, whether live or the playback, is on YouTube.

The Eviction Reform Act of 2025, introduced by DC Council Chair Phil Mendelson, is a direct result of testimony late last year on the SAFE Act, which focused on public safety in apartment buildings. The call from tenants and landlords alike was to expedite the eviction hearing process for those arrested and/or charged with serious crimes. A section on expedited evictions also made it into Mayor Muriel Bowser’s RENTAL Act.

Six of the nearly 60 witnesses testifying at the December SAFE Act hearing (including myself) were from our neighborhood. The main reason: Tenants associations in our apartment buildings have recorded large increases in police calls and crimes since 2016, some linked to the District’s expansion and implementation of Permanent Supportive Housing and other voucher programs for people experiencing homelessness.

The problems are not limited to apartment buildings in Ward 3. At a 2022 ANC 3F meeting, then-Deputy Mayor of Public Safety Chris Geldart stated that he had visited more than 20 troubled buildings in every ward, including one in which every tenant was a voucher holder. The system “ain’t working,” Geldart said at the time.

The Eviction Reform Act of 2025 needs work

Evicting the perpetrators is complicated by the fact there are two separate court systems – criminal and tenant – and the Eviction Reform Act needs additional language to address the issues.

One is the lack of any legislated, formalized reporting of crimes to building management. In February, I stumbled upon the aftermath of a knife attack in the Chesapeake Apartments, and started asking whether the Metropolitan Police Department provides a report to the management when a crime occurs on the property. I found a system that was informal, at best. MPD Lt. Bobbette Forrest of PSA 203 told me they do not do that. Tom Lynch of MPD media relations said in an email that police are often in communication with management. The Brandywine Tenants Association, meanwhile, said they’ve found that informal communication with management happens at times, but the most reliable information has been through FOIA.