Housing Authority Accused of Kicking out Tenants to Flip Homes

The Washington, D.C., public housing authority has been accused of kicking out tenants from their houses and then flipping homes for profit, as reported by the Associated Press.

Flipping is a common type of real estate practice where investors purchase properties with the intention of renovating them and selling them at a higher price for a profit.

Washington, D.C., is currently experiencing rapid gentrification as the shortage of affordable housing in the city gets more pronounced.

At a public roundtable held on November 30 to discuss the issue of public housing repairs, Councilmember Anita Bonds stressed the importance of making sure that public housing residents were living in well-maintained buildings.

“Public housing residents should not face extreme difficulty or delay in addressing something as essential as a malfunctioning door, bed bug infestation, broken porch, fixtures, or a leaky toilet that sends water through the ceiling of the unit located below it,” said Bonds. “Repairs such as these do not just merely serve the comfort of residents but more importantly, they address the physical safety and health of our public housing residents.”

Bonds addressed the Associated Press report and expressed concern over the housing authority’s practices.

“I am very curious as to the benefits the District is getting out of such a practice as this in light of the fact that it has led to such unfair results for tenants who have been required to vacate these homes.”

Currently the city’s housing authority only has 83 percent of the funding needed to maintain the residential property that it administers, according to Bonds. The purpose of their house flipping practice is to use those profits to renovate existing public housing units and building new ones.

The issue here is that tenants are forced to move out after not being able to purchase their own homes, losing the thousands of their dollars that they spend maintaining the unit.

Even though the intention of the housing authority is to renovate and provide the city with more affordable housing units with the profits made from house flipping, most of the renovations have not started and many homes remain empty for over a year, according to the Associated Press report.

Tenants, under D.C. Law, have the right to be the first to attempt to buy these public housing units if they are placed on the market. But since the housing authority is an independent agency, this law doesn’t apply to them.

The housing authority has applied to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development to sell 26 homes. So far only 14 have been sold. The others are not for sale.


Issues |Gentrification


Region |Washington DC

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