Housing Position Paper
Housing is a basic human right, not a commodity to be bought and sold at the behest of developers and their agents that work for the city[1] (see also Take Back the Land and One DC websites). (Take Back the Land themes include an immediate moratorium on all foreclosures; ONE DC and Take Back the Land demanded an immediate halt to all evictions).
The Average Median Income (AMI) should be abolished and replaced with standards for determining housing that accurately reflect the current income of existing residents in the community, PRIOR to their displacement. At the very minimum, DC law should immediately shift to DC's Median Income to define affordability, not the Greater DC Metro AMI which is much higher.
Fully fund first-time homebuyer assistance, rent subsidies, including Emergency Rental Assistance, and the Housing Production Trust Fund. The affordable housing budget for FY 2011 is one third ($41 million) lower than in FY 2008. Revenue sources can be found if there is the political will to break with years of subsidizing the very wealthy and big corporate sector at the expense of the majority of our residents.
Go to http://www.davidschwartzman.com/Home/Candidate_At_Large for a summary of revenue sources, including the founding of a DC Municipal (State) Bank.
Housing discrimination against the formerly convicted, etc., whether it be with public housing access on a federal level, or thru rental applications, should be abolished: Ban the Box! (see Returning Citizens United website and pending legislation).
Public shelter and proper accompanying services, including disabled related services, GED programs, job placements…, are to be provided in full compliance with the Olmstead Act, the DC Human Rights Act, the Fair Housing Act, and the American with Disabilities Act. This involves placing adequate shelter and accompanying services in all parts of the city, not just warehousing the poor and disabled to the poorest parts of town. With little or no services. Reopen Franklin Shelter! And make it into a model system for such programs around the city!
We need rent control laws with real teeth to bring affordable housing to our city. If DC is to live up to its reputation (as having had some of the most progressive tenant’s rights laws in the country), we need to examine what happened to those laws in the past 10 years or so, how they eroded, and bring them back.
Address the HUD mortgage crisis now looming. Go to the Empower DC website for the threat of PETRA (http://www.empowerdc.org/node/146), please contact Linda Leaks for more on how organize around this issue.
[1] The History and Purpose of Tent City (by jz)
On July 10, 2010, a direct action took place on Parcel 42 in the Shaw neighborhood. A tent city was erected, and was a symbolic action of a land takeover by the community to bring to light the woeful inadequacies by the District and its leaders in dealing with the ever growing housing crisis in DC. The action was a collaborative effort between the members of ONE DC and Take Back the Land, DC, the latter of which is part of a national movement dedicated to the principle that housing is a basic human right. Parcel 42 was the site of this direct action because of its rich symbolism.
This parcel’s rich history truly reflects the ongoing frustrations of local residents in their continuous struggle for affordable housing. The average median income used to determine “affordable housing” where Parcel 42 stands is not reflected in determining what is truly affordable to the inhabitants of the neighborhood, and this systematic misrepresentation of residents’ income is causing, and has caused the displacement of residents from their community.*
The tent city has been visited by hundreds and hundreds of DC residents, including journalists, photographers, public officials, community activists and concerned citizens. It has served as a place for a myriad of cultural and community activities, including self-empowerment circles, teach-ins, film showings, local talent shows, and community meetings.
This action has turned an austere piece of land, long neglected by city officials, into a hub of community interest, rich in symbolism and defiance of gentrification and elitism.
*Here are some data points to illustrate the proportions of the housing crisis in DC: As of October 2009, at least 15,411 households remained on the wait list for DC Housing Authority’s Public Housing and 26,704 households on the wait list for Housing Choice Voucher Program, 13,000 of whom are homeless. What’s more, the number of public housing units in the District has decreased by 4000 units since 2000, and will continue to decrease, with at least 68% of all project based subsidized unit set to expire by 2023. See e.g. http://www.legalclinic.org/about/facts/asp.
ONE DC COMPLETED A HISTORIC DIRECT ACTION! JOIN ONE DC's NEXT RIGHT TO HOUSING CAMPAIGN! (by RN of ONE DC)
On July 10th, Organizing Neighborhood Equity (ONE DC) liberated Parcel 42 to protest what we believed to be a political refusal to develop NEW units of housing that is affordable for households, making less than $50,000. We felt that with the declining number of available Section 8 vouchers and the rising costs of living in DC—the missed opportunity of developing households that meets the current needs of long-time low-income residents at Parcel 42 was an issue that couldn’t be ignored.After a successful liberation, ONE DC and its supporters endured the hot—at times, stormy—weather to publicize this human rights issue. From the onset, ONE DC intended to establish a short-term, symbolic takeover with the ultimate goal of publicizing the acute housing crisis.
From conversations had with political officials in our four-year long Parcel 42 campaign, we knew that a powerful act of civil disobedience on Parcel 42 would not ultimately win over the minds of politicians overnight—we only sought to influence the public debate about how affordable housing is defined and higlight the lack of funding dedicated to housing more low-income residents (evidenced by the declining subsidy attached to Parcel 42's development). While we may have just planned to influence the political debate, ONE DC achieved so much more: ONE DC built an intentional and safe community:Children played on site; Neighborhood residents frequently stopped by to talk, ask if they could help or donate; Hundreds of DC residents stopped by to build with residents and ONE DC members and offer solidarity.
Parcel 42 was a symbolic site. It was a site where long-time, low-income residents and allies converged to create an intentional space for community-building, wellness practices, and political action. During ONE DC’s involvement, ground rules were established for all tent city participants and supporters to adhere to and respect—to ensure that the success of the action was not imperiled due to the destructive practices of a few.
We asked everyone to contribute to the general upkeep and safety of the site. And because of our focus and commitment to a broader human rights mission, ONE DC was able to sustain a peaceful, nonviolent direct action. On Thursday, July 15th, ONE DC and the community celebrated the transition and closure of ONE DC’s direct action. Due to the momentum, community formed, and excitement surrounding this action, a collective that formed on site said that they were willing to take over the coordination efforts and sustain the tent city for another two weeks.
The collective hoped to continue to uphold the goals set forth by ONE DC’s historic action—and maintain a safe, community-friendly, non-violent direct action. And they too achieved this with much success. There were nightly workshops, political discussions, community outreach, and talent shows.As of now, ONE DC understands that a few residents have taken up full-time residence on site. And that they understand that ONE DC’s direct involvement with and the national Take Back the Land's support of the tent city ended over a month ago.
It is ONE DC’s hope that the residents continue to practice the legacy that has been set forth by its former organizers. We hope that the rules of maintaining a safe, clean, non-violent space are respected and upheld. We hope that residents there will join in the organizing efforts supported by community organizations—because, it is ONE DC’s opinion, that only organizing will guarantee us the justice we deserve as a people, not a symbolic or even long-term takeover of the site.Institutional change will not happen if we allow our politicians to assume that we will idly sit by and not participate in politics or future organizing efforts.
ONE DC is not a direct service or advocacy organization, we do not seek to house a few while ignoring the many who are effectively displaced due to policies that refuse to address their economic and social need for quality, sustainable, and affordable housing. We organize long-time DC residents and supporters to fight with us for our human rights.Although ONE DC has no more direct coordination to the site, we hope that the current residents and supporters continue to build the movement for a more equitable DC. And continue to strategize ways that direct actions like this can be effective and sustainable.
There are many ‘Parcel 42’s’ throughout the city. There have been countless sites were politicians have broken their promises. So in other words, we must continue to organize and agitate and not just focus on Parcel 42. All in all, ONE DC learned tremendously from this action. We learned how severe the backlash could be against building housing that is truly affordable for low-income residents; We learned how much work it takes to sustain even a symbolic tent city; We learned that there is an intense desire and enormous amount of support from community residents to see it succeed—and to see it remain a peaceful demonstration that remains intentional in purpose.
The conclusion of ONE DC’s action on Parcel 42 ends our four-year campaign to ensure that housing developed on this lot is targeted for households making less than $50,000. We realized during our quest for equity on this site, that the definition of affordable housing being linked to DC Metropolitan’s Median Income was an institutional reason for why both the so-called ‘affordable’ housing and market-rate housing developed in DC are increasingly out of reach for long-time, low-income residents.
As a result of our Parcel 42 campaign, ONE DC has proceeded to develop a city-wide campaign that will seek to change DC’s definition of affordable housing and to increase the city funds dedicated to the development of it. We will remember Parcel 42 in our future organizing efforts but we will not be cemented in it. Through this action, we forced politicians to comment on the lack of truly affordable housing units in DC. Things are no longer ‘business as usual’—so our victory has been achieved.It is our sincere hope that more people use tactics of direct action and civil disobedience to influence the public debate around equity issues and human rights in DC.To get involved today with the ONE DC’s new Right to Housing campaign, please contact Pat Penny (ppenny616@gmail.com).
