Four properties on 9th St. NW that are owned by Shiloh Baptist Church have been officially condemned by the city. Notices on the buildings indicate the city’s Board for the Condemnation of Insanitary Buildings considers the properties “in such insanitary condition as to endanger the health or the lives of the occupants thereof and/or persons in the vicinity.”

Shiloh’s vacant properties have been a subject of heated debate within one of the most acrimonious ANCs in the District for many years. The church owns a huge proportion of the buildings in the immediate vicinity of 9th and P Streets NW, most of which are long-empty, rotting, boarded up and frequently temporary shelter for the homeless. The conditions of the Shiloh properties, and the church’s presumed unwillingness to sell its valuable land to developers in an attempt to prevent further gentrification of the neighborhood, has been one of the most visible battle lines in the changing face of Washington over the last decade.

Before we go any further, you should know that I live directly around the corner from these buildings. I walk by them every day, and my house abuts a common yard with several of them, so if anyone’s health or life is in danger from their current decrepit state, it’s me. It also stands to reason there are probably few people who’d like to see these properties developed into something productive more than me. They attract rodents and other pests, are an eyesore in an otherwise attractive neighborhood, and stand in the way of potential further retail expansion in that part of 9th St.