Minutes after a white cargo van pulled up to the curb outside the D.C. Court of Appeals building on E Street NW, Cheryl Brunson was lifted out of the vehicle by a longtime friend.
“That’s what neighbors do!” Brunson says while raising her hands in a gesture of excitement.
Brunson, who suffered a stroke eight years earlier and walks with a floral-print cane, was arriving to a gathering of residents and supporters to rally against a redevelopment plan for Brookland Manor Apartments in Northeast D.C. The proposal would demolish existing buildings and build new apartments and townhomes.
While it would add to the overall number of units available, residents worry the new apartments would be too expensive and too small compared to the apartments they’ve raised families in for decades. And after demolition, they would be pushed out of an increasingly expensive city.
The gathered group held signs and blocked a section of the sidewalk. Almost immediately, they began singing and chanting in unison: “We ain’t gonna move.”
“They figure we’ll give up and move somewhere else,” Brunson says. “But I’m encouraging all residents, regardless of what you’re going through, do not go anywhere.”
The Zoning Commission, the project’s developer, and Ward 5 Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie have all said that the dissatisfied group is smaller than the number of tenants who support the project.
Brookland Manor, Past And Present
The buildings on the 22-acre Brookland Manor site have provided affordable housing to multi-generational families since 1938. In its current state, nearly 70 percent of the apartments—373 to be exact—are subsidized by the government for low-income renters. Other Brookland Manor residents hold “portable” subsidized housing vouchers that they can use at any complex that accepts them.
Despite the protests, MidCity Financial, the developer and owner of the property, plans to move forward with the redevelopment. The firm proposes to triple the number of apartments, replacing the 535 spacious units with more than 1,750 luxury apartments.
Unlike Brookland Manor, the redeveloped, mixed-use, mixed-income property called “RIA” would have no five-bedroom apartments, few four-bedrooms and just 64 three-bedroom units.
Brunson, 59, has lived in her four-bedroom apartment for 29 years. After raising her three children there, Brunson is now bringing up her three grandchildren in the same unit—they range in age from 9 to 20 years old.
“I have a certificate from [the U.S. Department of Housing and Redevelopment],” Brunson says, referring to her federal housing subsidy. “And I asked the developer, ‘What do you have in store for people with certificates?’ And he hummed and said, ‘Nothing at this time’—so you know what that means.”
A Day In Court
Following the rally, the tenants and their legal team argued their case before the D.C. Court of Appeals. They explained that the new development takes place during what they call a “city-wide affordable housing crisis” and will displace hundreds of residents and families.
“This is a basic ask. It’s completely reasonable,” says Yasmina Mrabet, co-founder of community organizing group LinkUp.
Mrabet told supporters that one block of the Brookland Manor housing complex had already been emptied and residents either relocated elsewhere on the property or evicted. She says MidCity has employed armed security guards to walk the property and give citations for petty and arbitrary offenses that are used as grounds for eviction.
Cheryl Brunson (right), 59, speaks to dozens of protesters who showed up in support of Brookland Manor tenants against the displacement of families.
“They have hired and fired at least five or six different security companies because of the harassment that tenants faced at their hands,” Mrabet says.
But, she says, the battle won’t be won in the courts. Mrabet and other supporters are urging the D.C. Council to step in and help.
“And we’re relying on growing the public support to not allow any redevelopments in this city to move forward if they do not include an adequate amount of affordable housing,” she adds.
It’s About Families
Brookland Manor is the only home that Tarshia McCoy has ever known. The 32-year-old now shares a three bedroom unit on the property with her elderly mother and 13-year-old niece.
She briefly pauses the interview to join the group behind her chanting, “Hell no, we won’t go!” and then resumes her response.
“I do want change. I love the change part of this,” McCoy says of the rundown, rodent-infested property. “But don’t take my mother away from me and try to give her something and not me.”
McCoy and other tenants want the court to review the Zoning Commission’s April 2018 order that allowed MidCity to move forward with an initial 200-unit senior building and a 131-unit affordable building for current residents, like her family, who have been relocated. It means seniors who live at Brookland Manor with their family members may have to choose between living alone in a senior-only facility or staying with their relatives.
“Basically, we’re going to end up homeless because some of us don’t have what they think we’ve got. We’re struggling,” says McCoy.
MidCity is, as one would expect, defending the project. Madi Ford, Vice President and General Counsel of MidCity Financial, says there won’t be any large families displaced by the redevelopment.
“That claim is absolutely false and, frankly, it’s so disingenuous that it makes me angry,” Ford says.
Ford says the appeal process is only holding up the 10-year project and keeping residents away from their newer, better homes. Ford touted the property’s forthcoming amenities, including a community center and shopping.
She says those against the redevelopment have mischaracterized the unit types. The townhouses, Ford says, will offer three and four bedrooms. But, she adds, there’s still much to be decided as only two of 10 buildings in the project have been designed so far.
“RIA is for everyone. Our goal is every single Brookland Manor resident has a place in the new community, who want to live there,” says Ford.
The appeals court will issue a written decision to the Brookland Manor Residents Association in the coming months. Organizers against the redevelopment are hoping MidCity officials will negotiate with them before that date arrives.
This story originally appeared on WAMU.
