Housing Complex » Leila Finucane Edmonds

A Bright Spot in Howard-area Housing

Lydia DePillis — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 17:12:22 +0000

Sweet new digs. (Lydia DePillis)

A long-decrepit apartment complex was formally reborn yesterday, as top D.C. housing officials welcomed 28 families to the Williston Apartments just south of Howard University, an area still pockmarked with falling-down buildings.

The 1940s-era structures had gone into serious disrepair through the 1990s, when the belonged to a non-profit tax credit partnership called the Capitol City Housing Corpoation. It had gotten a mortgage from the National Capitol Housing Authority–the pre-home rule iteration of the District of Columbia Housing Authority–and in 2005, the group's aging boardmembers asked that the city take over the property by foreclosure. It's not often that a project falls into the District's lap so easily.

There were 13 families in it when renovations started in October 2008 (see ugly before photos here), using $3.5 million from DCHA and $500,000 from DHCD. About that many had already moved back in when DCHA director Adrianne Todman, DHCD director Leila Finucane Edmonds, and Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham cut the ribbon yesterday. They may be back soon: Behind the Williston, the 160-unit Kelly Miller apartments are getting an $8 million DCHA upgrade.

New Housing Resource Center Opens in Anacostia

Ruth Samuelson — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:15:01 +0000

This morning, D.C.'s new Housing Resource Center held its official grand opening in Anacostia, offering "a new one-stop shop for quality affordable housing services."

The new center will be D.C.'s "central source" of resources for low and moderate-income people looking to "purchase and rehabilitate homes and prevent mortgage default and foreclosure." There will also be computers for people to use dchousingsearch.org, according to a city press release.

The new center is the product of a collaboration between Fannie Mae and D.C.'s Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), which recently relocated its headquarters to Anacostia.

Mayor Adrian Fenty and DHCD director Leila Finucane Edmonds attended this morning's event. If Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry attended, his name is conspicuously missing from the press release.

The center will also serve as an office space for the Housing Regulation Administration (HRA), which administers the District’s rental housing and condominium laws, and in-take specialists from University Legal Services (ULS), who will provide "rental counseling to assist DC residents with locating affordable and accessible housing," according to the city press release.

More information: DHCD’s Housing Resource Center is located at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, SE and Good Hope Road, SE, accessible via bus routes along Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, SE, and less than a mile from the Anacostia Metro Station. The center’s hours of operation are Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm. Customers can contact the center by phone at (202)-442-6998.

Image by Darrow Montomgery

Empower DC At It Again

Ruth Samuelson — Thu, 14 May 2009 20:04:17 +0000

Empower DC has already rallied and protested against the sale of D.C. public property twice in the last few months.

Last week, activists joined together in front of the Wilson Building. And in late March, they gathered by the office of Neil Albert, head of the city's office of planning and economic development.

Now, it looks like they're going for round III: This evening, a group from Empower DC will stand with signs in front of the Washington Hilton at the start of the D.C. Building Industry Association's awards ceremony, according to the Washington Business Journal.

Their target doesn't seem to be building community in general, but more specifically the honorees of the evening.

The association plans to present achievement awards to Mayor Adrian Fenty, and his "cronies," as Empower DC calls them, Neil O. Albert, Linda Argo, Leila Finucane Edmonds, and Harriet Tregoning (click the link for the full titles).