In 2022, District Dig bored deep into the civic disgrace known as the D.C. Housing Authority. As the year began, DCHA was still reeling from the demise of longtime D.C. government/business/politics figure Neil Albert, who at the time had recently resigned as Chairman of the DCHA Board of Commissioners, after The Dig exposed his approval of multiple contracts for his domestic partner.
The U.S. Attorney had served a criminal subpoena on DCHA and convened a grand jury over the matter; inspectors general for D.C. and the Department of Housing and Urban Development said they, too, were launching investigations.
More than a year later, however, none of these entities have produced any findings, reports or charges, leaving The Dig no choice but to keep probing.
The Dig has been exposing failures, machinations and misdeeds at the quasi-independent, federally-funded agency for years. But 2022 was a bit different, as DCHA became fodder for a number of news outlets across the media spectrum.
In March, prompted by persistent inquiries and objections from now-former Commissioner Bill Slover–and the increasing volume of news coverage–HUD dispatched an 11-member team to conduct an “on-site assessment” at DCHA of its budgets, operations, administrative plans, and programming, to see if the agency was providing “quality affordable housing” to some 50,000 low-income residents.
Officials at DCHA and HUD initially downplayed the 5-day review. As the months dragged on, The Dig continued to report on Mayor Muriel Bowser’s affordable housing strategy; Bowser appears determined to corral DCHA’s real estate portfolio; demolish its festering public housing projects; privatize D.C.’s sizable land holdings; and issue housing vouchers to displaced residents.
This strategy has diminished the availability of deeply affordable housing for those most in need; Under Bowser, DCHA has abandoned its mission of public housing and redefined itself as an arm of private development, subsidizing mixed-use projects often involving her friends and patrons.
In response to The Dig’s story on DCHA’s “Move To Work” program, which exposed a housing and voucher waiting list of 40,000 D.C. residents, Executive Director and veteran “fixer” Brenda Donald blamed her predecessor for the agency’s demise, obscured the Bowser administration’s responsibility, and deflected any possibility that DCHA could come under federal receivership.
“I just wanted to brief the [Board of Commissioners] on the upcoming HUD special review,” said Donald, a master of prevarication, at a March meeting of the Board of Commissioners. She was talking about the checkup story she had just read in The Dig: “And I want to say what it is and what it is not. Because I believe that it has been blown out of proportion, and I want to give some perspective.”
Donald’s fib blew back in her face in October, when HUD dropped a 72-page report citing 82 deficiencies across all aspects of public housing: Substandard living conditions; uninhabitable units; a 20 percent vacancy rate (worst in the nation); lack of experienced leadership (including Donald herself); questionable procurement practices; and a yawning backlog of housing unit repairs and modernization.
“DCHA’s failure to provide decent, safe, and sanitary housing opportunities for residents is in violation of program requirements,” HUD stated. “DCHA’s inability or refusal to take serious and immediate remedial action for the items or subjects identified in this assessment, and make material progress in resolving these issues, may eventually lead to HUD making a determination of [its] default under…the U.S. Housing Act of 1937.”
Public officials leapt into action–media action, that is. HUD’s findings were “not pretty, nor were [they] unexpected,” Donald said, 15 months into her term, in an op-ed in the Washington Post. “This agency’s numerous problems didn’t materialize overnight. Now that I am here and inherited the responsibility, my team and I are laying the foundation, and we are going to fix them.”
Donald listed improvements to housing that she said she had already implemented; she said she had secured funding that had been in jeopardy; she claimed to have developed a new tech plan for data and information management and to have cleared thousands of outstanding work orders on dilapidated apartments.
She also heralded “a new leadership team with the muscle to manage,” while retaining a number of existing employees whom she elevated to vacated positions and bestowed with bonuses; Donald also touted a strategic occupancy plan that is “starting to show results.” (Given the vagueness of HUD’s mandate, The Dig is skeptical as to how serious it is about holding Donald accountable and bringing real change to DCHA.)
Recently-retired D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine said at a press conference on an unrelated housing matter that “DCHA is a zero out of 10” in terms of meeting the needs of the low income community it is supposed to serve. He blasted Donald by stating that she “has no experience in property development, property management or managing federal housing programs,” and by echoing a familiar refrain in politics circles that in the Bowser administration, “loyalty trumps expertise.”
Foreshadowing an issue that lingered until the last day of the D.C. Council legislative session, Racine also called for the immediate removal of Donald and the Board of Commissioners, a majority of whom have voted consistently as a group in lockstep with the Mayor without individual review of requested actions, according to HUD.
“In sports, when you win no games and don’t fulfill your mission, coaches get fired, not protected,” he said.
By December, having received three incriminating internal audits, DCHA was badly in need of external oversight. Yet the D.C. Council was no match for Bowser, who proposed “emergency” reform legislation that Council Chair Phil Mendelson and At-Large Member Robert White steered to passage. The effect of the bill was to sack the Board, which Bowser already controlled, install a new Board of her choosing, and leave Donald and her team in place. (The Dig was not alone in calling out the move as a purge of commissioners who asked too many questions and opposed too many of Bowser’s endeavors, which nevertheless gained approval some nine times out of 10.)
Suffice to say The Dig, having hoped the city would seek a credible, qualified turnaround firm, is resigned to rooting out mismanagement and duplicity at DCHA in 2023.
The Dig also experienced moments of optimism and sadness in 2022.
In a hopeful spirit, a September feature on the historical and cultural significance of the Frank D. Reeves Center at the iconic corner of 14th and U Street assessed future possibilities at the site, as two firms vie for a contract to develop a mixed-use project that promotes economic development in the Shaw neighborhood, provides affordable housing, balances out the lingering inequities of a gentrifying D.C., and does justice to the legacy of “Black Broadway.”
A tall order, to be sure.
Since that story was published, Bowser has announced that the project, which has been in limbo going on two years now, is going back out to bid–a curious decision The Dig will be watching in the new year.
On a personal note, I lost a friend, editor and mentor last year, when veteran scribe Jerry Seper, formerly of The Washington Times, passed away at his post-retirement residence in Eufala, Alabama. It is no exaggeration to say that my path would have been a far different one had Seper not brought me onto his small, tenacious investigative team in 2009–just three months into my time on the Metro Desk, which had been gutted by layoffs.
Jerry was an old-school newsman, the kind of editor who’d make you feel like you could run through walls. And I tried. He protected his people and took no shit from anyone–least of all executive editors and front office honchos. They couldn’t touch his guys. He wouldn’t let ‘em. Whenever I asked him if there was something he wanted me to focus on, he would just say, “Keep doing what you are doing. Trust your gut. Write the truth.”
More than one government official tried to get me in trouble with my bosses, even coming down to the paper to complain about me in person. Jerry loved to tell the story: He would ask ’em, “Did he get anything wrong?” Then, sensing the real reason for the visit, he would render them speechless: “So you think he’s an asshole? Well I gotta work with him every day.”
Yes, Jerry treated us with gruff, fatherly affection, and he made us laugh. But don’t take my word for it: Read this moving essay by my friend and former colleague Jamie McElhatton, who knew Jerry better than any of us.
Jamie is a superb investigative reporter, in a class by themself. The Dig is delighted and proud they chose the site to honor Jerry’s memory, and at the same time take a personal leap into the world with a piece that is truthful and courageous–and a joy to read.
Jerry would have applauded such honesty, and I am positive he would have had Jamie’s back all the way.
