1 in 4 public housing units sit vacant during D.C. affordability crisis

. Their boarded-up doors and windows are often pried loose and attract crime, and residents say the trash left behind fuels roach and rodent infestations.her predecessor while pledging to make it her top priority. “I’ve run big, complex systems, and they don’t get broken overnight, and you can’t fix them overnight,” Donald said in a recent interview.

Among its findings: dangerous conditions, including lead-paint hazards; out-of-code plumbing; water damage and mold; emergency work orders going unaddressed at night due to high crime; and prospective tenants declining units because they fear for their safety. Three board members are elected by residents, one is appointed by the D.C. Council and two are selected by advocacy groups. Some board members believe Bowser’s appointees “vote as a group without individual review of the action requested,” the HUD report said.the report’s findings “and embarrassed by the conditions” it reveals in D.C.'s public housing.

Of DCHA’s 8,084 public housing units, only 5,512 are leased, according to HUD data. Hundreds of the vacant units are exempted from HUD’s occupancy rate calculation this month of about 74 percent, for various reasons that include DCHA applications to take them offline for demolition or modernization. But the numbers aren’t clear. In their recent report, HUD evaluators said DCHA did not have an accurate listing of vacant units and was not accurately reporting them.

As DCHA also failed to reoccupy units not on the list, occupancy kept falling. Garrett learned in May of 2021 that the board would not renew his contract. The board, with Bowser-appointed members voting as a bloc, named Donald interim director, and ultimately decided against a national search, offering her aDonald had served as director of the city’s Child and Family Services Agency under Bowser,

Board member Bill Slover, whose seat is selected by the D.C. Consortium of Legal Services Providers, has consistently pressed Donald on the issue. At a meeting in September, he pointed out that missed occupancy targets had left budget projections millions of dollars short.

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