Mission First Housing Development Corporation

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Perseverance Pays off at Dahlgreen Courts
Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Imagine coming home through a torrential downpour after a long day at work, only to find your living room buried under a pile of soggy plaster... falling from your ceiling! Or think what it would be like to hear rats running through the walls in your apartment at night. Every night... for years. You pay your rent every month on time, and you’ve requested repairs from the management company, but nothing changes. You’d move if you could, but in a city of rising rents, you don’t have a lot of options.

Dahlgreen Courts is comprised of two buildings located at
2504 & 2520 10th Street NE, that were originally built in
the 1920's to provide affordable housing for federal
government workers.

Welcome to Dahlgreen Courts Apartments, circa 2003. This is a true story. Mr. Leon Lightfoot, resident since 1999, took some time to talk with me about his experience. “The first year we lived here was terrible. We were dealing with a total lack of repairs in the building. The water damage from the leaking roof softened the plaster walls, creating mold and mildew issues. It also made it easy for the rats living in the walls to get into our apartments. On top of that, the drug activity in the building and the surrounding neighborhood was out of control. That year 2 people were shot in the lobby of this building. One died. The marks from where the bullets grazed the walls were not removed for years....”

Many residents gave up and moved away, but some like Mr. Lightfoot chose to stay and fight. He began to do some research about tenant rights and in 2003, Mr. Lightfoot and fellow resident Mr. Bennett formed the Dahlgreen Courts Tenants Association (DCTA). They began writing letters and making phone calls, then actually started to go down and testify in front of city councilmembers. They recruited other residents to go along and tell their stories. “One day Mr. Bennett found a brick that had fallen from the exterior of the building. He took the brick as an example of the deterioration of the building when he went to testify. That was the beginning of the turnaround. That day, Councilwoman Mary Cheh requested that an inspector meet us at the property to see how bad it was.”

Property Manager April Merrill and long-time
resident, Leon Lightfoot look forward to
celebrating the Grand Re-Opening of the
historic Dahlgreen Courts Apartments.

The tenants persisted, drawing media attention from the local news and the Washington Post. Facing extensive court costs and soaring fines, the owners put Dahlgreen Courts up for sale in 2009, giving DCTA the opportunity to purchase the building. Under Mr. Lightfoot and Mr. Bennett’s leadership, DCTA engaged Mission First to help orchestrate the purchase to preserve long term affordability. Thanks to CDBG funds from the DC Department of Housing and Community Development, the acquisition was completed in late in 2010.

The rehabilitation began in 2011. Since the project is comprised of two separate buildings (both less than 50% occupied at the time of the acquisition), residents moved from one building to the other while the other was under construction. In April of this year, building one was completed, allowing Mr. Lightfoot and other residents to move back into their homes. Building two should be completed later this year, and both the residents and management are looking forward to the celebration!

“It was a rocky road to get here, but it’s all worth it now,” says M. Lightfoot. “I’m sitting in a brand new living room with central air! And the best part about it is the new management team. They actually care about us. They are different than any management we’ve had in the past. They listened. They heard us. And they responded.... respectfully and professionally! It’s a beautiful thing.”

Heartfelt thanks to Sarah Constant, Elizabeth Askew, April Merrill, and the rest of the DC team for their dedication and hard work to make this transformation a reality!

- Jessica Stackhouse

Labels: Dahlgreen Courts, historic tax credits, low income housing tax credits, preservation, rehabilitation

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Mission First HDC | 1330 New Hampshire Ave NW, Suite 116 | Washington, DC 20036 | 202-223-9785 (office) | 202-223-9750 (fax)