 Part of tent city Photo: Caneisha Mills |
On July 10, over 200
people—neighborhood residents and members of community organizations such as
ONE DC (Organizing Neighborhood Equity), Take Back the Land and the People’s
Property Campaign of Empower DC—launched a “tent city land takeover” on the
corner of 7th St. and R St. NW
in Washington, D.C., to claim land in the Shaw neighborhood designated as
Parcel 42. This land had been promised for affordable housing, but the
government has broken that promise.
Parcel 42 was originally reserved
by the city for around 100 units of subsidized housing for households making
between around $25,000 and $50,000 a year. However, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty has
backtracked on this agreement. His office announced that there would be a
reduced number of units available, and they would be for households with annual
incomes of under $70,000.
The deputy mayor for planning and
economic development says Parcel 42 will have “100 percent of the apartment
units priced for residents earning no more than 50 percent of the Area Median
Income.”
However, the AMI of a family of
four in the D.C. area—which includes Montgomery and Prince William counties—is $102,700. The rent on Parcel
42 is projected to start at 50 percent of that AMI when the projected annual
income of the Shaw community is only 20 to 50 percent of that AMI.
According to the U.S. Department
of Housing and Urban Development, affordable housing is generally considered
that for which residents pay 30 percent or less of their annual incomes.
Now, neighborhood residents and
community organizations are reclaiming the land that was promised for
lower-income families of the community. People have come out day after day to
show their support to the fight for affordable housing.
When asked about why they disagree
with Parcel 42 being used for higher-income housing, ONE DC community organizer
Franklin Brooks said that “they are open to development but not at the cost of
displacement.”
Regina Lee of ONE DC believes that
“the city has a commitment to the citizens” to give them affordable places to
live and coexist. ONE DC intends to occupy Parcel 42 until Mayor Fenty gives
them a new hearing, and/or they are arrested and taken off the land by force.
The Party for Socialism and
Liberation stands with those fighting against capitalist land developers and
their political servants. We also fight for a world where housing is a right,
and where the profit motive doesn’t determine quality of life. In other words,
we fight for socialism.
