At-large council profile: Bonds cites efforts to boost housing affordability

At-large DC Council member Anita Bonds certainly has her critics as she runs for re-election this year. She’s drawn two young and energetic primary challengers, real estate associate Marcus Goodwin and progressive activist Jeremiah Lowery. Yet Bonds is widely expected to win both the June 19 Democratic primary and November’s general election. She’s touting her record as chair of the Committee on Housing and Neighborhood Revitalization, pledging to continue working to fight homelessness and make the District more affordable.

“We’re working on it every day in this office,” Bonds said in an interview. “We’re chipping away at existing laws, trying to retrofit them for this new society that we’re slowly but surely building, while at the same time trying to come up with some new tools to try and increase the amount of affordability in the city.”

Bonds cites her work on rent control for seniors and DC’s recent investments of $100 million a year in its Housing Production Trust Fund.

“Mayor Bowser committed to it, and I did, too,” Bonds said. “Since I was assigned to the housing committee, I’ve been able to hold onto that money and actually now I’m working on trying to push a little more.”

Bonds also co-sponsored the District’s Tenant Bill of Rights and introduced its Condominium Owner Bill of Rights.

“We did a little work with public housing and established a repair-and-maintenance fund and protections for public housing tenants,” she said. “We’ve been creating a credit-building program, another piece of legislation that’s gone through the council, and we also were able to pass a resolution supporting residents’ right to return to new, modernized properties.”

For renters Bond introduced the law that caps the fee landlords can charge for late rent payments at 5 percent of the monthly rent.

“Even people in the Wilson Building have said thank-you,” Bonds said with a laugh.

Not everyone is thanking the council member for her work. “To her critics, Bonds’ industry-heavy campaign support presents potential conflicts of interest, given her role as chair of the housing committee,” The Washington City Paper reported. “Bonds sets the committee’s agenda, decides which measures to advance, and uses her pulpit to push for certain projects. A tenant advocate who was not authorized to speak on the record criticized Bonds for not following through on proposals that would help low-income residents and for bowing to landlords. The advocate says Bonds suffers less from conflicts of interest than having sympathy for developers.”

Bonds says she balances all perspectives judiciously, and still has plenty she wants to accomplish. On homelessness, she’s for more permanent supportive housing. “I continue to support the proposition that we have to do everything we can to get people out of homelessness,” she said in the interview.

Bonds isn’t surprised that housing has emerged as a key issue in this year’s elections.

“It’s a pocketbook issue, and I know people are feeling it across the city,” she said. “If you have a $100,000 income, you still are having some trouble with housing. I mean, a two-bedroom, two-bathroom over at the O Street Market is $7,200 a month.”

Her campaign website is anitabonds2018.com.