Filmmaker aims to amplify voices of Brookland Manor residents at a time of change

In a darkened section of Busboys and Poets on Monroe Street NE, people sit and watch a documentary about DC residents fighting for affordable housing options just a few blocks away at the World War II-era Brookland Manor Apartments, the site of a protracted battle over redevelopment.

The film, Voices of Brookland Manor, was showcased in late September to a room of about 50 people. After the screening, leaders of the Brookland Manor/Brentwood Village Residents Association and a community organizer spoke as part of a panel.

The producer and director of the documentary, Katie Lannigan, began the project in March 2016 after she noticed the redevelopment happening in her neighborhood.

“I saw some changes coming and had a discussion with some people — talking about how expensive DC was getting,” Lannigan said in an interview with The DC Line.

After Lannigan reviewed zoning documents, she learned about the association and decided to get “both sides of the story,” she said. Brookland Manor, a 20-acre housing community in Ward 5, is owned by MidCity Financial Corp. with plans on the boards for redevelopment as 1,750 luxury apartments.

In 2015, MidCity proposed to build 19 garden apartment buildings across 18 acres, reducing its initial plans by about 500 units in the face of initial concerns, the Washington Business Journal reported. Work was slated to begin this year, timed with the expiration of a 1977 mortgage deal with the U.S. Housing and Urban Development that guaranteed Section 8 housing at the site.

“This project will fix the urban design and site planning mistakes of the past, will create a truly mixed-income community, and will create a significantly safer environment for existing Brookland Manor residents and future residents of the new Brentwood Village,” according to a written statement by the company quoted by the Business Journal.

Since the project was announced, MidCity has faced repeated zoning challenges and resident backlash, including an ongoing U.S. District Court lawsuit that alleges discrimination against large families. The current complex includes numerous three-, four- and five-bedroom units, and residents still living there say they want to ensure that the renovated complex will have enough affordable units to house those who want to stay.

Amid the contentious backdrop, Lannigan’s documentary chronicles the events of the Brookland Manor redevelopment through the perspectives of the association, Brookland residents, community organizers, local government officials and MidCity representatives.

The film shows tenant association leaders speaking out at zoning meetings starting in the spring of 2016 as they pushed for full replacement of the existing 535 affordable units.

On screen, MidCity spokesperson Robert Johns explains that the current residents of Brookland Manor will not be displaced. “Every family will be taken care of,” he says in the documentary.

At the Busboys and Poets viewing, a resident in the audience shouted “Liar!” at the screen during that scene.

Though the association has consistently sought 535 units, MidCity plans to accommodate the current residents in two buildings that would be constructed in the development’s initial phase, with 200 units for seniors and 131 affordable units for others.

“The needs of the community are not being met,” Minnie Elliott, president of the Brookland Manor tenant association, said in an interview.

The documentary includes scenes of tenants as they testify at zoning meetings, participate in rallies and protests to speak of their experiences, and eventually pack up their belongings.

In the film’s final shot, resident Dorothy Davis — one of the association’s tenant leaders — walks around Brookland Manor with her hands behind her back. She peers up at a building being demolished.

“Change is bittersweet,” she says to the camera. “But we’re not going to give up.”

Lannigan, in her introductory remarks to the crowd at Busboys and Poets, explained that her project is ongoing, thanks to support from friends and family as well as Docs in Progress, the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, HumanitiesDC and Women in Film and Video.

According to Lannigan, she wants to develop the story in order to address topics like legal challenges, zoning decisions, and how the redevelopment will impact people’s lives.

In her interview with The DC Line, she also expressed her hopes for the film and for those who attended the documentary premiere.

“My hope as a journalist was to present the experiences of the people going through it and some of the perspective of the developer,” she said. “I hope people will get the fact that these are our neighbors — this is our community — and that people should be involved in trying to understand housing issues and redevelopment.”

One of the people included in Lannigan’s film is Yasmina Mrabet, a housing organizer at DC-based advocacy organization LinkUp.

Mrabet, who partnered with the tenants of Brookland Manor in early 2016, talked about what continues to motivate her and the residents she helps.   

“There is nowhere for people to go, and there are hundreds of families on the property that need a place to live and a place that is comfortable and fits their family size,” Mrabet said in an interview. “It’s a matter of either you fight, or many people will end up forced out of their own city or on the streets.”

Elliott, the tenant association president, said she hopes that the film’s viewers understand that DC is about “big developers and money. I just want everyone to know how DC is not family-oriented.” While speaking as a panelist, Elliott shared that she’s witnessed extensive development and gentrification in the 80 years she has lived in the city.

Elliott and the association continue the campaign they started back in 2015 when MidCity announced the project. As noted on the organization’s website, “The Fight to Save Affordable Housing” includes three demands from the residents: Maintain the current number of 535 affordable housing units, allow tenants to remain on the property during the redevelopment, and provide tenants with access to employment opportunities “through the rebuilding of [their] community.”

But MidCity’s director of community relations, Robert Jones, recently told The DC Line that the company is helping residents.

“We’re proud that an overwhelming majority of Brookland Manor residents and the greater Brentwood community support RIA,” Johns said in a written statement. “Over 330 residents have signed a recent declaration of support and many residents have gone on camera in video testimonials to demonstrate their support for the project. The reality is that RIA is for everyone: all current Brookland Manor residents will have a guaranteed home in the redevelopment — a home with modern amenities and enhanced services.”

In May, the Brookland Manor tenant association asked the DC Court of Appeals to review the Zoning Commission’s April order that gave MidCity permission to redevelop the community buildings, according to the Washington Business Journal. The court appeal led the company to delay its plan to break ground over the summer on the project’s first phase, with all work except for the demolition of three vacant buildings postponed until the judges rule.

In the meantime, the tenants association is trying to “obtain the ear of the mayor and the [Ward 5] city councilman,” Elliott said in an interview.

“I would like to thank [audience members at the September screening] for attending and being interested in hearing our voices,” she. “I hope more people know that what has happened to us can happen to them.”