jonetta rose barras: Will DC officials balk at providing help to low-income Ward 8 homeowners told to move out?

Life for more than three dozen low- to moderate-income Ward 8 homeowners just went from bad to worse — much, much worse. The engineering consulting firm they hired, The Falcon Group, is recommending a complete evacuation of all units at the Grandview Estates II at 1262 Talbert St. SE. The recommendation was made in a letter, dated Aug. 16, that followed additional field inspections the company performed last week as part of a “comprehensive building assessment.” 

The “nature and extent of damages we observed are concerning and are consistent with differential building settlement, which may occur when building foundation systems and/or founding soils become compromised. We are seeing evidence that the condition continues to worsen,” The Falcon Group engineers wrote of the Ward 8 condominium completed in 2017 a few blocks from the Anacostia Metro station.

“Additionally, we are aware that there is a break in the building’s main sewer line,” they continued in the letter to Howard Helland of Quality 1 Property Management company, which works for the Grandview Estates II condo association. “Aside from the health concerns, the break in the sewer line may be discharging uncontrolled (waste) water under and adjacent to the building foundation at the north elevation in close proximity to the retaining wall(s) along Morris Road SE (to the north of the building), exacerbating differential settlement issues,” the report says.

“The presence of water within the retained soil fill can saturate the soil and add significant hydrostatic pressure on the retaining wall systems, which can overstress the retaining wall systems and lead to further displacement and settlement of the building foundation. Considering the above factors, out of an abundance of caution for the health and safety of the residents, we recommend an evacuation of all residents and units within the building, within two (2) weeks of receipt of this letter,” wrote Scott Wilson, senior engineer; Shayan A. Amin, executive vice president for the DC, Virginia and Maryland region; and Orlando Ballate, executive vice president for the forensics division.

Last week, residents expressed fears that the building could collapse around them. It appears now more than ever that those fears may be justified. However, in several email exchanges with me, District government officials, including DC Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs Director Ernest Chrappah, have asserted there isn’t any “imminent danger.”

The homeowners have been pleading with Mayor Muriel Bowser’s administration for several years, hoping it would take aggressive action against Stanton View Development, which developed the 46-unit property. They went to DCRA as well as the DC Department of Housing and Community Development. They also sought assistance from the Office of the Attorney General.

The DHCD provided a loan of more than $6 million for the construction of the project. Those funds came from the city’s Housing Production Trust Fund. Despite receiving public funds, the developers appear to have cut corners during construction, violating various building standards and DC codes.

“Our clients have been telling the District for 4 years that the building was unsafe and now all of the 42 low-income, first- time homeowners and their families will be homeless on August 30, 2021 without any agency in the District prepared to support them in this District-generated crisis,” attorney LaRuby May wrote in an email to me. Her firm, May Lightfoot PLLC, is representing as many as nine of the homeowners in a lawsuit filed earlier this year.

Ty’on Jones, the secretary for the condo association’s board of directors and a former advisory neighborhood commissioner, is equally frustrated and angry. “Someone from the DC [government] should come and finish the first-time home buyer program that they started with us. We attended courses and classes about how to pay condo fees and fix repairs but there were no courses or classes that provided us with information on what to do when a developer takes city money and builds unsafe homes that results in the evacuation of 46 first-time buyers and their families,” he said via email.

The association is slated to meet Thursday to determine its next steps. Maybe by then, District officials will start accepting responsibility for the problem they created.

“We continue to evaluate all options to assist the impacted residents. As previously stated, and despite initial legal guidance from OAG, we have taken steps to alleviate the homeowners of their liabilities to the District,” DC Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development John Falcicchio, who oversees DHCD, wrote Wednesday afternoon on behalf of the Bowser administration in an email to me.

“Administration officials will meet with the homeowners this week to discuss next steps and understand their needs at this trying time,” added Falcicchio.

That’s not good enough. Since these DC residents have been dealing with major government agencies, the Bowser administration should already have a plan. 

And what about the DC Council? 

At-large member Anita Bonds, who chairs the Committee on Housing and Executive Administration, told me during a phone interview Wednesday that she has been talking behind the scenes for at least a year now with DHCD Director Polly Donaldson about this case. Bonds said she proposed that the agency release the homeowners of any liability and try to consider how to help position them to buy new homes.

From the look of things, those conversations went nowhere. Now, Bonds has asked the DC Office of the Tenant Advocate to take the lead in finding alternative living space for the homeowners. She said she is also investigating whether they could receive emergency vouchers. 

“But I am very serious about making sure they have the ability to buy again,” Bonds continued. “We’ll do right by the residents. Making them whole is No. 1 right now.”

It all sounds good. After four years, however, Talbert Street homeowners have good cause to be highly suspicious and skeptical of their government. After all, it created this mess. They didn’t.

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jonetta rose barras is an author and freelance journalist, covering national and local issues including politics, childhood trauma, public education, economic development and urban public policies. She can be reached at thebarrasreport@gmail.com.