Brenda Donald is executive director of the D.C. Housing Authority.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s assessment report of the D.C. Housing Authority was not pretty, nor were the findings unexpected. The report came after an on-site review of the DCHA this year.
The report details the cumulative effect of problems from years of management neglect across many departments within the agency. This agency’s numerous problems didn’t materialize overnight. Now that I am here and inherited the responsibility, my team and I are laying the foundation, and we are going to fix them.
But they can’t be fixed overnight.
When I took charge of this agency a little more than a year ago, my initial marching orders were to assess the overall organization and staff and to develop a plan to stabilize operations. We immediately stabilized the operating budget by eliminating the historical deficit. In my first three months, we also created the capacity to manage our capital budget and obligated over 95 percent of much-needed and appreciated capital funds from D.C. that were in jeopardy because they had not been spent in the previous nine months.
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Within six months, I built a new leadership team with the muscle to manage. We negotiated outdated labor contracts. We developed a technology plan to provide accurate data and management information, and now we are moving forward with the implementation.
The agency’s main operations include property management, the Housing Choice Voucher Program and capital investments. This summer in property management, we cleared more than 10,000 outstanding work orders, many of which had accumulated over several years, and we are developing a preventive maintenance program. We developed a strategic occupancy plan that is starting to show results as we have more than doubled unit offers for the months from July to September compared with the first six months of this calendar year. We also reactivated our apprentice training program for public housing residents who will be eligible for permanent jobs.
Under our Housing Choice Voucher Program, we updated and scrubbed the waitlist and engaged stakeholders across D.C. as we reviewed recommendations for an updated rent payment standard.
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For our capital investments, we are especially proud of our ability to deliver on projects that were stuck for many years. In the past 12 months, we broke ground at Kenilworth Courts to build 166 units of housing, closed on the long-delayed Greenleaf Gardens revitalization in Southwest, acquired the newly renovated Arthur Capper building for seniors, saved Parkway Overlook from default and broke ground on the Asberry, the long-awaited Barry Farm building for seniors, where residents will finally be able to return to their community.
We also closed on our former headquarters at 1133 North Capitol St. NE while acquiring new office space for our employees. The old headquarters site will become home to new housing and retail, including 200 affordable housing units.
The DCHA is undergoing an entire transformation — of people, properties and internal programs. Transformation is hard, and we are moving in the right direction because we already implemented corrective actions for some of the findings in the HUD report.
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Our priority and primary responsibility remain with the thousands of public housing residents and voucher holders we serve. Regular meetings with resident leaders and ongoing property tours help to keep the spotlight on long-delayed repairs and current living conditions. Although we have plans for massive redevelopment across our portfolio, redevelopment can take years and our residents live there now and should expect safe, affordable and decent housing.
Despite the headlines, the HUD report was not a wake-up call, for anyone. We all knew the agency needed an urgent transformation and a leader to take on the challenge. Now, we are here and have 60 days to respond with a corrective action plan and six months to fully implement it.
We are confident that we will transform. We will demonstrate our ability to rebuild this agency and fulfill our commitment to the people we serve.
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