NoMa may be rapidly becoming a gleaming playground for the city’s young professionals, but some of its lower-income neighbors are about to get an upgrade, too. Tyler House, a 284-unit subsidized apartment building located at the southwest intersection of New York Avenue and North Capitol Street, will soon be undergoing a $25 million top-to-bottom renovation. 
The comprehensive upgrade will include a new building-wide HVAC system, new plumbing, improved elevators, and new kitchens—cabinets, appliances—for residents. To boot, the community center spaces will be improved and the building will include a new computer learning center.
In this case, the security issue is a crucial one: last month, that corner was the site of an astounding seven shootings that occurred within seven days. “It’s the surrounding area,” claimed Roizman, who’s owned the complex for 17 years. “It didn’t happen in our building.”
As for the complex’s proximity to one of the District’s most up-and-coming neighborhoods, Roizman says he isn’t planning on selling—or upgrading the building to luxury status—anytime soon. “I’ll keep it low-income,” he said. “Why shouldn’t people with less income live in a nice area?”
Washington D.C. real estate development
9 comments:
The building still has "projects" look to it (yes I know it's just a reno). Looking at the architecture of high crime areas around DC and other cities they all seem to have that same look.
Tyler House is a classic failed housing project, concentrating too much poverty in one area. The result of these "tower projects", more often than not, is a reinforced cycle of poverty, reinforced by broken family structures, lack of opportunity, and lack of education. This scenario is an ideal situation for drug dealers, whose main customers are the poor who all too often turn to a drug culture either to use or sell, depending on whether the individual is attempting to escape their reality or take a hold of it in the only way they know how to.
$25M sounds like a lot of money for a renovation, but be certain for the size of the building it is not and this is the lowest amount of money that Roizman could spend to convince HUD to renew its Section 8 status (which lapsed last year). When you do the math Roizman will receive about $5M a year from HUD in TRACS (automatic payments by the government upon evidence of a vouchered individual occupying the units). With the HUD renewed for 20 years, this means the Roizman will pay $25M now in renovations to receive $100M over 20 years from the US Taxpayers to continue a failed house project. Renovations may provide some better basic needs for the tenants, but a similar renovation was done 17 years ago when Roizman first bought the building, and look where we have ended up now.
If the US Government and HUD are going to continue subsidizing housing for low income individuals, then programs that give incentive for apartment buildings to mix market rate and subsidized units (as is being done across the street with WCS building) as a better way to break the concentration of poverty, which accelerates the issues of drug use and violence.
Roizman claims that the shootings did not happen inside his building and it was the surrounding area. As someone who lives in the surrounding area, I can tell you that Tyler House (along with its neighbor Sursum Corda) is the epicenter for violence and crime in the area. Without the concentration of drug users (many of whom live in Tyler House), the "Corners" of NYE and North Cap would not be the DMZ. And Roizman need only look at the number of murders, rapes, robberies, assaults and other violent crimes that have occurred both outside AND inside his complex to realize that is not the surrounding area that Tyler House need be concerned of, but rather, the surrounding area need be concerned of Tyler House.
This is not to say that all residents or even that most residents of Tyler House (and similar concentrated housing projects) are drug dealers/ users or criminals. In fact, it are these very people who suffer the most from this continued program because if they had any other options, they would likely not live in Tyler House. If we as individuals/ a city/ country/ society owe a duty, either out of our own selfish interest or for the good of others in need, continuation of concentrated projects like these, with out of touch out of city slum lords that merely leech off government incentives at the detriment of low-income individuals, then our goal should be to decentralize government sponsored poverty and not make grand bargains for "God Rehabs" that really equates to maintaining a subpar status quo and entrenched poverty and crime while making someone who has no vested interest in the better of those people or the city, rich.
It just looks like any other mid-20th century apartment complex.
BEM, What stats are you looking at?
please share.
Thank you BEM that was well stated, that was essentially what was on my mind.
Amanda, surely Tyler House is in need of 'something'. A good article but you don't really say where this $25M is coming from. Is the owner posting $25M into new equity or is he selling a piece of the deal to new investors? Is HUD / DCHFA providing a rehab loan?
Thank you for any insights you might have.
BEM said it right.
Critically Urban has apparently never been outside of a slum before. There's no other explanation for how he could consider spiked security fences and steel turnstile perimeter doors "standard" features of mid-20th century apartment architecture. Maybe there was a typo, and he meant "mid-20th century PRISON architecture?"
"Why shouldn't low-income people live in a nice area?" Because, low-income people tend to bring relatively more riff raff with them. In turn, the area ends up being not so nice. Not to mention, these low-income people will end up moving out anyway, when they can't eat at a neighboring restaurant for less that $50
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