Brookland manor news round up
As a relative of residents in Brookland Manor, I have fond childhood memories of that community from watching fireworks at night, family parties that turned into reunions, and running myself so ragged that I would pass out during the 30 minute car rides back home. I became aware of the fight to save Brookland Manor a few years ago, after overhearing a conversation between my mom and her sister. In 2020 I moved to the Eckington neighborhood in Ward 5, a few blocks from Brookland Manor, due to the struggle around affordable housing. It wasn’t long before I began to research what was happening with Brookland Manor. I noticed that there weren’t any stories about this communtiy on local radio or local news programs, which led me to search for information online. I found articles from online news sites, mainstream and independent, dating back to 2014. The independent media outlets tended to include more information about Brookland Manor and its community members that even I wasn’t aware of. Residents have been raising awareness about their ongoing struggle to save their community from a corporate real estate firm, MidCity located in Bethesda, MD. Brookland Manor sits on 20 acres of land, the property on those acres happens to be owned by MidCity.
This housing community was delevoped in the late 1930s with 535 apartment units located in Northeast, D.C.; it has been a staple within D.C.’s Black community by housing multiple intergenerational families since its exsistence. Brookland Manor residents have participated in institution building and community programming, as reported by People’s World:
It is unclear if these programs and institutions will survive the redevelopment. According to MidCity’s website the redevelopment project named Ria , will be a “mixed use and mixed income community that'll contain a shopping center, communal green space, and 1,734 residential units with at least 24 percent of them being afforadable”. Brookland Manor has 534 affordable apartment units, the lower half of the buildings contain 3-5 bedroom units for larger families and the 1-2 bedroom units on the upper half for single and smaller families. Although Ria will be adding 1,200 more apartment units, only 300 units are set aside for affordable housing, with 200 of them for senior citizens and 100 for single residents and families without senior citizens. Residents and local organizers are concerned that this project will displace many working class and low-income families, specifically larger ones. Below is a comparison of the current configuration of Brookland Manor, MidCity’s configuration plan for Ria, and the configuration plan that residents in Brookland Manor are demanding from MidCity:
Another concern is disrupting family units being as though many senior citizens live with younger family members. Since the project’s announcement residents have cited the harmful tactics being used by MidCity to push them out without any protection from the city government, stated by the Brookland Manor Coalition:
In 2021 residents and organizers faced another blow to their struggle when The Court of Appeals rejected a challenge made by Brookland Manor residents against D.C.’s Zoning Commission after they approved the second phase of MidCity’s development. Ms. Minnie Elliott the president of Brookland Manor Coalition, encourages other residents of the district to pay attention to their ongoing struggle in an article by DCist.com
Since 2022 there hasn’t been much press coverage about this story but social media accounts for The Brookland Manor Coalition continues to raise awareness around their demands and fight for affordable housing to remain in the district, their demands can be read below:
To keep in touch with Brookland Manor Coalition be sure to visit their website here: https://www.brooklandmanorcoalition.org/ and their twitter, instagram, and facebook.