Tenants Demand Better Housing Conditions

WASHINGTON, DC (WUSA) -- Hundreds of DC tenants say they are living in dangerous buildings because of negligent landlords and unresponsive city officials.

Scores of frustrated tenants and housing advocates held a Tenant Town Hall meeting Saturday to address their concerns. They are outraged over what they are calling unsafe and unsanitary housing conditions in many of the 100,000 rent controlled apartments in the District. The DC government, they say, isn't doing enough to ensure that landlords address unsafe housing conditions in buildings with hundreds of code violations. They believe many landlords are neglecting their rent controlled buildings hoping tenants move out so they can turn the rentals into condos. The activists say tenants need more power to hold landlords accountable in tenant-landlord courts. They also argue that the city needs to increase its use of repair funds to bring buildings up to code when landlords fail to do so.

The Tenant Town Hall was convened by the Tenant Advisory Council and sponsored by the tenant associations from around the city, LEDC, The Legal Aid Society of DC, Tenant Action Network, AARP Legal Counsel for the Elderly, Bread for the City and other non-profit organizations.