In the latest stage of her crusade to improve her living conditions and that of her neighbors, D.C. resident Glenda Richmond has filed a civil suit alleging that her building manager didn’t accommodate tenants during building inspections and repairs that kept them out of their apartments for hours.
Richmond filed the suit in August, weeks after WinnCompanies announced that it would be installing new laminate flooring in her apartment and that of 19 other elderly tenants at Paul Laurence Dunbar Apartments in Northwest.
The suit alleges that the floor replacement that started in July, and the apartment inspections and repairs that WinnCompanies scheduled for Aug. 30 through Sept. 7, violate tenants’ lease agreement because of the lack of advance notice given to tenants. It follows a letter Richmond sent the D.C. Office of the Attorney General in July.
While Richmond has been successful in turning away contractors, she said other tenants hadn’t been allowed the option of refusing upgrades.
She also alleged that WInnCompanies didn’t provide tenants, some of whom are unable to control their urination, with relocation, transportation, food and water, along with other resources while they awaited the completion of the floor replacement.
Since a 2020 building fire, the floors in nearly half of the units at Paul Laurence Dunbar Apartments have been replaced. In recent weeks, Richmond has expressed concern about how, or whether, WinnCompanies would relocate tenants who’ve yet to have their floors replaced and other repairs done to their apartments.
On Sept. 5, Richmond and Rob Donahue, the attorney representing WinnCompanies, stood before D.C. Superior Court Magistrate Judge Rahkel Bouchet. During that hearing, Richmond alleged that WinnCompanies haphazardly conducted the floor replacements and other repairs in preparation for Department of Housing and Urban Development National Standards for the Physical Inspection of Real Estate (HUD NSPIRE) inspections that happened on Sept. 7
Richmond told The Informer that, despite conducting monthly inspections for nearly a year, WinnCompanies hasn’t effectively tackled rodent infestation and other problems at Paul Laurence Dunbar Apartments.
“Winn Company is doing this work at the last minute to try to bring the building into compliance and that’s the problem,” Richmond said. “Had they taken care of those problems that we had before, there wouldn’t be a need for the mad rush that we’re faced with now. These inspections are making us uncomfortable.”
A Review of Richmond’s Case is Underway
A representative of the Department of Buildings (DOB) inspected Richmond’s apartment on Sept. 28. Bouchet arranged the DOB visit during the Sept. 5 hearing because, as she told Richmond, it wasn’t clear if the courtroom serves as the proper forum for addressing Richmond’s qualms about conditions at Paul Laurence Dunbar Apartments.
Bouchet also suggested that Richmond consult a court-appointed attorney; Richmond erroneously served papers on her own behalf to a WinnCompanies representative who was unqualified to receive the civil suit against the company.
In response to an Informer inquiry, a WinnCompanies spokesperson said property management staff at Paul Laurence Dunbar Apartments conduct annual inspections of every unit, while the equity investor, the lender, D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development, D.C. Housing Finance Agency and HUD do the same every one to three years.
They also cited an onsite maintenance team and pest control company that routinely provides inspections and maintenance.
On Aug. 16, tenants received notification of the annual property management inspection and HUD NSPIRE inspections, the spokesperson said. On Sept. 5, tenants received another reminder about the HUD NSPIRE inspections. The property management inspections, which preceded the Aug. 30- through Sept. 7 rodent abatement and apartment repairs, took place on Aug. 21- 25.
In regard to the floor replacements, the WinnCompanies spokesperson noted that property management sent tenants letters in three languages on June 13 and June 26. They also said that no tenants were required to have flooring installed. In advance of the floor replacement, the tenants received boxes two weeks in advance so the flooring contractor and property management staff could move their belongings to complete the work.
In total, 18 out of 20 tenants had their floors replaced without incident, the spokesperson said. During the nearly six hours of the floor replacement, tenants were encouraged to utilize a $50 meal gift card, and wait in the common rooms on the first floor of the Paul Laurence Dunbar Apartments.
HUD encourages tenants to contact the performance based contract administrator of Assisted Housing Services Corporation when complaints about living conditions haven’t been resolved by the building manager. In 2018, HUD gave Paul Laurence Dunbar Apartments a below-average Management and Occupancy Review score.
Deficiencies had since been resolved, resulting in satisfactory scores between 2019 and 2023, a HUD spokesperson told The Informer.
Some Residents Recount Tenuous Situations with Management
As another tenant of the Paul Laurence Dunbar Apartments told The Informer, rodents still have a significant presence in the apartment complex, regardless of the techniques executed by exterminators and building managers.
In years past, the tenant, who requested anonymity, had to throw away furniture and clothes that had been damaged by rodents. They told The Informer that the floor replacement could further expose them to this problem.
Earlier this year, the tenant said that they were given a month’s notice to pack up more than a decade’s worth of belongings in preparation for the floor replacement scheduled for the latter part of July. As the tenant recounted, they had been berated by building management and threatened with eviction for noncompliance in the weeks leading up to the floor replacement.
By the time contractors entered the tenant’s apartment on July 27, all of their belongings had been packed in boxes and labeled. After the contractor finished replacing the floors and the tenant returned to their apartment, they found the boxes rearranged in a manner that made it difficult to recover medicine and other important materials.
All in all, the process has been confusing for the tenant who, out of frustration with building management, has had to rely on their daughter as a mediator.
“Some things I didn’t understand,” the tenant said. “When they used [acronyms], I didn’t know what they meant. I had no help, except for one daughter. The building manager yelled [for me to get ready]. I don’t want to deal with that woman anymore. I’m not talking to her.”
