Two years ago, the D.C. government told condominium owners at River East at Grandview Estates that they suddenly had to move out of the structurally unsound building.
They did so with the hope that the D.C. government would devise a plan that places them back on a path to homeownership.
What some of the more than 40 families said they’ve experienced instead is financial duress and a lack of certainty about their future in the District.
The situation has proven to be insurmountable for Shannon Thomas, a mother of one who has been living in a Northwest rental home since leaving River East at Grandview Estates, located on Talbert Street in Southeast.
While in her rental home, Thomas has continued to make monthly mortgage payments for her condominium while applying for the D.C. Homeowners Assistance Fund, a program that provides grants to District homeowners with funding from the American Rescue Plan.
All the while, she and others have patiently awaited word from the Talbert Street Task Force about if their mortgages would be forgiven and if they would be able to reenter the District’s first-time home buyer’s program.
For years, the D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) has provided rental assistance for the displaced homeowners. In early August however, then-DHCD Deputy Director Drew Hubbard told Thomas and her neighbors in a letter that their support would be extended for an additional nine months, not a full year, from when their rental lease expires.
Less than a month later, the Department of Buildings deemed River East at Grandview Estates as inhabitable and placed orange signs on each unit prohibiting entry. Meanwhile, Thomas said that neither the Grandview Estates Homeowners Association or the task force have been clear about when, or even if, they would be able to collect their belongings from their condominiums.
The situation has placed Thomas in what she describes as “purgatory.”
With the clock ticking to June, when her lease renews and her rental assistance expires, Thomas continues to mull her next move. She said she’s not able to do so however without a full picture of what the D.C. government is able to provide.
“We were overpromised that there would be some strategic plan to transition us from our predicament so that we would be able to move on,” Thomas said. “We were hopeful that they came up with a final plan and option and we have yet to hear anything,” she continued. “I’m panicking. I feel like the bottom is about to fall out.”
An Ongoing Legal Battle
In October, May Jung LLP filed an emergency motion to secure the structural integrity of Grandview Estates. The law firm is scheduled to appear before a judge on Nov. 1 in regard to that injunction.
In 2021, May Jung LLP filed a lawsuit against Grandview Estates Homeowners Association, the D.C. government and several other parties on behalf of six displaced homeowners. D.C. Superior Court Judge Jose Lopez dismissed Grandview Estates Homeowners Association and the D.C. government from that lawsuit.
Other defendants in the suit included Stanton View Development and RiverEast at Anacostia LLC. Both entities have since filed for bankruptcy.
In the fall of 2021, May Jung LLP appealed Lopez’s decision. The District appellate court has yet to decide a course of action, per the District’s appellate e-filing system.
LaRuby May, a partner at May Jung LLP, said the homeowners have a viable case.
“Our six plaintiffs wanted the American dream in D.C. and it was shattered from the beginning so [it’s about] holding folks accountable for the harm that happened to our client,” May said.
“They worked to get their credit together to become homebuyers. The building was defective and the District threw their hands up. It puts distrust in the government.”
Per a timeline established by the Talbert Street Task Force, DHCD provided a $2.2 million loan to Stanton View Development LLC in 2011 for the purchase of 1260-1272 Talbert Street SE.
Stanton View Development then transferred the property to RiverEast Anacostia LLC and assigned development rights to it that would yield the construction of a 46-unit affordable rental housing project for households earning less than 80% of the area median income.
By 2016, DHCD and Stanton View Development agreed to convert the property on Talbert Street from rental to homeownership. The agency then registered River East at Grandview Condominiums with the warranty security liability set at more than $430,000.
The warranty security, by design, provides coverage for buildings for 10 to 12 years after project completion. It safeguards against substandard materials, poor workmanship and unexpected defects. Developers usually secure warranty security before construction.
Between 2017 and 2019, first-time home buyers started purchasing condominiums in River East at Grandview Estates through the Home Purchase Assistance Program (HPAP), administered through the D.C. Housing Production Trust Fund. Some homeowners complained about large wall and ceiling openings, separation of the bathtub from the floor, and windows no longer closing.
DHCD also received a complaint about electrical and roof problems in some of the units.
At the time, the agency was unable to post warranty security. This briefly prevented the sale of other units. That’s when Grandview Estates Homeowners Association notified DHCD that it intended to file a statutory structural warranty claim.
In 2019, the last unit sold. However, Grandview Estates Condominium Association alerted DHCD about its inability to secure an engineering report to file the structural warranty claim. The association would go on to submit a claim without an engineering report.
Two years later, the Falcon Group, an engineering firm hired by the condominium association, recommended an emergency evacuation for at least 30 of the 46 units within River East at Grandview Estates.
The D.C. Council to Take a Further Look
On Nov. 9, the D.C. Council’s Committee of the Whole and the Committee on Housing are scheduled to conduct a joint public roundtable titled, “The River East on Grandview Condominiums Debacle.”
In September, the council unanimously approved the Grandview Condominium Assistance Tax Exemption Amendment Act. The legislation extended, for the condominium owners on Talbert Street, a D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue low-income homeowner property tax relief program that was set to expire this year.
Per the legislation, those affected by the displacement would be able to benefit from the property tax exemption during the 2024 tax year.
In his remarks on the dias, D.C. Council member Trayon White (D-Ward 8) demanded that more be done to help displaced condo owners so that they are able to fulfill their dreams of homeownership.
“We need to take these homeowners seriously —many of them first time homeowners and many of them African Americans — to provide them the relief that was requested [including] demolishing the structure and [providing] the maximum HPAP funds for the purchase of houses for the displaced,” White said on Sept. 19.
“This goes beyond the legislation,” White continued. “I also ask that the mayor agrees to meet with the residents to discuss their concerns. We’re trying to push that meeting again. The residents feel ignored. The meeting with the city administration can go a long way to help people keep their wealth that they work hard for and keep their housing that is equally important.”
Mayor Bowser’s Word Against That of Homeowners
During the summer of 2021, the Talbert Street Task Force, launched by Bowser, secured $7,000 payments for each homeowner who submitted documentation.
Families that evacuated Grandview Estate also received a housing certificate that covered temporary relocation to a rental property for one year. Other supports, as outlined by the task force, included the forgiveness of HPAP and HPTF balances.
However, at least one displaced homeowner, Davina Callahan, confirmed for The Informer that she’s been notified about repaying her HPAP balance.
The Washington Informer unsuccessfully attempted to secure comment from DHCD about the steps taken to relieve the displaced homeowners of their mortgage obligations, help them fix their credit, and acquire funding for the purchase of another home.
On Monday, Oct. 30, Bowser told The Informer that she met with the condominium owners, though she didn’t specify when. In response to a question about rental assistance, she also said that renewal was for a year, not nine months.
In regard to whether homeowners are reimbursed for the mortgage payments they’ve made, Bowser said that was a matter to be worked out between the developer and the owners. “This is not a building the District owns, but I made the decision to be helpful to people who experience displacement,” she said.
“They have been getting assistance,” she continued. “Our expectation is that we’re going to be helpful, not that we have the obligation to make condo owners whole. That’s between the developers and the owners of those units. We have a system to support them while they make a transition plan.”
Yvonne Lawson, a displaced homeowner on the front lines of the battle for answers from the D.C. government, told a different story.
Lawson said the last time Bowser spoke with her and her fellow Talbert Street condominium homeowners was during a virtual meeting that took place days after the 2022 mayoral primary. Securing that meeting, she said, required walking up to Bowser at a polling station during primary election night and compelling her to agree to a meeting.
Even though Bowser expressed a commitment to “making homeowners whole,” Lawson said, there are still questions in her mind about how the D.C. government will follow through.
Other than placement and rental assistance, none of what the task force promised has come to fruition, said Lawson, who has since given birth to a daughter.
At her Capitol Hill neighborhood apartment, Lawson struggles to save money because, like Thomas, she has a mortgage obligation. She recently applied for the D.C. Homeowners Assistance Program.
In October, Lawson’s lease was renewed. This means that, per DHCD’s letter earlier this year, she has nine more months of rental assistance. With the rent at her Capitol Hill dwelling incrementally increasing, Lawson questions how she will stay in the District.
She also wonders whether the D.C. government will have a concrete action plan when her housing assistance expires.
However that plan looks, Lawson said she’s come to terms with not being able to move back to Talbert Street, and begrudgingly so.
“We know for a fact that we can’t return and I knew that was going to be the case when we left,” said Lawson, a sports and entertainment professional.
“Paying my mortgage has been a waste of money, she added. “It’s about $1200 per month and condo fees are still an obligation. We were promised HPAP forgiveness, but that hasn’t happened. The city has paid our rent and utilities. Outside of that, much of what was told to us over the course of these dreadful two years has not come to us in writing or into fruition.”
In a previous Informer story, Karl Morrison spoke about the post-inspection repairs he had to pay for and other tell-tale signs of trouble he encountered while purchasing what he envisioned as his retirement home on Talbert Street.
Two years later, he too is displaced and in demand of answers. It has gotten to the point that he has grown impatient.
“The mayor has not said anything about the deals that they were going to make to clear this up and make us whole so we can move out. So it’s kind of like everybody’s still on standby,” Morrison said.
“I just kind of wish that things would flow a bit more because it’s kind of like we’re being swept underneath [the rug] right now. It’s us Black people, so she’ll do a little bit to keep us quiet for now. That’s the way I feel.”