Rent control boss departs, leaving tenant groups up in arms
By: Michael Neibauer
Examiner Staff Writer
August 19, 2008
WASHINGTON — The sudden departure of the D.C. administrator charged with resolving rent control disputes has tenant advocates accusing the District of appeasing well-heeled landlords who frowned upon her pro-tenant stance.
Angelita Colón-Francia, spokeswoman with the Department of Housing and Community Development, would only say that D.C. Rent Administrator Grayce Wiggins is no longer with the District government. She declined to explain further, citing personnel rules.
Tenant advocates, however, contend Wiggins was dismissed for her vehement stand against an agreement between tenants of the Kennedy-Warren apartments in Northwest and the property’s landlord, Bethesda-based B.F. Saul Co.
The agreement, signed by 94 of 102 Kennedy-Warren occupants, locked in lower rents for participating tenants, among other perks. In exchange, B.F. Saul sought to raise rents up to 300 percent on vacant units, roughly 209 of them, in addition to those apartments occupied by tenants who refused to sign.
Wiggins ruled in March that the deal was “patently coercive,” offering tenants “no reasonable option other than to accept the proposed terms or otherwise face penalizing and oppressive terms.” And the “immediate and permanent loss” of affordable units, she wrote, “is detrimental to the current housing stock.”
The decision set an important precedent as voluntary agreements become an increasingly popular among landlords as a means of avoiding D.C.’s rent control laws, said Jim McGrath, chairman of the D.C. Tenants Advocacy Coalition.
“They were out to get her, out to get her dismissal,” McGrath said. “It suggests that big money and big development in the city continue to speak with a huge loud voice.”
Such accusations are “completely unfounded and untrue,” responded David Newcome, vice president of B.F. Saul’s apartment division. The voluntary agreement, the firm has said, would raise millions needed to finance capital improvements at the Kennedy-Warren.
“Since Ms. Wiggins decision … we have accepted her concerns and sought to fully respond to them in a revised voluntary agreement,” Newcome said.
Wiggins’ departure is “horrible news for tenants all over the city,” said Peter Schwartz, a Kennedy-Warren resident. She was a “real advocate for tenants,” he said. The Kennedy-Warren dispute, which sparked a rent strike, is now tied up in appeals.
Wiggins could not be reached for comment. Her temporary fill-in, Keith Anderson, started Aug. 11.
The District opposed the Kennedy-Warren agreement when it was proposed and continues to do so, Colón-Francia said.
“The decision was an important one and nothing has changed,” she said.
