Justice First will continue to feature a weekly update on the living conditions of two families at Montana Terrace, a public housing property in Northeast Washington, D.C., managed by the D.C. Housing Authority. We are entering our sixth week of reporting on Montana Terrace, which began with interviews that exposed deliberate neglect by the Housing Authority. Read more

In this week's newsletter, we highlight the shameful dealings of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and one of the agencies she directs, the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), surrounding the vacant building at 3200 13th St. S.E., part of the contested Congress Heights properties where tenants have been fighting for over five years against slum conditions, and for 200 units of quality, affordable housing. Additionally, we provide another update on slum conditions at Montana Terrace, a public housing property in Northeast Washington, D.C., an analysis of housing and development policy under capitalism, and we highlight a recent LinkUp and People Power Action event featuring a live discussion with political prisoner and internationally celebrated journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal, during which he discusses his perspective on the linkages between mass incarceration and gentrification. Read more

In this week's newsletter, we highlight D.C.'s deficient shelter system, the ongoing attacks on the health, safety, and security of public housing residents at Montana Terrace, and a LinkUp interview with Cheryl Brunson, tenant at Brookland Manor, the site of one of the largest proposed redevelopments in Washington, D.C., where a high profile housing fight has exposed the racist and predatory policies of developer Mid-City Financial.   Read more

The struggle at Congress Heights is highlighting some of the many ways the District’s housing crisis is one of its politicians’ own making, the predictable result of policies that favor lucrative new developments over lifelong residents. As political cronies of important politicians get sweetheart deals, displaced tenants are forced to live in terrible conditions, and the entire process governing the zoning and the disposition of land favors the wealthy development interests and promotes the gentrification that so defines the past decade in the District. Read more