In a new video, District of Columbia Housing Authority (DCHA) Executive Director Tyrone Garrett and DCHA staff reiterate the housing authority’s mission of improving the health, wellbeing, success, and daily lives of DCHA residents. Based on “This Is Where We Stand,” a poem by Raquel Brown, Garrett and DCHA staff emphasize in the video DCHA’s promise to serve their residents with accountability, integrity, and respect, as well as to center the needs of DCHA’s residents in the housing authority’s work.
DCHA’s commitment to resident wellbeing is underscored by Garrett’s recent advocacy for improving the quality of DCHA residents’ homes by reinvesting in public housing with funding for the capital needs backlog. In a May 16 NPR story, which also aired May 22 on NPR’s Morning Edition, Garrett said of the Trump Administration’s proposal to slash funding for public housing, “We're looking for opportunities to be able to improve the lives of our families, and it's becoming increasingly difficult with the funding cuts."
Garrett also spoke to WAMU 88.5 FM about the need for the city of Washington, D.C. to include more funding in its budget for DCHA public housing, which currently requires nearly $2.2 billionin repairs over the next 17 years. Of the D.C. Council’s plan to allocate nearly $25 million for public housing repairs out of the city’s $15.5 billion budget, Garrett stated, “This year’s budget underscores the severity of the physical conditions DCHA is facing and the District’s sincere commitment to ensure low-income families in D.C. continue to receive affordable housing assistance.”
