Washington Window: April 2007: Transitional Housing

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By Lucy Chumbley
Washington Window
Vol. 76, No. 5, April 2007

Since it was founded in 1993, the faith-based non-profit Transitional Housing Corporation has focused on just that – transitional housing, said Polly Donaldson, THC’s executive director. But that singular focus has begun to change.



	In January, THC Affordable Housing, Inc. closed on its first property for affordable housing. The three-story brick structure comprises 32 apartments and 14 garages and is located one block north of Missouri Avenue and two blocks east of Georgia Avenue in Ward 4’s Brightwood neighborhood. Community space will be provided in the basement level for supportive services.

Last June, THC created an affiliate, THC Affordable Housing, Inc. In January, it purchased a 34-unit building to be used for long-term affordable housing. Now the group plans to buy an adjoining building of the same size.

“The fundamental message is that we have evolved into being the Episcopal housing agency working with affordable housing,” she said. “If folks want to be involved in affordable housing, that’s what we’re doing.”

To date, THC has focused on serving homeless and at-risk families in transition, offering a two-year program to help them get back on their feet.

Partner Arms I and II, 10 blocks apart on Georgia Avenue, offer families 27 apartments and a range of services, including youth enrichment activities, substance abuse and credit counseling, and parenting, wellness and home ownership classes.

“Our success rate has been consistently strong,” Donaldson said. “Close to 90 percent of the people who complete our program move on to permanent housing and stay there for at least one year – the extent to which we track.”

But the rising cost of real estate has made it increasingly difficult for the program’s graduates to find permanent housing, she said, because even those who successfully complete the program – achieving sobriety, financial solvency and employment – live on a limited income.



Photos by Lucy Chumbley and Chett Pritchett Support services at THC’s Partner Arms buildings include youth enrichment activities such as the Reading Partners program (above) and Garden Club (far bottom). Services also will be offered at the new affordable housing site (far top). THC’s executive director, Polly Donaldson, and volunteer coordinator, Chett Pritchett (below), stand outside one of the new sites.

“Where do our graduates go?” Donaldson said. “It really does get to the heart of the matter. Can they stay in the same neighborhood? Can their children go to the same schools?”

If it is hard for families to find affordable housing, it is every bit as difficult for organizations like the THC to find suitable properties to develop, said Suzanne Welch, THC’s director of new project development.

“The private market is very, very tough,” she said. “The absolute hardest thing to doing affordable housing is to find a site, an affordable site. It’s just very hard to find sites here.”

Welch spent months visiting properties in the District, Prince George’s County and even Arlington, Va., that were too small, too expensive or otherwise unsuitable, she said. THC also put in an unsuccessful bid last year to purchase land owned by the diocese in Germantown, which the diocese later decided to sell at market rate.

“Until the condo craze somewhat settled down over the last year, it was impossible to find properties that we could even bid on,” Donaldson said.

After a long search, THC finally found a suitable property for development right in its own neighborhood and completed the purchase on Jan. 26. A $200,000 working capital loan from the diocese helped secure the financing.

“Without that, it would not have happened,” Donaldson said.

The new property’s location – opposite community gardens and about a mile from both Partner Arms sites and THC’s office – is just about perfect, Donaldson said.

“To find somewhere so close, in the area where we’re already engaged, is wonderful,” she said. “Clearly geography matters in some ways and we’ll look to build special bonds in the neighborhood. It’s all about building community in the District.”

Designed to be a “next step” for graduates of the Partner Arms program, the new property will enable families to remain in the neighborhood with minimal disruption to their lives.

The north building, which THC now owns, has been vacant since 2004, and will need to be completely renovated, Donaldson said, as will the next door property, in which 11 tenants still reside. THC has submitted a letter of intent to purchase this building.

“[The tenants] have been battling the property owners to keep them from converting it to condos for years,” Donaldson said. “We want them to stay there.”

Major renovations – kitchens, bathrooms, heating and air conditioning systems – are expected to begin early next year, Donaldson said, although some work might begin sooner. The property is expected to be ready for occupation by March 2009.

The units, which will be rented at 30 percent of market rate, are designated for very low, low and moderate income individuals and families. As with the Partner Arms programs, there will be some on-site staff support and programs for the residents.

“We’re not just landlords,” Donaldson said. “We are here to help families build economic opportunities to support and enhance their families in this very expensive area. People can make transformational change if you provide the support and guidance. They can, and we can help them.

“The real thing is that this is about providing a community in which people can live and grow, affordably. Believe me, this is the first of what I hope will be many.”

The hidden homeless

Families make up 40 percent of the Washington area’s homeless population, according to the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments 2006 Homeless Enumeration Report.

“They’re the hidden homeless,” said Polly Donaldson, executive director of the Transitional Housing Association, explaining that families are THC’s primary focus.

Most families enrolled in THC programs are single mothers with two or more children, she said. “Most of them are under the age of 25. At least 50 percent come in with domestic violence histories.

Seventy five percent have some issue with substance abuse.”

The THC operates two blocks of apartments – Partner Arms I and II – along the Georgia Avenue corridor in the District’s Ward 4. These serve as a kind of halfway house, giving families a stable environment in which to build a foundation for their future.

The program currently houses 27 families with 62 children, who are required to participate in a program of services, including employment and career counseling, family dynamics and parenting skills, life skills counseling, substance abuse counseling and therapy. Since it was founded, THC has helped more than 152 families move to permanent housing.

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