Aparna for DC: Platform

Ward 1 is made up of a beautiful mix of single-family homes, group houses and multifamily apartment buildings, such as The Woodner, Tivoli Gardens, and the Buena Vista Coop. This mix of housing gives our neighborhoods distinct personality. Tenant protections are core to DC's identity: they help keep long term residents in the District and help keep the soul of the city alive, and other cities look to DC as a model for tenant protections. But recently these rights have been under threat as wealthy developers and the landlord lobby try to strip these rights, jack up apartment rents, and flip once-affordable single-family homes.

Aparna knows that housing is a human right. As a renter and a tenant organizer, she’s seen her neighbors contend with slum conditions, face evictions, and choose between paying rent and buying necessities like food and medicine.

As the Ward 1 Councilmember, Aparna will fight for housing that prioritizes meeting people’s needs instead of trying to squeeze them for profit.

Stop Rent Hikes:
Renters make up the majority of DC and the majority of Ward 1, but the Council has been continuously chipping away at renter protections as the cost of living skyrockets. DC’s rent stabilization laws in particular are long overdue for an update. Right now, no building constructed after 1975 benefits from rent stabilization- that’s a 50 year gap. Rent stabilization keeps landlords from drastically hiking up rent and provides tenants with predictability and security, especially during uncertain economic times. As older buildings are replaced by new construction, fewer and fewer tenants have these protections. Aparna will fight to expand rent stabilization to cover all multifamily properties, helping make DC a more stable and affordable place for people from all walks of life to call home.

Aparna will:
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Fully support the vision for publicly owned, tenant-controlled homes in the Green New Deal for Social Housing.
Expand and strengthen tenant protections, like rent stabilization, eviction protections, and the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act.
Fund vital tools for community ownership and building and preserving affordable housing including the Housing Production Trust Fund and the First Right to Purchase Program.
Hold landlords accountable for inhumane living conditions, for unconscionable rent increases, and for intentionally keeping units vacant.
Advocate for building more housing for all District residents, especially workforce and permanently affordable housing.
Fund the full Continuum of Care. Whether it’s housing vouchers to help move people from out of chronic homelessness, eviction prevention programs like the Emergency Rental Assistance Program, short-term solutions like Rapid Rehousing or DC Flex, or expanding Inclusionary Zoning, Aparna will fight to make sure that all District residents have access to safe, affordable homes.
Support homeless residents. As the Trump administration and Mayor Bowser collaborate to evict people in encampments, Aparna will work to bring people out of homelessness and into affordable housing. She will also fight to expand wraparound services — including counseling, job coaching, and healthcare.
Oppose exclusionary zoning policies that entrench segregation and keep renters out of DC’s wealthy neighborhoods.
Invest in programs that support homeowners, such as the Solar for All program to reduce utility costs or the Single Family Residential Rehabilitation Program to ensure that cost isn’t a barrier to safe, dignified housing for low-income homeowners.
Expand the Home Purchase Assistance Program to make the dream of homeownership a reality for more Ward 1 residents.
Fight for the residents of public housing to see conditions improve in their homes and hold the DC Housing Authority accountable for years of poor treatment.

Aparna's Platform

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