An affordable housing nonprofit wants to buy the Avalon apartments

by Marlene Berlin

An affordable housing developer and nonprofit is in the process of purchasing Avalon the Albemarle apartments at 4501 Connecticut Avenue. It’s also informing residents of their right to buy the building themselves, under the District’s Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act, or TOPA.

At a meeting with Avalon residents on Wednesday, February 19th, representatives from True Ground Housing Partners said the nonprofit is under contract to buy the 228-unit property from current owner AvalonBay Communities, a publicly traded real estate investment trust, and laid out plans to convert the 1950s building into affordable housing for households in the 60 to 80% median family income range ($92,000 to $123,750 for a family of four).

Carmen Romero, True Ground’s CEO, introduced herself and the organization, which was founded in Arlington, Virginia since 1989. Its website says True Ground provides “safe, attractive housing to more than 5,000 people in the DC Metro region.”

True Ground program manager Mitch Crispell led most of the presentation, which stressed that no existing residents over the income threshold would be displaced after the purchase. The units would be converted only after tenants move out. Some existing residents, if their incomes are within the range, would see their rents go down. Additionally, no one’s annual rent increases would be larger than 4.5 percent, even in years DC’s rent control laws allow for a larger rent hike.

In the District, the maximum allowed rent increase for rent-stabilized apartments (built prior to 1976) will be 4.8% as of May 1st. Crispell told Avalon residents that their maximum rent hike would be 4 percent this year, and True Ground would use the 2025-2026 rent hike cap for registered seniors and people with disabilities. That is set at 2.5%.

True Ground also invited the residents to start the TOPA process, which includes forming a tenants association if a building doesn’t have one already. (The Avalon does not.) The tenants could then work toward getting at least 51% of their neighbors on board with purchasing the building themselves, or assigning the right of purchase to the interested party (in this case, True Ground), or a different organization.

According to the DC Office of the Tenant Advocate, tenants organizations who go the latter route can use their TOPA rights to negotiate better building conditions, limited rent increases and other benefits. True Ground said if assigned the right of purchase, everything it promised would be put in writing, and would be binding.

Part of the presentation focused on building management. True Ground would bring in Avenue Five, “to provide excellent maintenance and responsive management.” An additional resident services coordinator who works for True Ground would “organize community events, listen to residents’ concerns and connect residents with services.”

Crispell ended the presentation again stressing that True Ground would like to engage in the TOPA process with the tenants association, which must be formed within 45 days of the residents receiving a letter from their current landlord informing them of the sale. This handout, from the DC Office of the Tenant Advocate, summarizes the rest of the process and the timeline.

A perspective on True Ground from a former ANC 3F commissioner

David Cristeal, an ANC 3F commissioner from April 2020 through December 2022, has made a career of affordable housing support and development at the county government level. And he has years of experience working with True Ground, previously known as the Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing (APAH), in Arlington County, Virginia.

Cristeal tells Forest Hills Connection that he, in his leadership role with Arlington’s affordable housing agency, was directly involved in 14 of True Ground’s rental property acquisitions and new developments. He says he found it to be an “accomplished, capable and conscientious” organization.

More than that: True Ground “was the best development partner that I worked with during my tenure in Arlington. My experience there also included other nonprofit and for-profit developers, nearly all that are also active across the DMV.”

What set it apart, in his words, “were two critical features that help ensure the long-term success of both the apartment community of families and their nearby neighboring properties:”

First, is a focus on their residents and employing the in-house capacity to help them, if needed, with a full range of tenant services. APAH/True Ground have focused on this part of their organization since their Arlington beginnings and now have 20 full-time staff members dedicated to helping ensure the success of their tenants.

Second, is their proactiveness and ability to work with the many community stakeholders as they acquire and/or develop properties. This is a complicated process often involving multiple approving bodies and the layers of public and private funding sources. APAH’s success in Arlington and its expansion as True Ground elsewhere in northern Virginia, the District of Columbia and suburban Maryland is a testament to their expertise in building effective, long-term community and funding relationships.