WASHINGTON — On Sunday, neighbors who have been living in Southeast D.C.'s Ridgecrest condominiums were forced out of their homes after only being given a few days notice.
On Wednesday, Feb. 2, DCRA put a notice on their doors. Broken windows, dilapidated doors, and leaky pipes: that’s what the Ridgecrest condos have turned into. The notice on the doors said there’s a lack of required utilities.
Liane Scott has owned a unit since 1995. She and others are suing their Homeowners Association President, Marcus Little, because of the uninhabitable conditions.
“We've been at it for over a year and we won't actually see our day in court until July,” she said.
Danger signs are plastered all around the property. Scott said they were told on Wednesday they needed to be out by Sunday, with no clear return date.
“They are planning to come in and re-inspect I believe, tomorrow. We keep getting mixed messages,” Scott said.
The DCRA notices explain how some units don't have electricity and heat.
“We need to have our electrical panel completely changed because there are a number of units that don't have electricity,” she said. Scott believes the property’s funds have been mismanaged “Now we're low-income seniors. We can't come up with $20,000 to $30,000, but the thing is the association really should have that money,” Scott said.
Her faith on the repairs actually happening is dwindling. Scott said there's a lack of trust with the current president of the association.
“Will he use it to get us an actual boiler that will work? Will he hire certified qualified workers? He hasn't done so in years and years and years of us begging him to do it,” Scott said.
Neighbors tell WUSA9 the city provided hotels for them for 15 days, and from there, they’re on their own.
On Sunday, we called the homeowners association president for comment, but he hung up the phone once we identified we were a news organization. A quick search of court records shows Little has been in court before for housing code regulations back in 2020.
Neighbors said he owns more than a dozen units in Ridgecrest.
“I’m praying that DCRA won’t put us out and that they’ll have the muscle that we don’t have, to force him to spend our money to make these repairs, that’s what we want,” Scott said.