A New Experiment in Tenant Ownership May Point to a Solution for the Housing Crisis
Seven years ago, the Kenilworth-Parkside housing project in the northeast section of Washington, D.C., was a sad reminder of the failure of urban social policy. Drug abuse, violent crime, educational neglect, family instability, and complete community breakdown permeated the complex and parts of the surrounding neighborhood.
Eighty-five percent of the residents were on welfare; over 70 percent of the children of school age had either dropped out of high school or failed to graduate. Vandalism was rampant. Indeed, things were so bad that Kenilworth seemed destined to become yet another symbol of urban pathology that even the best of intentions couldn’t disguise.
Today Kenilworth is on the way to becoming a model of how to deal with the seemingly intractable problems of modern urban life, particularly life in the ghetto where the temptations to ignore the rules and violate the norms of the larger society are very strong and often irresistible. The hopeful and purposeful change taking place at Kenilworth is not the result of traditional government policy. On the contrary, the changes taking place are the result of giving the residents a stake in governing themselves.
The ethic of self-help and individual responsibility is behind the renaissance at Kenilworth. “People helping themselves” says Kimi Gray, the president of the Kenilworth Parkside Resident Management Corporation. The corporation was formed in 1982 after a decade of deteriorating social and physical conditions that included a year without heat or hot water.
The corporation now manages the complex and has been responsible for the creation of a sense of community purpose that would have been unthinkable a few years ago. Kenilworth is an experiment in tenant management and eventual ownership that is being watched with hopeful and cautious eyes all over the country. If this experiment succeeds, it could become standard urban policy by the end of the century.
The idea of self-help is as old as the republic itself. For the past several decades, however, social policy in general, and urban policy in particular, has been governed by the idea that massive infusions of government money along with bureaucratic regulation could solve the urban crisis. Instead the problems became appreciably worse.
Kimi Gray, a burly black woman with bright eyes and a vivacious smile, tells how things used to be. “People were satisfied with nothing. Our sons were committing crimes and our fathers that were living there are now back on our leases. Our concept was to bring our families back together, restore the pride and respect back into our communities.”
Gray is well qualified to talk about such matters because she had to overcome poverty and despair herself. If she is an inspiration to others it is only because she had to overcome many of the same obstacles that she is helping others overcome today. Gray was a welfare mother of five by the time she was 19. “By that time all the important men in my life were gone” she recalls. She was born in the Anacostia section of Washington in 1945. Her parents separated when she was seven, and her father died shortly after that.
Her mother and sisters taught Gray the importance of family and education. “Without my mother and brothers and sisters and God I would not have survived.” In 1968, she enrolled in a federal program that prepared single parents on welfare for the challenges and responsibilities of the workplace. It was this experience that reinforced Gray’s notion that education and job opportunities are the only true routes up from poverty and despair.
The Kenilworth project is involved in a major renovation plan that will displace all of the residents for the two-year period needed to complete the renovations. The residents are being relocated to other projects across the city. The repairs will put the finishing touches on the dream of home ownership that is the pride, hope, hard work, and joy of Kimi Gray and her neighbors.
Gray’s office is a small one located in a modest, two-story structure. Her phone never seems to stop ringing, and indeed, our brief conversation is interrupted more than once by calls from politicians, bureaucrats, and groups seeking advice on how to start their own tenant corporation.
The brown paneled walls are adorned with citations and letters of praise from everyone from President Reagan to the heads of foreign governments, as well as the heads of cabinet departments. Hollywood has called more than once about making a movie, but no decision has been made as yet.
None of this fazes Kimi Gray. She is a tough, no-nonsense woman whose sole concern is the improvement of individuals and communities through “hard work, self-discipline, self-confidence, and the ability to believe in yourself.” These words are uttered with total sincerity and conviction.
While other black leaders have bitterly criticized the Reagan administration for cutting back housing subsidies, Kimi Gray has challenged the traditional orthodoxy that government-imposed solutions can solve the problems that permeate ghetto life. Instead she talks of “taking charge of your own destiny”: “If you can care for yourself to the point of not being dependent on the government, then you’re ready for home ownership.”
Now 464 Washington D.C. families will become homeowners for the first time. In a formal ceremony last October 25, the corporation formally purchased the complex from the city for one dollar. The units will be sold to the tenants for as little as $10,000 with low rates of interest to be guaranteed by the federal government.
A great irony of the Kenilworth experiment is that by turning tenants into homeowners the program is validating the middle-class status of the surrounding neighborhood. For the area adjacent to the complex is a proud and stable middle-class mix of doctors, lawyers, teachers, and other young professionals who have deep roots in the local community.
Why, then, had the community become a breeding ground for crime and social deterioration? “Drugs,” says Gray. “There were open drug markets in the project, and people from other parts of the city came in from right off the highway to buy and got out just as quickly before the cops could do anything.”
She adds, “Many of the residents were unable to get legitimate jobs and sold drugs as a way to survive. The pressure to sell and use drugs was immense. It was so easy and the money so good it was impossible to say no.”
Yet, when one looks around the complex, it is evident that Kenilworth does not look like a typical housing project. Instead of the large, impersonal buildings that pass for public housing in other cities, Kenilworth consists of two-story, garden variety houses that encourage community and sociability with one’s neighbors. The complex already appears to have middle-class status and security in the first place.
A brief tour of the complex already shows the fruits of self-sufficiency. In addition to a food co-op, Kenilworth also has a construction company, a moving business, a maintenance shop, a job training and drug abuse program, a latch-key program that provides after-school care for children whose parents must work and who would otherwise remain unsupervised, and a recreation center that occupies youthful energies that might otherwise be diverted to the temptations of the street.
These services not only serve the needs of the residents; more significantly they provide job opportunities for many who have never had such opportunities. These enterprises create a sense of confidence and entrepreneurship that is indispensable to community pride and stability.
The skills acquired in running these businesses are readily transferable to other jobs and combine practical training with the discipline of daily work experience — what government training programs have always hoped to provide but have rarely been able to supply.
Gray is especially proud of the job training program “because it matches skills to needs.” She will never force someone to do something they have no interest in doing. But she will always encourage people to develop their talents to the limits, and her greatest joy lies in pointing out the importance of education particularly to those teenagers who are ambivalent about completing high school or considering college.
Gray’s uncle taught her to read, and by age five she was so proficient that the principal allowed her to bypass kindergarten and enroll in the first grade. “I made my point by going to the principal’s office and reading to him.” Since then her belief in education as a means of social mobility has been unshakable.
When she talks about a “College Here We Come” program, her mood is almost reverential. Indeed, this program is the linchpin for many of the positive changes that have taken place in the lives of Kenilworth residents.
Launched in 1974 to help local youth attend college, the program has raised considerable sums of money to defray the cost of books, travel, and, at times, tuition. But perhaps more significantly, the program provides counseling and tutoring to help the students meet the demands and expectations of college life.
“We realized the only way we could free ourselves from the deteriorating conditions in the community was to educate,” Gray says. Many of the students have come back to the community after college and are the backbone of revitalization and innovation. They sit on planning boards, design buildings, and engage in the arduous and time-consuming task of preparing others to take their places when they leave. They also act as role models for younger children who, often enough, suffer from a lack of positive role models.
The college program has been honored by President Reagan and has been the recipient of a $25,000 grant from DeWitt Wallace, publisher of Reader ‘s Digest. Gray is so serious about the maintenance of the program that she turns all the honoraria money she makes over to the college fund “as an investment in the future.”
The transportation department has also paid direct tribute to the success of the job training program by funding an experimental program to provide transportation for inner-city residents to job opportunities in the Virginia and Maryland suburbs. Many city residents find opportunities limited in the city but lack the means to go where the jobs are. This program will provide efficient and inexpensive transportation and, if successful, may well become permanent.
More than anything else, the success of the college and job training programs have fostered a change in the attitude of the residents of Kenilworth. “People have changed their whole attitude about responsibility,” says one resident. “Now they feel good about themselves. Welfare is not an adequate lifestyle. People need a hand up, not a handout. Give them a chance, and they will find their niche in society.”
The regulations that govern life in Kenilworth are stark reflections of the changes in behavior that have taken place in the past few years. Consider this: Welfare recipients now number less than 5 percent of the population. Rent collections are up by 80 percent, while vandalism is almost non-existent. The drug dealers who used to terrorize the area are gone. Parental responsibility for children’s behavior and an emphasis on the importance of education no longer evoke scorn; they are now cardinal tenets of daily existence.
The rules are strict, as they probably have to be, if the hopes and dreams of a better life are to become an enduring reality. Residents who use or sell drugs are subject to immediate eviction. Parents are made to pay for damages caused by the actions of their children; if the behavior continues, the entire family is subject to ejection. Children who are caught wandering around during school hours or who stay out past a community-imposed curfew without a good reason are held to account and reported to their parents, who are expected to reinforce agreed upon standards of conduct.
The pressure to behave is almost as great as it was to be disruptive before the turn-around. It works because the disapproval of one’s peers is a stronger deterrent to unacceptable conduct than the imposition of legal sanctions. Motivation is the key to good conduct, and Kimi Gray is nothing if not a motivator. Says Ricki Williams, a friend and resident, “Kimi motivates people. I haven’t seen anyone she’s talked to who hasn’t listened to her.”
There is a strong consensus among residents as well as outside supporters that good conduct is the key to a good neighborhood. But this is not the only sort of consensus that exists regarding the experience at Kenilworth. More importantly, a strong bipartisan consensus has emerged regarding the success and future of such initiatives. That consensus revolves around the fact that past policies to remedy the severe problems of urban life have not worked, while empowering individuals to control their own lives and be responsible for their own destiny does work.
This bipartisan consensus is new. Initially it was the Republicans who provided the main support for tenant management programs. They believed it squared with the party orthodoxy of self-help. They also believed that given the past failures of social policy in addressing urban problems, it was reasonable to see what people could do for themselves. It was a calculated risk that some thought could not possibly work given the sheer magnitude of the problems. But the risk has since paid off in terms of an improved quality of life for inner-city residents, as well as a model program that could act as a spur for other distressed areas in the country.
Now, however, both parties have witnessed self-help in action and are nearly unanimous in their praise. Democrats were initially skeptical and saw the program as a political stalking horse for Republicans seeking to convert urban voters to their party. They were also worried about the displacement of union members who performed most of the maintenance work at Kenilworth and other projects across the nation. Union members are a key Democratic constituency and are listened to very closely.
But the momentum for new approaches to urban policy was too great to be sidetracked by any other interest and with the strong bipartisan support of Jack Kemp (R., N.Y.) and Walter Fauntroy (D., D.C.), the necessary legislation cleared Congress. The broad support for the program has almost dissolved traditional ideological lines. Self-help transcends partisanship. “It goes beyond ideology” says Robert Woodson, head of the National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise, a Washington -based advocacy group devoted to urban renewal based on an ethic of self-help and personal initiative. “The social benefits of tenant ownership alone are important, but coupled with self-sufficiency for residents we are looking at a revolutionary, cost-effective strategy for assisting all poor Americans,” Woodson adds.
Legislators as ideologically diverse as Robert Garcia, a liberal Democrat from one of the poorest districts of New York City, and Richard Armey, a conservative Republican from one of the most affluent districts in Texas, both support tenant management. So do such disparate legislators as Barney Frank, Steve Bartlett, House Speaker Jim Wright, and Alan Wheat.
Kimi Gray is well aware of the bipartisan support for her endeavors and has cultivated friendly relations with members of both parties. She is so well connected with Jack Kemp, the new secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and Lauro Cavazos, the education secretary, that she is jokingly referred to by one Congressman “as an unpaid cabinet member.”
It is likely that Gray will be consulted on a regular basis on urban issues. Given her connections with key legislators and her visibility and indefatigability in pressing her cause in the media and in lectures across the nation, it would be surprising if she were not consulted. The day of our interview she had an appointment with Congressman John Porter of Chicago to talk about the future of tenant management in that city.
Gray is not worried that budget constraints probably mean the end of expensive Great Society-type initiatives on behalf of the poor. She is not impressed by the argument that money is the only answer. This does not mean that the federal government has no role to play at all. It does. It is, after all, spending money to repair Kenilworth and will provide low interest loans to those tenants who opt to buy their units.
But the difference between federal involvement now and in the past is that the government has begun helping people to help themselves. This is an important difference and one with profound implications for social policy.
Already similar programs are under way in about a dozen cities, most notably the Carr Square houses in St. Louis and Lakeview homes in Cleveland. The results so far seem tentatively encouraging. Many of these other groups took their cue from Kimi Gray, who provided early moral support and testimony from her own experience at Kenilworth.
In the end, says Kimi Gray, “it is people who make this work. Before, we had more money and more poverty.” Already she is looking toward the future. She wants her corporation to acquire the empty lots adjacent to the Kenilworth complex. Her plans call for the construction of new units. There are also plans for a senior citizens center and, eventually, a shopping mall.
Can tenant management work anywhere at any time? Gray doesn’t hesitate. “Remember, poor people have the same dreams as everyone else. A thousand times over, yes it can.”