Community Profiles
Michelle Victoria, Special Education Teacher
Ross Elementary School
"It’s ironic that I spend my days telling children that a good education will help guarantee a good job. Yet I have a good job and it doesn’t allow me the ability to live in the same city where I teach, due to the lack of affordable housing for degreed professionals such as myself," says Michelle Victoria.
Ms. Victoria came to the DC Public Schools in the fall of 2003, after more than twenty years’ teaching in New York and New Jersey. She is a graduate of Mercy College and has a Master’s degree from the City University of New York. She thinks her new school is great—she loves the children, and the principal and teachers are really dedicated. The parents and community are supportive.
Ms. Victoria just sold her home in Princeton, New Jersey, and bought a condo in Bowie, Maryland. She would prefer to live in the District and avoid the long rush-hour commute, but there is no way she can afford to do so. Inclusionary zoning could help Ms. Vicotria—committed to the well being of the District’s children—find a quality, affordable home.
Pocahantas Outlaw, Resident
Capitol Hill Neighborhood
Pocahontas Outlaw, 71, and her husband, 76, are retired and living on a fixed income of her husband's social security and their combined retirement. Pocahontas lives in a row house, which has been in the family for 55 years, on 10th St. in Northeast Washington, DC, which she and her husband moved into 22 years ago and are still paying the mortgage on. New developments of condominiums have caused her taxes to nearly quadruple over the past three years. Two examples of these developments are three units, just around the corner costing $600,000-$800,000 each, and 18 units, two blocks away costing $750,000 each. The cost of the tax increases has not been so high that the Outlaws were unable to pay them, yet, but Pocahontas is afraid of what will happen in the future if the taxes continue to rise. "The new houses are beautiful. I have no problem with beautification if it's beautified without hurting other people."
As recently as four years ago Pocahontas' 40 house block consisted of nearly all African Americans and there were three elementary schools in the area. Since then there has been massive gentrification and only nine of the forty houses on her block have African Americans living in them now. The three elementary schools, Lovejoy, Bryan and Lennox, are in the process of being converted to high-end condominiums. Holliday Development Corporation has also proposed turning another structure, which was a hospital and is now a nursing home, into condominiums as well. Inclusionary zoning is one possible solution that would solve a lot of the problems Pocahontas and her husband have encountered.
Sue Huddle, Teacher
Adams Elementary School
This is my 16th year living in Washington, DC. I’ve been teaching 23 years. I teach a diverse group of children and it’s exciting to see them learn on a daily basis.
I’ve rented the same apartment for almost 11 years, and I was in my previous apartment for 5 years. I’ve always dreamed of owning a home in the District. I’ve had the experience of the apartment building that I live in being sold. When this happened, I thought I’d have to move. Looking around, I realized I couldn’t afford to buy or even to rent near my school. This was important to me because I think it’s important to live where my students are, to be a part of the community where I teach. Fortunately, I was able to stay—at least for the time being—in my current apartment.
Inclusionary zoning could help dedicated teachers like me live in the neighborhoods where they teach. And perhaps, one day, even own a home.
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