A tenants-rights organization has taken on a housing developer, accusing it of reducing affordable units in the District of Columbia and pushing low-income residents out.

TENAC, the D.C. Tenants Advocacy Coalition, has picked the Tenacity Group as its “target du jour” and has accused it of helping to reduce District affordable housing stock by more than 12,000 units in recent years by converting rental units into condominiums, TENAC spokesman Jim McGrath said Monday.

“Rental housing stock has declined significantly in recent years for a number of reasons, the main one being condo conversion,” he said. “The bottom line is it created an awful lot of hardship out there.”

TENAC has scheduled a forum on the loss of affordable housing in the District Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at Shiloh Baptist Church, located at 1510 Ninth St. in Northwest.

This story continues below
Advertisement

Tenacity Managing Partner Erik Bolog said Wednesday’s forum doesn’t worry him. Tenacity has finished at least 16 condo conversions in the past in the District and has several other projects under way.

Bolog accused TENAC of opposing working-class renters’ ability to get ahead by purchasing their unit when it is converted to condos.

“It’s simply, in our opinion, two points of view,” Bolog said.

Norwood Tenant’s Association Board Member Silvia Salazar said Tenacity representatives have attended meetings and pressured residents to sell. The building, which Salazar said is predominantly low-income and largely immigrant, has fallen into disrepair and residents have done little in terms of repair. It is located on N Street in Northwest.

“They said, well, if you want to get these problems fixed, go condo,” Salazar said.

Bolog denied that Tenacity uses aggressive tactics with residents.

“There is no aggressive sales force here,” Bolog said.