This is a petition to demand that the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provide Sec 8 Housing Choice Vouchers to the current residents of Amani Place apartments and allow its contract with RAHF IV Edgewood Court LLC to provide subsidized housing at 1572 Hardee St NE to expire in 2027.

WHEREAS the residents of the Edgewood neighborhood have a right to the quiet enjoyment of their homes and the right to expect that the public spaces outside their homes be free of crime, violence, random gunfire, and lawlessness.

WHEREAS Edgewood Court Apartments (a/k/a Amani Place), the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Project-Based, Section 8 housing development built in 1950, has brought 75 years of crime, violence, homicide, gunfire, and lawlessness to the Edgewood neighborhood.

WHEREAS there is a substantial body of evidence establishing that families that receive tenant-based Housing Vouchers, which allow recipients of federal housing assistance to rent privately owned housing of their choice, have safer, better living conditions and superior life outcomes than recipients who receive Project-Based housing assistance that is restricted to a designated housing development.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, we, the undersigned residents of the Edgewood neighborhood, demand that:

1. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) redirect federal housing assistance dollars currently funding the Project-Based Amani Place apartments to tenant-based Housing Vouchers for all families currently receiving a housing subsidy at Amani Place;
2. HUD allow its contract with the owner of Amani Place, RAHF IV Edgewood Court LLC, whose business address is 551 Fifth Avenue, 23rd Floor, New York, NY, 10176, to provide subsidized housing at Amani Place, be allowed to expire in 2027.

Amani Place Apartments, July 2024