Jim Knight, President & CEO
Stretch With Us in This Season of Gratitude and Awe

Dear Friends,

As Jubilee Housing approaches the end of another year of mission, I am struck simultaneously with deep gratitude for all that has been accomplished, and a sense of awe for what lies on the path ahead.   

First, the gratitude. Jubilee Housing was founded in 1973, on the heels of the six-day riot that ensued following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  It was begun originally as a “demonstration project” to show what a small group of committed volunteers could do in the face of persistent inequities in neighborhoods like Adams Morgan.  

Who could have imagined then what would have followed? Forty-nine years offering deeply affordable housing for more than 10,000 District residents, serving as the seedbed for the birth of numerous sister non-profits, like Jubilee Jobs, Sitar Arts Center, and Jubilee JumpStart. Countless children born and raised, off to college and career. Families reunited and lives reclaimed after periods of duress.    

Fast forward almost fifty years later, Adams Morgan and the surrounding communities have changed dramatically, becoming among the fastest growing areas in our city. And Jubilee’s focus has shifted to creating and preserving new deeply affordable housing, so that longtime residents are able to live and work in the communities they helped build.   

Here is the awe.  

Looking ahead to our 50th anniversary in 2023, Jubilee is well on the way to doubling in size and impact! Through the support of Justice Housing Partners, we raised nearly $7 million in investments that enabled Jubilee Housing to acquire three new properties in neighboring Mount Pleasant, totaling 165 homes, in October. In November, we closed on construction financing for the EucKal project. It will produce 50 new units of deeply affordable housing and a new workforce development hub for Jubilee partner, Sitar Arts Center. 

In the new year, we expect to proceed with construction at Ontario Place and King Emmanuel Baptist Church to produce another 70 deeply affordable homes with a focus on supporting men and women overcoming periods of incarceration. Together that’s 285 new homes. 285 new families. Dozens of new children and youth. Scores of adults in the prime of life. And a host of elders who are ready to live and lead in community.  

The organization will also begin renovations of four of Jubilee’s long-time properties, the Ritz, Mozart, Fuller and Marietta, upgrading kitchens and bathrooms, adding solar panels and other energy efficiency improvements, and expanding space available for after school and summer programming for students in kindergarten through sixth grade. 

The awe comes in part from how hard we must stretch as an organization to meet these new mission objectives. Just like the families who live in the Jubilee community are constantly stretching to grow and meet the needs and opportunities of their lives. Intense growth is demanding!  

The demonstration project was predicated on a new model. It required deep investment from the extended community to fund its operations, to help it build new capacities, and create new opportunities.  

As we continue this crucial path of creating new housing and new life opportunities, we cannot do it alone — we need you to stretch with us!

We invite you to join us again to help us deliver on the work that is underway — doubling the amount of deeply affordable housing in our core neighborhoods, and creating new opportunities for prosperity for more than 500 new residents.

We hope you will consider stretching with us by donating to our year-end appeal.

>> Give to help Jubilee create more justice housing.

Thank you for your partnership. The stretch is worth it! 

With Gratitude,

Jim Knight
President & CEO

Dear Friends,

During the winter holidays, we gather together with friends and family to give thanks for our blessings. As we look towards a new year, we want to first THANK YOU for believing in our work to provide Justice Housing^™.

Against growing uncertainty caused by COVID-19 and its variants, Jubilee Housing has worked tirelessly to ensure families and individuals with the fewest financial resources have access to deeply affordable homes alongside supportive services, while working towards economic mobility for themselves and their loved ones. We couldn’t do this work without your support!

In late fall, we gathered together at our first in-person event in two years, to Raise the Roof for Justice Housing. We applauded city leaders for unprecedented and innovative funding investments in affordable housing through local resources, including a new Pilot for returning citizens, and we celebrated the coming 120 units of deeply affordable housing Jubilee has under development.

Why is creating more Justice Housing so important? Quite simply, it is that communities are stronger when they are inclusive and equitable. Renowned economist Raj Chetty’s, work demonstrates that the single most predictive indicator of a young person’s future success is none other than where you live.

Living in proximity to resources and opportunity promotes healthy development. It’s like a seed that has good soil, enough sunlight, and water. Whereas living in an area lacking basic resources can choke out even the best seed. His research is also showing that societies with the highest wealth gap have the most challenges to upward mobility.

We are living through a period of wealth division like none we have seen since the turn of the last century—more than 100 years ago. The gaps in resources and outcomes are accelerating and the pandemic has made things only worse! Over 700 people became new billionaires—while at the same time—tens of millions of people are out of work. 

Justice Housing is an antidote to this division. Investing in the work that Jubilee Housing does now and the future expansion is an investment in an inclusive community that works for all people. In 2022, we will move from business planning to ground-breaking on two new properties, adding 50 new units to our footprint—the majority of which are multi-room units perfect for families.

This time of year, we are often waiting. Waiting is one of the deepest traditions of the season. So is hope! We are taught to wait patiently in the firm hope that our waiting will be answered, and that our hope will not be in vain.
For future residents—waiting eagerly to hear if Jubilee Housing has space for them—we can finally give them an answer.

So many families who’ve been cut off from prosperity will have a new chance to thrive! Families like Gianna’s, who’ve faced great challenges as survivors of domestic violence and are also navigating her disability. Jubilee Housing welcomed Gianna, partnering with her as she created a home for her family. Gianna’s greatest dream was for her kids to have an education. And through Jubilee to College, she has the support to send her oldest son to college. Her younger children are also active in Jubilee’s after-school programming and summer camps. Gianna is a resident leader, who has served on the Board of Directors, connecting new residents to resources, and speaking out on behalf of persons with disabilities.  

Gianna’s waiting was met with a space to breathe, to dream new dreams, and even to think about expanding their family!

But there are too many other families like Gianna’s, hoping for good news of their own. We’re working hard to meet their hope with opportunity, to show them they are not waiting in vain. With your support, Jubilee is on track to build another 120 deeply affordable homes over the next three years.

Join us in making new beginnings possible for future Jubilee families. Help us build more Justice Housing and give hope to families like Gianna’s—please give online at www.jubileehousing.org/appeal.  

We’ll be waiting for your good news.

With Gratitude,

Jim Knight
President & CEO

Jim Knight and Marty Mellett at the Maycroft Ribbon Cutting.

As the city begins the process of reopening and rebuilding from the pandemic, it is a time to position our priorities at the forefront. For Jubilee Housing, this means investing in our mission to provide justice housing™ for DC residents who have the most barriers to housing.

Justice housing is deeply affordable housing, with onsite and nearby programs and services, in resource rich neighborhoods. This model serves as a guidepost for creating diverse, equitable communities, where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.

We applaud the mayor’s recent budget proposal to invest $400 million in the Housing Production Trust Fund over two years – Fiscal Year 2021 and 2022. Her plan also includes funding for the Local Rent Supplement Program (LRSP) program, which is essential to providing deeply affordable units at or below 30% of AMI, or about $38,700 for a family of four.

However, there is a risk that pressure to meet large production goals can drive investments in affordable housing to higher income ranges, where more units can be produced for less money.

Applying justice housing principles to budget and policy means targeting deep affordability – 30% AMI and below – and insuring that projects in that income range compete well for financing.

Jubilee’s mission has always been focused on those with the fewest financial resources. The first pillar of the justice housing model is “deeply affordable to those with the greatest barriers.” Two thirds of our apartments are affordable at 30% and below of Area Median Income (AMI). We also have homes that are set aside for people experiencing additional obstacles, such as homelessness, or returning home from incarceration.

Second, justice housing locates deeply affordable housing in resource rich neighborhoods. Access to ample public transportation, grocery stores, high performing schools – you name it, the things that all of us need to thrive. When there is affordable housing located in neighborhoods of opportunity across all eight wards of the city, it makes DC a more inclusive, equitable place for all residents.

Justice housing, at its best, comes with onsite and nearby supportive services. For instance,  Out of School Time (OST) programs support two critical outcomes at the same time. First, they help students develop socio-emotional skills and bridge the many gaps in education.  Many children have fallen behind during the pandemic and OST programs are a way to help ensure these children get the extra help they need. Second, they enable parents to work additional hours to help offset income loss during the pandemic. 

It’s called justice housing because it delivers just access to resources for people who are often cut off from them. It’s also called justice housing for what it does for the neighborhood and city beyond — it counteracts a legacy of segregation and discrimination as it creates and sustains diversity, fosters inclusion, and demonstrates that neighborhoods can flourish with socio-, racial- and economic diversity as cornerstones.

To have justice in housing policy, there must also be an increased investment in affordable homeownership.

For decades, we have watched with joy as numerous Jubilee residents moved from affordable rental housing into homeownership. However, the housing market is now out of reach for those same households. We must combat market conditions by setting aside funding not only for deeply affordable rental units, but also to bridge the affordability gap in home ownership.

Government has done so historically through programs like the GI Bill, although not equally for people of color.

We support greater investments in the principles of justice housing, such as deeply affordable housing (both rental and homes for purchase) located in every ward of the city, alongside investments in OST programming, and housing-plus-services specifically geared towards those with the most barriers including returning citizens, persons with disabilities and those overcoming chronic homelessness. 

As we move towards recovery, we invite you to contact your local council member to advocate for the budget items that help us rebuild DC to be a more equitable city. To learn more about the budget items we support click here.

While 2020 was unimaginable in so many ways, there were many beautiful things that came out of the struggle. The residents of Jubilee Housing demonstrated remarkable resilience in the face of tremendous obstacles and our community of donors, volunteers, and neighbors showed solidarity through gifts of time and treasure. 

In the stories that follow, you’ll read a tribute to our beloved Beverly Barnes and her enduring contributions to Jubilee Housing, a statement about the impact of your support in 2020, and an interview with a local neighbor about the power of giving. We know now, more than ever, the power individuals can have in uplifting the broader community. 

Your support this year was a lifeline for staff and residents, as we navigated these turbulent waters.  Thanks to your generosity we were able to provide over $100,000 in food, rent, and direct financial support to residents in 2020.

In addition, we took steps to recognize the enduring effects of racism through the Housing is the Foundation discussions. Our pervasive and systemic inequality has a common root and a common solution – Housing. 

While we know that having a home is critical, we need more than a roof to thrive. Justice housing is a conviction that deeply affordable housing should be located in areas of opportunity and should bring with it access to resources that any of us need to thrive. 

Justice housing promotes inclusion and equity for neighborhoods and for our city.

As an organization, we are working to counteract the most intense gentrification in the U.S. Our investments help to undo the patterns of the past by giving all people, regardless of background, access to deeply affordable housing in thriving neighborhoods. Increasing our witness to what works through advocacy has shown us that our city needs more of this, more justice housing. 

With four buildings and over 120 apartments waiting, permit ready we are even more committed to finding the resources to build those new homes.

At no time has it been more important to promote equity through housing. Historically crises such as the current pandemic usually result in people with the fewest resources – especially those of color – falling further behind in pursuit of resources and opportunities. 

Now is the time to change this narrative. Join us in rebuilding with equity through justice housing!

We at Jubilee Housing want to salute our city leaders for their important work in finalizing the District’s budget as COVID-19 resulted in lost revenue of nearly $750 million. It started with Mayor Muriel Bowser maintaining her long-term commitment to affordable housing in this very challenging budget cycle, and it took another step toward equity when the D.C. Council approved more than $120 million in additional funding for the production of affordable housing.

As we seek to rebuild the District in an equitable way after the setbacks of COVID-19, few forms of support will make a bigger difference for residents with low incomes than deeply affordable homes in vital neighborhoods. Many of us know that where you live greatly affects your quality of life, from access to resources and education to life expectancy. Affordable housing is a pathway to increased equity for individuals and families, and for our city as a whole.

The pandemic has highlighted cracks in education, housing, and other crucial social systems. We are witnessing historic calls for equity as Americans from all backgrounds join the Black Lives Matter movement and other communities of color in demanding change. Jubilee’s work creating justice through housing has become increasingly more critical.

In the last two years, we were able to purchase four buildings in the Adams Morgan/Columbia Heights area that will enable us to preserve over 125 new units of deeply affordable housing. These properties will include some of the city’s only affordable three- and four-bedroom units as well as units for returning citizens. We’re hopeful that the additional funds in the D.C. budget will allow Jubilee Housing to move forward on developing these units soon.

In the meantime, we’re also focused on ensuring that Jubilee residents who are students can continue their education despite the pandemic. We all recently learned that the D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) will be operating virtually for the first term of the coming school year. This leaves many of us wondering how school will work for our children, particularly given that about 30 percent of DCPS students lack the technology (computers and internet access) to engage in virtual learning from home, according to the D.C. Policy Center.

Jubilee Housing is pleased to step into this void and offer limited, safe, in-person support to our students. You can learn more about this effort from our Director of Youth Services Audrey Walker here. To provide this service, we will need to double our programming hours and capacity. That will require your support to offer a much-needed place for students to learn, get healthy meals, and access technology.

We appreciate you standing with the Jubilee community. Read more in this newsletter and in our 2019 annual report about how your unfailing support has allowed Jubilee Housing to make continued progress on our justice housing goals. And if you haven’t done so already, join us in creating a city where everyone can thrive!