Program Director Naisha Price stands with a client at NEW’s NJII Program for seniors in southeast where four buildings house 15 seniors. NEW has the opportunity to purchase the property at a deep discount.
In the summer of 2021, NEW was presented with an extraordinary opportunity.
In 2007, NEW began renting 16 apartments in four buildings on a small campus in Southeast, DC where NEW housed families in a reunification program. Tom Knoll of Trinity Landholding Company, was NEW’s landlord but he quickly became more than that. He became a friend, donor and advocate for NEW.
Fast forward almost 15 years and Tom wants to retire and sell the property which is now worth more than $2 million. But he doesn’t want to sell it to a developer who will push out the NEW women, or to an investor seeing an opportunity. He doesn’t even want to sell it to the other homelessness providers in the city he knows and has worked with.
He wants to sell it to NEW, and for a fraction of it’s worth: $525,000.
Today those four buildings are home to 15 seniors, many of whom have spent decades on the street before coming to NEW. With this capital campaign, we will be able to buy the property and ensure these women have a safe place to live for as long as they need.
“When Tom approached me with this idea, I knew there was no way we could pass this opportunity up,” said NEW Executive Director, Wanda Steptoe. “This is good for NEW, this is good for our ladies, but this is good for the city, where deeply affordable housing is in short supply. Tom’s heart is big and I could not be more grateful.”
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