LAUDS CONFIRMATION OF TENANT ADVOCATE JOHANNA SHREVE

          While there seems to be little for D.C. tenants to rejoice in, during this era of landlord encroachment on tenants' rights, the depletion of affordable housing and increasing developer intrigue circumventing tenants' rights in all forms, there is a bright spot that TENAC hopes is a harbinger of better days, the confirmation of Johanna Shreve as Chief Tenant Advocate for the District of Columbia.  We laud the DC Council's approval of Ms. Shreve as Chief Tenant Advocate on May 14^th by unanimous vote.

          Indeed, the inception and practical day-to-day functioning of a Chief Tenant Advocate and the Office of Tenant Advocate (OTA), we hope, marked a new day for tenants.  The creation of such an office itself tells much about the great need for tenants to protect their rights, and that they must be protected in fact as well as in theory, enshrined in practice as well as in the statute books.

          With a mandate for 17 positions, yet operating with only six staffers, and on a shoestring budget, the first thing to be done is to treat OTA with the respect it deserves, and that means funding it and staffing it adequately.  An annual budget of just under $2 million is not serious.  That kind of money is chicken feed.  Prominent landlord lawyers earn more than that in a year.  Considering OTA's long list of mission obligations and its constituency - - two-thirds of the city's population live in rental housing, OTA needs and deserves a lot more. 

            Lastly, TENAC commends Councilmember Mary Cheh for her hearing on the nomination, which was fair and expeditious