FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Mia Taylor, [email protected], 571-269-8107

Alexandria, Va. - Tenants and Workers United (TWU) and community members have battled for over 4 years to secure safe, clean, and decent living conditions and fair treatment for over 1,300 resident families of Morgan Properties in Alexandria City. The owner of the management company, Mitchell Morgan, is a prospective minority owner of the Washington Commanders. He and his leadership team have been unresponsive to tenants’ concerns and pleas for solutions to rodent and pest infestations, nonfunctioning appliances, poor treatment, and more.

Over the past four years, TWU has worked with tenants at Brookdale, Lynnbrook, Willow Run, Stoneridge, and Bennington Crossings to a) address longstanding and widespread maintenance issues and infestations of pests and rodents; b) address sudden and drastic increases in rent and fees, which far exceed the rate of inflation; c) attempt to meet with Morgan and regional management, without preconditions, to discuss the issues and plan action for solutions, d) end the disrespectful treatment and discriminatory remarks made to tenants by office management and staff, and e) end the retaliation (charging arbitrary fees, etc.) against tenants who have practiced their First Amendment right to organize to improve the health and safety conditions of their homes at Morgan Properties.

Upon learning about Morgan being a potential minority investor, TWU and its members protested his involvement at a press conference outside the Washington Commanders training facility in May of this year. TWU sent letters and emails to Mitchell Morgan, Josh Harris, and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. TWU was contacted by NFL internal investigators. They conducted an investigation into Mitchell Morgan and TWU’s allegations against him and have submitted their findings to the NFL.

“Mitchell Morgan is complicit in unethical and discriminatory housing practices. He has failed to meet his moral and ethical obligations, and perhaps legal obligations, to maintain safe, healthy, and dignified housing for the lowest income renters in our region, making him unfit to be involved in the ownership of the Washington Commanders, a team that represents a regional fanbase that is ethically, racially, and economically diverse,” said Evelin Urrutia, Executive Director of TWU. “If the NFL values social justice and racial equity, then it must bar Mitchell Morgan from ownership until he adequately addresses the deplorable conditions of his apartments in Alexandria City and beyond.”

Mari, TWU member and tenant at Morgan Properties, said, “I think that first and foremost, [Mitchell Morgan] should be worried about the residents of Morgan Properties and the housing conditions we are living in.”

Another tenant, Susan, stated, “[Mitchell Morgan] has shown a lack of interest in the maintenance of our housing. They do not meet their responsibilities, they just demand us to pay on time. We hope he begins to show interest in our housing conditions, and if he has money to invest, well, he should invest in better management to come and actually address tenants’ needs.”

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Tenants and Workers United (TWU) is a community-based nonprofit organization that has a 35+ year history of organizing low-income communities of color across Northern Virginia to advance social justice and racial equity.