Elected Officials Hold Press Conference With Enclave Tenant Association to Demand Change; Montgomery County Currently Pursuing 1,229 Citations Against the Property

From the Office of Councilmember Kristin Mink:
“On Thursday evening, Oct. 19, Montgomery County Councilmember Kristin Mink (District 5), County Executive Marc Elrich, Maryland State Delegate Lorig Charkoudian and Progressive Maryland organizers joined the newly formed Enclave Tenants Association at their first press conference, calling on the owners of The Enclave Silver Spring Apartments to make overdue improvements.

The tenants association, a group of nearly 150 residents, organized the press conference to highlight long-standing maintenance and safety issues and code violations at the White Oak property. Enclave tenant Emmanuel Walker led the gathering, opening with a call and response: “When I say ‘less,’ you say ‘pests!’”

“Don’t charge me rent and then not provide livable conditions,” Walker told the crowd, after reading aloud the Enclave website’s description of the “luxury” apartments. “I don’t need luxury — I just need security and decent conditions.”

“I and my staff have spent significant time here since I took office last December,” said Councilmember Mink. “We’ve canvassed multiple times, we’ve held and attended meetings with residents and we’ve responded on-site to follow up on complaints. We have amplified countless complaints with the Enclave’s ownership. What we’ve seen and heard is unacceptable. I’m not going away, and the residents who are organizing and demanding safe, healthy living conditions aren’t going away.”

“While we focus on producing and preserving affordable housing, we need to ensure that current tenants are treated with respect and dignity,” said County Executive Elrich. “I join the Enclave Tenants Association, Councilmember Mink, Delegate Charkoudian and Progressive Maryland to send a message to The Enclave that we demand better treatment of their residents. The Enclave has one of the worst records in the County when it comes to number of complaints and inspection failures. They must do better.”

“We’ll be with you no matter what, and we’ll keep advocating with you,” said District 20 Delegate Charkoudian. “But you shouldn’t need to contact your delegate or your Councilmember to get an elevator fixed or to meet basic health and safety conditions.”

“I just moved to The Enclave on Oct. 1, and already I’m dealing with all of these issues,” said Yvonne Igido. “I moved here to be close to my daughter and her family. When I came here, I was shocked to find out what the conditions were like. Since day one, I’ve had no heat and no hot water. The basic requirements that a landlord must meet are not happening.”

“Today, we unite as a community,” said Abu Conteh, a resident and member of the Enclave Tenant Association organizing committee. “We demand the immediate reinstatement of staff and concierge at every lobby, 24 hours a day, and security cameras in every hallway.”

“Since one and a half years, I have lived in The Enclave,” said Rahmatullah Omarkher, a leader of the large community of Afghan refugees who moved to The Enclave over the last two years. “When we speak about the problems, they are too much. And they are shared problems, among many people. Just one example: I requested that the washing machine and microwave be fixed, and for six months they were not fixed. The other problem is the pests and the mice, which everyone here knows about.”

The property, located at 11225 Oak Leaf Drive in Silver Spring, has been on Montgomery County’s list of troubled and at-risk properties for years for extensive code violations. The County is currently pursuing 1,229 citations against the property in court.

Additionally, in December 2022, police making an arrest in the murder of a convenience store clerk found the body of a pregnant woman that had been decaying in the suspect’s apartment for over a month at the Enclave.

According to the director of the Montgomery County Department of Housing and Community Affairs, code enforcement staff “spend a disproportionately large amount of time at this site relative to most other properties, regardless of size. This workload prevents inspectors from focusing their efforts at other sites, and makes maintaining scheduled inspections at other properties challenging. Currently, on average, inspectors visit this property a minimum of four days per week.”

At the end of the press conference, Walker and other members of the Tenants Association handed a letter with their demands to a representative from The Enclave’s management company.”