Following the fire last Wednesday at the Arthur Capper Senior Building, approximately 160 senior residents were displaced from their homes. All of the seniors are now living in either a hotel in the short-term or with family while the District and the community work to meet their immediate needs and identify long-term housing solutions.

On October 25, the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety and the Committee on Housing and Neighborhood Revitalization will hold a joint oversight roundtable on “The District’s Response to the September 19, 2018 Fire at the Arthur Capper Senior Apartments.”

When: Thursday, October 25, 2018 at 10 am

Where: Room 412, 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20004

“The seniors displaced by the fire, as well as every District resident, deserve answers on what happened. What caused the fire? Why didn’t the fire alarms and sprinklers go off? What could the District, the building management, and the building owners have done differently to ensure everyone was properly accounted for? What should our emergency response protocol have entailed?” said Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen, Chair of the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety. The Arthur Capper Senior Building is located in Ward 6. “Since the fire, I’ve regularly met with the residents who were displaced.  It was a hard day and it is a miracle everyone survived. It’s clear to me we need to ask some hard questions about what happened that day and in the following week.”

The following District agencies will be asked to testify: the Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, the Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department, the District of Columbia Housing Authority, the Department of Human Services, and the Office on Aging.