Democracy Dies in Darkness

D.C. AG sues landlord for ‘horrendous’ conditions in subsidized housing scheme

A D.C. landlord has been profiting from rental assistance programs while subjecting low-income residents to dangerous conditions, according to two lawsuits.

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The office of D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb (D), seen in 2023, filed two lawsuits against a District landlord. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post)
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A D.C. landlord has been buying up rent-controlled apartment buildings, bringing in subsidized tenants to collect higher rents and subjecting residents to dangerously poor conditions, the D.C. attorney general’s office alleges in two new lawsuits.

The suits, announced Monday by Attorney General Brian Schwalb (D), focus on two properties associated with Ali “Sam” Razjooyan, a developer who lives in Potomac. But Razjooyan has a broader footprint in the District’s low-income housing market and a track record of purchasing buildings, illegally renovating vacant apartments and then renting these units for above-market rents to people exiting homelessness or receiving housing vouchers through the program known as Section 8, according to the suits.

Razjooyan “thus preys upon some of the District’s most vulnerable residents, exposing them to horrendous housing conditions, while collecting lucrative, guaranteed rents from the District,” one of the suits alleges.

“Razjooyan’s business model involves forcing tenants to live in deplorable, unsafe, horrific conditions that are shocking to the conscience,” Schwalb said in a statement. “No District resident should have to endure such treatment.”

Razjooyan did not return multiple calls for comment.

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