This story was supported with funds from Spotlight DC—Capital City Fund for Investigative Journalism.

When Martina found out there was an eviction case filed against her last September, she thought it was a scam.

“How can you be evicted from a place that doesn’t exist?” she says.

Belmont Crossing Partners sought to remove Martina, who asked to be identified by her first name, from a two-bedroom apartment at 4386 7th St. SE in Washington Highlands, where she lived from 2020 to 2022. That’s when she and her family were temporarily relocated with the promise that they could return after the building was demolished and a new one was built. In the eviction filing, Belmont Crossing claimed she owed almost $30,000 in unpaid rent between summer 2022 and summer 2024—a time period when Martina no

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