Weaponizing Color: Public Housing Painted with Prison Blue

Excerpt from Southwest Voice issue, “Prison Color Used as Psychological Weapon”

“This was "psychological," noted someone in the hallway. "Intentional," exclaimed another. This shade of cobalt blue is used for institutions, often associated with law and order and places with institutionalized populations. "I don't live in a prison, but they sure painted it to make me look like I live in one," said Patricia Bishop, President of Greenleaf Family Midrise Apartments. "When I do a walk-through with the newly elected (DCHA) Board, I will request a more positive color to represent Greenleaf." DCHA's color choice is intended to convey authority and control. It appears on the outside doors of the Metropolitan Police Department First District building on M Street, just across the street from Greenleaf.”

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“DCHA's lack of an effective emergency management team reflects deep-seated beliefs that it is not primarily a landlord. It has ignored its mission to preserve and expand affordable housing in the District and safeguard the health and well-being of residents. DCHA sees itself as an "institution" exempt from laws. As with the prison blue walls, they can engage in forms of psychological warfare to wear down resident populations through property neglect, unjust practices of displacement, and allowance of criminal activity, which were allegations in OAG's and HUD's reports. DCHA also regards its public assets in the form of land, housing properties, and funding as part of an exploitative schema. "It's a criminal enterprise," explained a former senior DCHA official.”