A family’s legal battle to reclaim what DC took without just compensation
Pamela Powell’s most cherished childhood memories were made in her late grandparents’ Washington, DC home. Pamela describes the home as a “staple in our family” and fondly remembers the countless Christmases where Gaston Sr. and Mattie Powell would gather their children, grandchildren, uncles, aunts, and cousins together to celebrate.
The home was often so packed during the holidays that Pamela was never sure where everyone fit in the family tree. In fact, she always assumed one regular Christmas guest was her cousin; later, she discovered there was no blood relation. But it didn’t matter, because when you were in the Powell home, you were as good as family. “They didn’t have much,” Pamela says, “but you would never know it because they gave you so much love and they were very accepting of anyone.”
Gaston Sr. and Mattie hailed from North Carolina and were married in 1933. They later bought the red-brick home on Florida Avenue where they raised their seven sons and four daughters. The home was a source of immense pride for the family. Mattie believed in southern hospitality and worked hard to turn the house into a welcoming home. Gaston Sr. set up his auto shop in the backyard where he would “hang out with the guys and talk trash” while he fixed people’s cars, Pamela affectionately remembers.
Pamela’s grandmother was the center of her world. Mattie passed away in 1995. “Christmas has never been the same,” Pamela says. Just five years after losing his wife, Gaston Sr. passed away as well.
Visiting the home became “just too painful” for Pamela after losing her grandparents, but she likes to look at pictures of the house every so often to remind her of the good times. Even in their physical absence, the home stood as a monument to all the joy it once held within its walls and the family legacy Mattie and Gaston Sr. built.
Today that legacy is in jeopardy, thanks to a shady government practice called home equity theft.
Navigating a complex property tax code
After her grandparents’ death, Pamela’s father, Gaston Jr., took over the estate, including the payment of the property taxes, while his younger brother, Albert, moved into the home. Albert died in 2020, around the same time that Gaston Jr.’s health began to deteriorate. Pamela and her mother Juanita tended to her father while trying to keep up with the medical bills. The COVID-19 pandemic only exacerbated the family’s stress.
Meanwhile, with Albert gone, the home was temporarily empty—and before the family could find a tenant, DC quickly classified the home as “vacant” under property tax code. That reclassification had devastating consequences: The tax calculation went from 85 cents per $100 of value to $5 per $100 of value. At the time, the home’s value was about $588,000, which should have made the annual tax bill somewhere around $5,000. But as a “vacant” property, the taxes skyrocketed to $30,000.
Gaston’s brother Rudolph did his best to keep up with the property taxes. Public records show that $44,082 of property taxes were paid for 2020 and 2021. But it wasn’t enough to cover the entire bill.
When Gaston Jr. died in 2022, his 85-year-old widow was left scrambling to figure out what was going on with the estate.
In 2023, the tax debt on the house stood at almost $42,000. To get property tax debts off the books, the government is allowed to sell debts to private companies. That’s what happened to the Powells: DC sold the tax lien on the family home to a private company called Clear Sky Holdings for a total of $84,733. The family was kept in the dark during the entire process.
As Pamela explained: “My mom says she’s never received anything in writing from the DC government stating that, ‘Hey, your house is getting ready to go under a tax lien. This is the balance.’” It wasn’t until Pamela’s sister dug around online that the family realized there had been a tax sale.
Upon hearing their home had been sold, the Powells assumed—understandably—that they no longer owned it. But that wasn’t the case. The tax code gives the property owners six months after the tax lien sale to pay off the debt. If the amount is not paid, Clear Sky Holdings would then have to file a foreclosure action within one year of the sale. The title would then transfer to Clear Sky Holdings only if they obtained a judgment of foreclosure and the owner does not live on the property.
If all this sounds confusing, that is because it is—and perhaps intentionally so. But the situation kept getting more complicated.
In 2024, DC reclassified the property as “blighted,” which meant that its property tax rate changed yet again to $10 per $100 of value. On top of that, DC charges penalties on late taxes, and entitles Clear Sky Holdings to collect 18% interest on the taxes it covered. By September 2024, the taxes on the family home ballooned from $41,000 to $182,092. As of May 2025, the outstanding debt is about $231,112.
Protecting the family legacy
Not only did the government make the situation extremely difficult to navigate, but they are robbing the Powell family of all their home’s equity. Currently, the home’s value is assessed by DC at $713,280—significantly more than the past-due taxes. The government has the right to collect what they are owed, but the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution bars them from taking any more than that. After the debt is satisfied, the surplus money must be returned to the family.
In 2023, the United States Supreme Court upheld this constitutional protection in Pacific Legal Foundation’s case, Tyler v. Hennepin County. Despite the landmark decision, DC is trying to evade the Supreme Court’s ruling and rob the Powell family of what is rightfully theirs.
With the costs growing higher by the day, the family had all but given up trying to fight back. Pamela’s daughter, who is on her way to becoming a paralegal, decided to do her own research, which is how she stumbled upon Pacific Legal Foundation and our work fighting home equity theft.
At first, Pamela was wary of continuing the fight: The family had already spent so much on legal fees. When her daughter explained that PLF represents clients free of charge, Pamela remembers thinking, “This is too good to be true—this is awesome.” She added, “It was a pleasant surprise—a welcoming surprise—that PLF does that and at no cost. I mean, words can’t describe.”
She is helping her mother fight to save some of the family’s equity in the home that meant so much to them. It’s not an easy burden. “When you have a government that’s fighting you and keeping you in the dark and doing illegal practices, you feel really pretty helpless,” Pamela says.
She knows that saving the home itself may not be possible, but winning this case, and saving the home’s equity, would mean preserving her family’s legacy.
In her own words:
It’s a way of honoring my deceased relatives. In doing this, it’s like I can say, ‘Hey, Grandma, we fought for you as much as you love this home. The government didn’t win. The government tried with their egregious acts to steal your home. But we were successful and are at least walking away with the equity that can be shared among the living heirs of the family.’
Pacific Legal Foundation has been working to end home equity theft for ten years and is committed to helping the Powell family stand up for their rights.
“The District’s actions could strip the family of their home and every dollar of equity they have in it—an outcome the Supreme Court has already deemed unconstitutional. The U.S. Constitution protects against this overreach,” said Christina Martin, senior attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation. “The Takings Clause stops the government from taking more than what is owed without just compensation. And the Excessive Fines Clause prevents punishment that far outweighs the offense. DC is violating both.”
