For most of my time in DC, Trinidad was one of the most notorious neighborhoods in northeast DC. At one point, the DC police had taken to setting up random roadblocks and searching all cars. Welcome to Third World cesspool of your choice da hood in DC.
As Capitol Hill gentrified to the south and then started to get expensive, the young and the bold pushed across H Street and into the no man's land between H and Florida. As that began to get civilized, the pioneers pushed across Florida into Trinidad.
The Trinidad rebound started at least ten, maybe 15 years ago. Prior to that, I could not have imagined that I would ever know anyone living there. Since that time, I've known several, including one young, single woman (white), a coworker. She loved it there and never had a problem, although I'm sure she maintained good situational awareness. (Most of the crime problem in Trinidad as elsewhere is thugs shooting thugs, usually with gangs and drugs in the mix. Stay clear of that and don't wander the streets alone, drunk, and at night, and you will be ok.) She could never have afforded to buy more than a small condo on Capitol Hill, but she was able to swing a good sized single family home with a generous yard in Trinidad. And she more than doubled her money when she sold almost ten years ago, after taking a big opportunity job to work abroad.
I'm not up there often enough to have a good sense of it, but I did the homesteading in Indian country thing over 40 years ago on Capitol Hill. Block by block, the bad'uns continue to be run out and the healthy neighborhoods continue to grow and link up. I don't know where the thugs will all end up; probably Baltimore, and that's fine with me because the Baltimore pols are still channeling their inner Marion Barry.
Note that the guy in the video is Hispanic and well spoken. That means he works for a living and probably has a family. He and his peers are no nonsense guys about taking out the trash, and they make good neighbors.
Immediately to the east, across Bladensburg Road, is the (in)famous Hechinger Mall, which is due for a complete teardown and comprehensive redevelopment into what will probably be a very upscale, midrise, high density development with ground floor retail and offices and a mix of apartments and condos above. The concept drawings look pretty nice.
The rest of the northern perimeter is enclosed by Gallaudet University, Mount Olivet Cemetery (a Catholic cemetery and very historic), and the National Arboretum. Capitol Hill is to the south. It's too close in not to gentrify, since the alternative at that price point is now the far suburbs and commutes from hell. Trinidad isn't there yet, but it is going to be a gem. The basic housing stock is standard DC red brick rowhouses, so it will probably become middle and upper middle class in character. But it's outside any existing historic district, so there is a danger that the wrecking balls and bulldozers will move in and Manhattanize the area. Our doofus of a mayor is happy to sacrifice single family homes for high density yuppie condo concentrations; she does not hesitate to sacrifice neighborhoods in the chase for tax base to fund her follies like the proposed football stadium boondoggle, which will be a mile and a half away.
If you are looking to make a nice nest egg with a canny DC real estate buy, you have missed your chance in Trinidad. It's the early movers who will cash in, and Trinidad is well beyond that point.
The first part of what happened, before the Good Samaritans arrived is completely missing in that article (or Tweet).
Your detailed, first hand post helps the reader to develop some kind of back story about the present neighborhoods.