The Department of Human Services is planning to publish regulations interpreting the Homeless Service Reform Act statute this spring. WLCH wants the community to know that there is an opportunity to comment on how the Homeless Service Reform Act (HSRA) is implemented.
Attached is the HSRA itself, and minutes of workgroup meetings where providers, consumers, and advocates discuss the law and how DHS should implement it.
Homeless Services Reform Act
The Gray Administration has proposed significant changes to the HSRA as part of the FY 2014 Budget Support Act (BSA). Including these changes as a part of the BSA means that they will not benefit from the full public process that should accompany such major legislation. Advocates have urged the Mayor to pull the changes and provide the public an opportunity to participate in an open and deliberative process to explore what the true consequences of such proposals might be.
The DC Council removed the HSRA Amendments from the Budget Support Act. Councilmember Jim Graham, chair of the Human Services Committee, introduces the provisions as independent legislation, in order to elicit community input. At the public hearing on June 3, 2013, more than 90 witnesses were signed up to testify, most of whom - including Legal Clinic attorneys Marta Beresin and Amber W. Harding - expressed concern about the changes that Mayor Gray and the Department of Human Services seek to make to the laws governing DC's programs for residents who are homeless.
