Budget choices speak loudly about the priorities of a city.  Last week, the DC Council – after much negotiation, review, and analysis of the Mayor’s proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2013 — voted unanimously to prioritize the well-being of low-income children in the District of Columbia.  One in 3 children in the District is poor.  Prioritizing low-income kids is vital to ensuring a brighter future for the thousands of District children growing up in poverty.  The Legal Clinic thanks the Council for prioritizing kids in the Fiscal Year 2013 budget.

The Council’s FY 2013 Budget Request Act and Budget Support Act increase the city’s investment in affordable housing for low-income and homeless families, reject proposed cuts to the Office of Victim services to ensure domestic violence victims and their children can access needed services, prevent reductions in services to families who receive health care through the DC Healthcare Alliance insurance program, and fully fund important new educational initiatives.  All of these actions are worthy of praise.

But the Council did not take much needed action to protect one group of low-income District children: those whose parents have received Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (“TANF”) cash assistance for what the Mayor considers too long.  If the Council doesn’t take action in its second vote on the Budget Support Act on June 5^th, cash assistance to thousands of poor children will be cut on October 1^st.  Families rely on TANF assistance when parents are between jobs to get their children to school, buy diapers and other household necessities, get to and from job training programs and job interviews, and pay rent and utility bills.

The $5.6 million cut to TANF that will occur on October 1^st absent Council action would reduce the cash assistance to a family of three from $428/month to $257/month.  (This is about $8.50/day for the entire family, or less than $3/day per person.)  Because the cut targets families who have received TANF for 60 months or more during their lifetimes, it would affect the neediest families who receive TANF.  Studies show that parents who rely on TANF assistance for more than 60 months in their lifetimes have the highest level of barriers to work, including low literacy rates, serious physical or mental health conditions, and chronic and serious domestic violence.[1]

Let’s not pull the rug out from under parents and their kids before they’ve had a chance to take advantage of the TANF program’s newly redesigned assessments and case management services that are just coming on line in the District.

Stay tuned this week and next for more on the TANF cut in the Mayor’s proposed FY 13 budget, what it means for our clients, and how you can help ensure that the DC Council takes one more step this budget season towards ensuring a brighter future for District children.

We want to take this opportunity to welcome our newly elected Councilmember for Ward 5, Mr. Kenyan McDuffie!

Councilmember McDuffie boasts a very diverse career that clearly has embraced the ideal of justice. We’re confident he will bring all of his varied experiences to his position as a representative of not just his Ward 5 constituents, but of all members of our community. We’re hopeful that Councilmember McDuffie will add another voice in support of the needs of low- income and no-income residents in the District and that he will serve as an ally in the fight to make housing a human right in our nation’s capital.

It’s clear from Mr. McDuffie’s responses to Defeat Poverty DC’s recent candidate questionnaire that he’s got his finger on the pulse of this community’s needs.  When asked how he would ensure greater access to affordable housing for the District’s poorest residents, he raised the importance of investing in affordable housing programs like the Local Rent Supplement Program to solve homelessness.  He also responded that we must as a city prioritize “housing and resources for the homeless, and increase opportunities by not allowing homeless citizens to be punished, penalized, or marginalized because of their status.”   Music to our ears!  The Legal Clinic is optimistic that Councilmember McDuffie will use his time on the council to make these goals a reality.

As he stated in his thank you letter to supporters, “Now that the campaign is over, the real work begins. I will need your continued support and involvement.  I look forward to working with you to create the community we all deserve.”

Councilmember McDuffie can certainly count on the Legal Clinic’s involvement and support.  We look forward to working with him and his colleagues on the Council to make ours a more just and inclusive community.

Thanks to the leadership of Chairman Kwame Brown and the support of several Councilmembers, the DC Council voted unanimously yesterday to approve a budget that prioritizes homeless families by including a $4 million investment in the Local Rent Supplement Program (LRSP)!  These funds will be used to house 250 families currently staying in DC shelters and will ultimately open up shelter space so that new families that experience a housing crisis and need a safety net will not be turned away to the street.

As he introduced the budget at yesterday’s legislative session, Chairman Brown noted that he was pleased to present a budget that proves that affordable housing isn’t just a myth in the District of Columbia. He said that ours is a community that cares for our most vulnerable residents.  This was evident not only in his allocation of the $4 million for LRSP, but in his restoration of $18 million to the Housing Production Trust fund to support development of new affordable housing for low-income community members.

The Chairman’s leadership was key in finding the much needed funding for these vital programs.  It was clear that he heard the pleas of DC families and individuals who are struggling to get back on their feet, and he and his colleagues took swift action to respond to their needs.  The funding of LRSP in particular will have an enormous positive impact in easing the crises that far too many families in our community face.

The entire tone of the budget vote yesterday was very heartening, with a number of councilmembers voicing concern about the needs of the District’s most vulnerable residents throughout the proceedings.  Councilmember Michael Brown, who first requested funding for LRSP in his committee report, has repeatedly said this budget season that investment in affordable housing “is a matter of political will.”  At yesterday’s legislative session, he thanked Chairman Brown for both finding this political will and the money to fund it.  We are grateful for that tremendous show of support.

We are also grateful to our readers for getting involved in our budget campaign this year:  for reading our blog and sharing it with your networks,  for your calls and emails to city leaders, for participating in budget actions at the Wilson Building, and last but not least, for caring about the welfare of ALL DC residents.

Much remains to be done.  An amendment introduced by Councilmember Graham to push back the damaging cuts to TANF benefits slated to go into effect this coming October was withdrawn.   Funding has yet to be identified to close the $7 million gap in homeless services, but this remains the number one priority on the Council’s “wish list.”  We’re hopeful that the June revenue forecast will be more than enough to restore that money to homeless services and ensure that none of the cuts to transportation, food, outreach, and shelter beds will go through next spring.

For today however, join us in congratulating Chairman Brown and the rest of the DC Council for displaying great leadership by prioritizing the needs of DC families and investing in life saving affordable housing.  Click Here to send them a thank you note!

As the Chairman himself said yesterday, “DC still has a long way to go, but [passing the FY 2013 budget] was a good start.”  We couldn’t agree more.

You read on our blog the past few weeks about families struggling with homelessness just a stone’s throw from our nation’s halls of power.  You saw parents and children interrupt the DC Council and ask their city leaders to invest in housing so that no family has to live on the street.  The Council will vote on the FY13 budget on May 15^th. We’re down to the wire and it’s time to take action!

 Remember:

→ No families are getting into shelter until next winter… unless you act!

• 100s of kids will sleep on the street, in parks or abandoned buildings.

 → There’s a $7 million gap in homeless services funding next year… unless you act!

• Shelters will close! Half the beds will be cut for men and women next spring and more than 700 individuals will be turned out to the street;
• Food, transportation, job training, outreach and other services will be cut; AND
• No families will be placed in shelter except when it is freezing outside.

Everyone deserves safe housing, but that won’t happen without your help.  Kids like Tyanna are counting on you.   

Click Here to send a powerful message to Councilmembers.

 After sending your email, please share this link on Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, your community listservs, and anywhere else you think of. The Council needs to hear loud and clear that this is a community priority, and you can help turn up the volume!

You read our blog posts last week about the crisis faced by hundreds of homeless residents.  You heard directly from families struggling to protect their kids.  In exactly two weeks, the Council will vote on a budget.  Whether or not that budget responds to the needs of DC’s most vulnerable residents will depend in part on how many of us raise our voices to demand that it does.  It’s up to all of us to urge the council to pass a budget that protects all DC residents.  We’re in the home stretch now.

Here’s what you can do to help:

On Wednesday, May 2^nd, the Council’s committees on human services and housing will meet for their budget mark-ups.   Please tweet some of the following messages both broadly and directly to the councilmembers on these committees all day tomorrow.

Councilmember twitter handles:  @JimGrahamWard1, @TommyWells, @CMYMA, @marionbarryjr, @CMMichaelABrown, @VincentOrangeDC

Homeless Services Cut and Housing for Families:

• [insert Councilmember] End the Hunger Games: restore homeless services gap and put 250 families in housing! #dcfy13
• Looking forward to [insert Councilmember] supporting homeless kids in #dcfy13 budget
• Cuts hurt in #dcfy13. Please restore homeless services $ [insert Councilmember]
• [insert Councilmember] Don’t gamble with kids’ lives: invest in affordable housing for 250 families in #dcfy13.
• Everyone deserves a safe place to sleep. That won’t happen without your #dcfy13 vote [insert Councilmember].
• [insert Councilmember] Kids need homes. So do grown-ups. $$ for homeless services, affordable housing in #dcfy13!

TANF Cut:

• [insert Councilmember] Could you & family live on $257/mo? Pls don’t force #TANF families to try. #dcfy13
• [insert Councilmember] Pls give #TANF families a chance to benefit from program improvements before more benefits cuts. #dcfy13
• [insert Councilmember] Pls don’t punish #TANF families 4 program failures. Postpone benefits cuts in #dcfy13 budget.

But that’s not all!   Here’s what else you can do to support the needs of homeless residents and keep the pressure up:

1. Share this post and the families’ stories with your own family, friends and co-workers, and tell them we need them to raise their voices, too.
2. Sign this petition to tell city leaders that every child deserves a safe place to sleep!
3. Stay tuned to this blog for our call-in/email campaign to target councilmembers next Monday and Tuesday!

If you have any questions, or suggestions for additional ways to raise our voices, let us know via comment or by calling (202) 328-5500.  Thank you for your partnership.

The DC Council’s Committee of the Whole held its FY2013 Budget Support Act Hearing on April 30th. Executive Director Patricia Mullahy Fugere testified for the Legal Clinic, challenging the Council to pass a budget that lives up to the ideals embraced when the Council declared DC to be a “Human Rights City” just three years ago. You can read her testimony here.  The most eventful moment of the hearing was when over sixty men, women, and children (families who stay at DC General shelter) momentarily interrupted the proceedings and asked their city leaders to prioritize the welfare of homeless kids when the time comes to vote on a budget. The following press release from the Fair Budget Coalition includes details of the action:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Homeless Kids Lead Gospel Flash Mob at Budget Support Act Hearing  

Urge City Council to Ensure That Every Child Has A Safe Place to Sleep.

WASHINGTON, DC, April 30, 2012 –In the wake of Mayor Vincent Gray’s proposed budget cuts to critical housing, homelessness, and family support services, sixty homeless children and parents interrupted the Budget Support Act hearing today and handed their city representatives hand-painted houses with the message “Kids Need Homes” written on them, as a young man sang a gospel song. The kids and their parents are among 279 families reported to be currently staying at the DC General family shelter. With the houses, they also delivered a message to their councilmembers: “Every child needs a safe place to sleep. That won’t happen without your vote.”

The families took over the hearing because unprecedented numbers of children are suffering from homelessness in the nation’s capital today, and no children are being placed in shelter right now because there is no space. One mother, Tiffany McLeod, expressed her frustration with the lack of a safety net for families experiencing homelessness: “I have two young children and we need housing. I don’t want to see anybody’s kids sleeping on the street.”

Despite the astronomical increase in the demand for shelter and affordable housing, the Mayor’s proposed budget for FY13 includes a $7 million gap in homeless services funding, no new investment in affordable housing programs, and a proposed $5.6 million cut in TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families). If funding is not restored, hundreds of children will be forced to sleep in unsafe places like parks and abandoned buildings and DC will have to close half of its men and women’s shelters next spring.

From 2008-2011, family homelessness increased by 46% in the District; nationally, it only increased by 1% in that same period.   Between March of 2011 and March 2012, the number of families in DC’s hypothermia shelter and motels skyrocketed 138%. This increase correlates directly with the lack of affordable housing in the District, the second least affordable housing jurisdiction when compared to all states in the nation.

Housing ends homelessness, and it is far less expensive than shelters and motels. According to Amber W. Harding, a staff attorney at the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, “At a cost of only $4 million in 2013, DC could place 250 families in affordable housing, actually save money this year, and provide shelter to more families desperately in need. And it would be a far more humane approach to homelessness.”

Recently, Tyanna, a sixth grader who lives at DC General family shelter wrote an essay about being homeless: “Being homeless is a big challenge for me because my family and I do not have any money for us to get on the bus or to get a house. The only things we can afford are clothes and shoes. We have to get tokens from the school in order to get on the bus. When my brothers and sisters and I come home late we are not able to eat dinner. We have to eat Bowl of Noodles and other instant ramen noodles for dinner. This makes me feel sad because every time we are late we always have to eat noodles and it never fills us up.”

The families who came out to the hearing today will not rest until the DC Council passes a budget that responds to the crisis that they’re experiencing. “We want to stop the budget cuts. We’re doing everything we can,” Taujah Stroud stated, “We hope if we bring enough people down here, they’ll see that we actually do need housing.”

To continue advocating for a just and inclusive budget, on May 10^th at 10am, the Fair Budget Coalition will host “A Day in the Strife,” at the John A. Wilson building, during which community members and advocates plan to meet at the Wilson Building and give City Council members a “tour” of life on the poverty line.

###

Contact: Janelle Treibitz, Campaign Organizer, Fair Budget Coalition, (646) 734-6705, makeonecitypossible@gmail.com

by guest blogger Ms. Smith

My name is Ms. Smith, and I have lived in the District of Columbia my entire life. I am 25 years old, and am the mother of a 9 year-old son and an 8 year-old daughter. I am writing this important statement because my delicate situation will have a direct effect on my beloved children. The pain is too deep to form words, as many others and I are immersed in poverty. No one can hear our cries, nor understand our fallen tears.

For many years, I have tried to find a place to stay for my kids and myself, but it has been an uphill battle. I work nearly 7 days a week as a hair stylist to provide for us, but my income is never enough to make ends meet. With all due respect to the system, it has failed to provide a positive support for myself and many young mothers, who are caught up in a vicious cycle of life. The waiting list for an apartment is way too long; drugs, guns, and crime infest my neighborhood and the surrounding neighborhoods. I truly do not want to expose my kids to this homeless life.

My family support is crumbling every second of the day. Until September 2011, my children and I had lived with my mother, but she put us out when she closed her apartment to move in with her boyfriend. I was not able to find an apartment I could afford on my own, so I was forced to place my children with a cousin while I slept in the apartments of different friends or, most nights, in my car. With nowhere else to turn, I applied for shelter at the Family Resource Center (FRC) on September 30, 2011. Told that no families were being placed until the weather dipped below freezing, I didn’t get any help. At my case worker’s recommendation, I called the FRC and left a message every Thursday until the second week of January to tell them that my family still was in desperate need for shelter. No one from the FRC ever called me back or placed us in shelter, even though I know there were many days and nights that were freezing during that time. In late March, I called the shelter hotline. Someone from the FRC called me back, but said they wouldn’t provide us shelter because a hypothermia alert was not in effect. He did, though, say one thing that he could do: Call the Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA) and have my kids removed if I couldn’t provide them with a safe place to sleep. Throughout the evening, I received several more calls from the FRC staff person to see if I had found a place for the night, warning that CFSA “is on the way.” I was afraid that my kids would be taken from me just because I cannot afford housing in DC. I didn’t call the hotline back that night, and I won’t be calling it again. The only thing my kids need to be safe is a home.

by guest blogger Charmaine Walton

I’m actually a very private person. But I can’t keep quiet about this. I grew up in the DC foster care system. I didn’t have an easy childhood, but I was always a good student (I even won the science fair two years). After my high school graduation, I went to medical assistant school and began working. Three months after I had my daughter in 2008, I found out that I had Multiple Sclerosis. My daughter’s father decided he couldn’t deal with the stress, so he opted out of our lives. I went to work and realized that I would get sick in spurts. My relapses would come suddenly and fiercely, sometimes a numb leg or numb arms, sometimes I would go blind, sometimes I wouldn’t be able to move at all. It started to affect my ability to keep a job, and I fell behind on my rent.

I first went to Virginia Williams Family  Resource Center (FRC) in 2010 because I lost my apartment, but I was still employed. They gave me first month’s rent and security deposit, but I knew I would get sick again and that the short term assistance would not be enough to keep me from losing yet another apartment. I lost my job again because of my illness and I was evicted from my apartment shortly after that in the fall of  2011. My daughter and I house-hopped between our friends and family for almost two months, sleeping on couches and floors for as long as we could.

Finally, just before the New Year, we were placed in a hotel room on NY Avenue. I was grateful to have a bed to sleep on after so long. But now it’s been months and it feels like we’ve been forgotten. I don’t know what the rest of the shelter system is like, but when you’re in a hotel, you don’t talk to anyone, you don’t see anybody, you have no sense that anyone is working to help you. We’re just there. We’re just a number. I have not seen a caseworker since I got here.

The number one trigger of relapses for people with MS is stress, and I’ve been getting sick a lot more since I’ve been in the system. I have a microwave in the hotel, but nowhere to cook meals or store food. With my illness, it’s important that I maintain a healthy diet and that’s nearly impossible.  NY Avenue is a food desert, with only fast food chains nearby. I lie awake at night fearing for my daughter. If she’s not eating properly, how will she focus in school? I miss having my daughter watch and help me make dinner as I stir the pot in the kitchen. I wonder how long it will be before we can have those precious family moments back.

My entire unemployment check goes into feeding my daughter and paying for transportation. I take 6 buses every morning and 6 buses in the afternoon just to get my daughter to and from school. The only place for her to play is the parking lot in front of the hotel, so I keep her inside instead.  Sometimes, we do jumping jacks in the room, but she deserves so much more than that. I feel like my child is being robbed of a childhood.  Not just my child, but all children need a stable place to grow up healthy.

Here’s what I would say to anyone who doesn’t see affordable housing as a priority:  you could wake up tomorrow and this could be you. You could get cancer and lose your job, your child could get sick. This can happen to anybody. I finished school and furthered my education, I worked. I had no idea I would get sick, and “ta-da!” here I am.

It’s absurd that there are children on the street not getting ANY services. How are they eating? How are they paying for transportation? To have a family on the street is unacceptable. This is the nation’s capital. This is the powerhouse of the world, and we’re not going to provide for our children? That’s an embarrassment.

When there is a natural disaster, the government comes to the rescue. There is a disaster happening right now; how is the government not coming? DC is the home where I was born, where my daughter was born. I’ve paid my taxes every year that I’ve worked, I’ve donated money. And I can’t get the right help. I just want affordable housing.

My daughter asks me every day, “Mommy, when are we getting our own house? When am I getting my own room?” It breaks my heart that I can’t give her an answer. I’m forced to explain things to her that a child shouldn’t have to deal with. I don’t want anybody to take care of me for the rest of my life. It’s just the opposite. All I want from my government is to help me get back on my feet when I’m sick. Help me get back on my feet and save money. Help me get affordable housing. 

At last Thursday’s Council hearing on the DHS budget, Raynette Tolen shared with Councilmember Jim Graham and other members of the Council’s Human Services Committee her desperate wish to reunite with her two oldest children – boys who are presently in the foster care system and who won’t be reunified with their mom and siblings until Ms. Tolen has safe and adequate housing.  Ms. Tolen, who herself grew up in foster care and aged out of that system with little more than a “good luck” wish from the child welfare system, presently resides at the DC General family shelter.  She and the more than 280 other families with whom she lives at that shelter are in dire need of a decent, affordable place to call home.

Testimony of Raynette Tolen

My name is Raynette Tolen and I am the mother of six kids.  I became homeless at the age of 21 when I emancipated out of CFSA.  They gave me a check and I was out of foster care.  I had already had my two oldest sons and was pregnant with my daughter.  When I went to FRC they told me that I needed to get letters from everyone that I was staying with saying that I could not stay with them.  After I got those letters together for FRC I was referred to DC General were I am currently staying.

Right now I have four of my kids with me.  The other two are in foster care.  I granted temporary custody to my grandmother while I look for housing.  The Judge on this case said that I could not get my oldest two sons back until I have housing.  I want to be able to take care of all of my kids and I want my sons back.  Right now I have a job but want to go back to school for my CNA.  I had to drop out of school and go to work because I was homeless.  Permanent Supportive Housing will help me.  I am out here by myself.  I do not have any family to get help from.  My mother and father have never been a factor in my life and I have been the system all my life.  I want to be able to take care of my kids.  One of my sons has autism and I am Bipolar.  We received SSI and need PSH.  I want to be able to get the help I need for our illnesses and take care of my family.

If I get housing I will be able to go back to school and support my family.  I just want all of my kids and want to be able to take care of them.  The last thing I want to see is my two kids growing up in the system like I did and feeling like I don’t love them.  I am grateful for where I am but this life I have been living is not easy and my first goal is to get my housing.  Then I want to go back to school and support my family.