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  • Coronavirus is Devastating the Homeless Community: DC Must Pivot Quickly to Save Lives

    Coronavirus is Devastating the Homeless Community: DC Must Pivot Quickly to Save Lives

    For decades, the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless has worked to break down the barriers that widespread poverty has created.  Since our inception, we have worked to affirm housing as a fundamental right—not a privilege.  Perhaps no moment more critically highlights the crucial importance of and need for housing and safe spaces than the current public health emergency. COVID-19 has ravaged the most vulnerable communities across this nation.  It has directed a spotlight onto the many injustices and inequities faced by those existing in spaces that society has cast aside, exacerbating the real and deadly effects of poverty and white supremacy.  It has pushed to the forefront conversations around health and economic disparities, income inequality, housing insecurity, and the inequitable allocation of resources.

    While the disastrous effects of this pandemic are being seen throughout the country, people experiencing homelessness and in congregate settings are among those most heavily impacted.  With a lack of access to widespread testing or safe spaces to socially distance, these communities are seeing a massive spread of infection. Simply, streets and congregate settings are not appropriate environments to contain or control the spread of this virus.

    Despite this widely accepted fact, there are still far too many DC residents on the street and in crowded congregate shelters.  Out of approximately 4,000 single adults currently experiencing homelessness in DC, less than three percent have been relocated to private spaces where social distancing can actually occur.  Tragically, nine homeless DC residents have died from COVID-19 and 152 have had confirmed positive results as of Sunday, April 26th.  During a five-day period last week, the spike in cases among the unhoused community was 2.5 times higher than the increase among DC’s general population. Without access to universal testing, the numbers of those affected are undoubtedly higher than the reported data reflects.

    We know that the containment of this virus is a global undertaking.  Community members, nonprofit organizations, and local government officials have been working hard to figure out ways to protect the community with limited federal funding and constantly evolving public health guidance.  However, the District is certainly not alone in the challenges it faces to protect its homeless population.  When confronted with startling data, other jurisdictions shifted gears in order to respond with urgency and creativity in ensuring that shelter and street populations are widely tested and moved to non-congregate settings.  Many other jurisdictions have already placed thousands of homeless individuals in hotels.  Meanwhile, DC’s current hotel occupancy rate is less than ten percent, leaving nearly 30,000 rooms empty, in addition to thousands of vacant dormitory and housing units throughout DC.

    Unfortunately, DC’s current initiatives are not enough to protect DC’s homeless community. The time has come to shift the DC government’s approach.

    The Legal Clinic recommends that the DC government:

    • Immediately offer a COVID-19 test to every person who lives on the street or in a congregate setting.
    • Immediately offer a placement to every person who lives on the street or in a congregate setting into a private and non-congregate setting, such as a hotel room, a private dormitory unit, or a vacant housing unit. Develop a system to screen and place people who become homeless during this time into private settings. In these non-congregate settings, provide food, staffing, other basic needs, and medical assistance, as appropriate. Ensure that those residents are checked on regularly.
    • Retain non-congregate placements until COVID-19 is no longer a pandemic or epidemic and has been nationally contained by widespread access to a vaccine. Simultaneously work to quickly place people into safe, affordable housing to limit the number of individuals who will eventually return to congregate settings.

    Last Friday, the Legal Clinic sent a letter to Mayor Bowser detailing the aforementioned concerns and recommendations for protecting the lives of community members experiencing homelessness and in congregate settings. People experiencing homelessness in DC are more likely to be elderly, Black, and suffer health conditions that place them at high risk of death or serious complications from COVID-19.  DC must act immediately to protect the lives of its vulnerable communities. DC must also further its expressed commitment to racial justice by creating and maintaining housing that is deeply affordable for those who need it to survive here, now and post-pandemic.

    Update: please join us in asking the Mayor to pivot her approach by signing this petition!

  • What’s Going on with Housing and Homelessness in DC During the Public Health Emergency?

    May 1 update: we need your help. Please sign this petition asking the Mayor to do more to halt the spread of COVID-19 in the homeless community.

    April 27 update: please see our letter to the Mayor and statement here on what DC needs to do today to protect the health and well-being of the DC homeless community.

    This post was originally published on April 2. It has since been updated to reflect what was passed by DC Council upon its April 7 vote on supplemental emergency legislation on COVID-19 public health emergency, as well as additional information. 

    While we at the Legal Clinic have always asserted that housing is health care, the current public health emergency makes our work to ensure that everyone has safe, healthy housing even more urgent. Stable housing is necessary both to keep individuals healthy and to keep our entire community healthy and functioning. A report  recently concluded that “homeless individuals infected by COVID-19 would be twice as likely to be hospitalized, two to four times as likely to require critical care, and two to three times as likely to die than the general population.”

    Every day we learn new things about the virus and the efforts being made by the community and the DC government to keep people safe. Organizers, communities, and neighbors have rapidly set up mutual aid networks to best serve the immediate needs of community members throughout DC. DC agencies, non-profits, and service providers have made drastic adjustments to their service models in order to continue providing vital support, as circumstances shift daily. We continue to monitor, provide input, compile resources, and advocate for what our clients tell us they need to be safe. We thought it was important to share what we know, with the understanding that we will need to regularly update this post to reflect changes.

    Here is a listing of the covered topics:

    • Homelessness
      • Street homelessness and encampments
      • Emergency shelters (families and singles)
      • Rapid Re-Housing
    • Housing
      • DC Housing Authority (DCHA)
      • Housing Choice Voucher Program
      • Public Housing
      • Evictions and Utilities
    • Emergency Legislation

    Homelessness

    Street Homelessness and Encampments

    The Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services (DMHHS) has called off encampment clearings, other than trash pick-up – a decision that predates and is consistent with the new CDC guidance. Outreach workers at organizations like Pathways to Housing, Miriam’s Kitchen, Community Connections continue to bring supplies to people on the street, including hand sanitizer when they can get it. Most dining and day programs have closed, but some providers and churches are providing meals for pick-up to the community and outreach workers are notifying people in encampments about where to pick up food. Mutual aid workers have also been bringing supplies to people living on the street, and checking in on their needs. People who work as well as those who rely on panhandling to meet basic needs have likely lost most or all of their income.

    The CDC guidance on unsheltered homeless persons, in addition to recommending that encampment clearings stop, recommends 24 hour access to portable bathrooms and handwashing stations for any encampment with more than 10 people present.

    • We do not know how many or whether DC has obtained bathrooms for encampments yet. We recommend that they explore using portable bathrooms or providing access to certain public restrooms in order to comply with this provision of the guidance.

    Update 4/16/20: There are now 9 portable bathrooms around the city.

    • While DC has obtained 17 handwashing stations, we are reviewing their locations now to see if there are enough for all the food stations and all the encampments of more than 10 persons. We may need more at larger encampments, like the ones in NoMa.

    Update 4/16/20: There are now 32 handwashing stations around the city.

    • We are checking on whether federal authorities, like the U.S. Park Service, are following the CDC guidance, or are continuing to clear encampments in federal parks in DC.

    Emergency Shelters

    If you have questions about DHS services and programs during this time, you can send an email to dhs.covid19@dc.gov.

    The DC Department of Human Services (DHS) has modified some of its operations. DHS has informally committed to stopping shelter terminations during the public health emergency, other than for the threat or act of violence. We support this decision and recommend that it be formalized and shared more broadly in the community, and that the policy be in effect for the entire duration of the public health emergency. We have recently learned, though, that DHS may be moving forward with mandatory transfers (where the family does not want to move) from family shelter to a prevention program for families who have been absent from shelter for a certain period of time. We will update this blog when we have more information, but our position is that mandatory transfers out of shelter are terminations, and should be covered under the moratorium. (Any issue with unused rooms can probably be easily explained with some communication with the family about the reason for the absence, and in most cases the family is likely to either return or voluntarily vacate.)

    Update 4/16/20: We sent this Letter to DHS about family shelter transfers 4-7-20 to DHS with our concerns about mandatory transfers, along with Bread for the City, Children’s Law Center, Legal Aid Society, DC KinCare Alliance, DC Fiscal Policy Institute and Fair Budget Coalition. Since then we have had a call with DHS personnel and continue to be engaged in conversations about how best to maximize the use of shelter space while complying with the law and ensuring the safety of individual families. We will provide another update soon.

    Family Shelters

    • The centralized intake center for homeless families, Virginia Williams Family Resource Center (Virginia Williams), is closed to the public. Instead, families needing shelter must call the Shelter Hotline at (202) 399-7093. They will then be routed to an on-call intake worker to do an eligibility assessment.
    • In the emergency legislation passed on March 17, DHS sought and obtained authority to extend the agency’s time to find families ineligible for shelter after placement via an Interim Eligibility process. The agency’s stated intent was to allow them to place families immediately during the crisis, without doing extensive verification of documents for eligibility.
    • There are some kinks in the new system, which we are trying to work out. We have had calls from multiple families denied shelter during the public health emergency. (Remember that we can no longer do outreach at Virginia Williams, so we are probably hearing from a small fraction of families we would normally interact with.):
      • We are hearing that hotline workers are still saying “we don’t place families” despite DHS providing specific guidance that they should not say that.
      • We have had clients with technical issues with the calls, including dropped calls, no return phone calls, or no answer from the daytime number provided by hotline staff.
    • While some reduction in paperwork requirements may be occurring, we are hearing that families are being turned away when they only have their word to verify eligibility– when they are unable to provide documentation to resolve a factual dispute or challenge a finding of ineligibility. We have asked DHS to allow families to self-certify eligibility factors and be placed in Interim Eligibility instead of turning families away. As of this posting, DHS has not agreed to this, even though they are doing so in the other public benefit programs that they run. (For example, families are allowed to self-certify income to receive food or cash benefits, but families are not allowed to self-certify their homelessness or residency in order to be placed in emergency shelter. Same agency, even likely the same families, but a different policy.) This policy is particularly troubling considering how difficult it will be for families to fight these cases when they can’t access proof. They will either have to put themselves and others at risk by breaking social distancing or they will need documents from businesses and government offices that are closed. Our recommendation is that DHS be required to place and maintain all applicants who self-certify eligibility in Interim Eligibility during the public health emergency.
    • Once in shelter, DHS is working to ensure that families have adequate access to food and the internet. Groups like Homeless Children’s Playtime Project have shifted their models to continue providing critical support to families through play kits and donations.
    • For families in one of the new Short Term Family Housing shelters who are symptomatic or waiting for a test result, DHS will be placing them in a different shelter or a quarantine facility if they are in one of the new shelter units with a shared bathroom. (Approximately 80-90% of the new Short Term Family Housing rooms have a shared bathroom.)

    Shelters for Individuals

    • All shelters are now open 24 hours a day. Residents are being encouraged to stay in the same shelter every day, and sleep in the same bed.
    • All shelters have instituted regular deep cleaning and should have hand sanitizer available.
    • Shelters are attempting to practice social distancing. DHS has stated that residents are being asked to sleep head to foot, and beds are being placed three feet apart. Food is being provided at the shelters as “grab and go.”
    • All residents at congregate shelters are being screened at entry for symptoms of COVID-19. If someone presents at the shelter with symptoms, or with a letter from a healthcare provider stating that they need to quarantine, they are being relocated to a facility that meets their testing, healthcare and isolation needs.

    It is, and will continue to be, incredibly challenging to control the transmission of COVID-19 in large congregate shelters. It is a daunting task. The DC government has two critical goals: 1) slowing the transmission and 2) preventing high risk individuals from contracting COVID-19. In order to accomplish these goals, there has to be enough space available to properly distance people from each other. Congregate shelters have hundreds of people in a relatively small space, often in dorm- or barracks-style sleeping quarters. In two days, the number of reported cases in shelter jumped from 5 to 12. It is inevitable that more shelter residents will contract the virus, and it will spread very quickly.

    Update 4/16/20: 77 people experiencing homelessness now have tested positive, and 4 individuals have passed away after contracting COVID-19. Daily numbers can be found here.

    The protocol right now is that a person who has tested positive for COVID-19 is moved to quarantine or a hospital, if necessary, and that anyone who has had “direct exposure” to that individual will be tested and quarantined. We are unsure how “direct exposure” is being defined or implemented in the context of a congregate living space, as it could mean, for example, people using the communal restroom or shower at the same time or shortly after, or people who sat with them at a dining table prior to distancing rules being put in place. It is difficult to determine all of the interactions that may have occurred in settings where hundreds of people reside in the same location.

    Update 4/16/20: A Mayoral Order issued yesterday clarified that anyone who shared any floor, room, restroom facilities or other space with an individual who has tested positive in a congregate facility will be screened for COVID-19, including being prioritized for testing. When individuals are tested, they are supposed to be placed in quarantine while they await results. We will be checking in with DHS to see if they have capacity in quarantine to place all the individuals affected by this new protocol, because we would expect numbers to significantly increase. For example, if there is a positive case in a shelter like New York Ave, all 360 men who stay on the first floor should be tested and moved to quarantine.

    Accordingly, it is vital that as many people as possible who live in congregate settings –  prioritizing people who are categorized as high risk – be immediately offered placements in safe, non-congregate vacant housing units, dorm rooms, or hotel rooms. We understand from DHS that they have already begun screening medically vulnerable residents and moving them into hotels. We also recommend that all individuals in congregate shelters be tested for COVID-19 and be provided space to isolate upon awaiting the results. We are already seeing other jurisdictions, like New Orleans and Connecticut, take some of these steps, and we must do so in DC before it is too late.

    Update 4/16/20: While DC has begun to place medically vulnerable people out of congregate shelters and into hotels, the numbers of people in shelter are still very, very high and the numbers of homeless people contracting COVID-19 are growing rapidly. Just yesterday, in San Francisco, the Mayor was ordered by legislators to secure 7000 hotel rooms for people experiencing homelessness after  an outbreak in a shelter: “Several members of the Board of Supervisors said the city had failed to heed warnings that ‘congregate’ shelters such as MSC-South were fertile ground for the spread of the virus. ‘I am sorry,’ said Supervisor Dean Preston, addressing shelter residents directly, ‘that after weeks of warnings, only the confirmed outbreak in your shelters spurred action from all of us.’”

    Rapid Re-housing

    We have numerous clients who were in the process of being exited from rapid re-housing due to reaching the time limit when the public health emergency hit. We know many more will come to the end of their time during the emergency, and many more will reach that time limit shortly thereafter, despite many of them facing serious setbacks to their employment and education goals as a result of the crisis. We had asked DHS to provide a blanket four month extension to everyone in rapid re-housing.

    We just learned that DHS has withdrawn all notices of exits that were issued in the month of March, is pausing on exiting anyone who was in the process of being exited prior to the crisis hitting, and will not issue terminations in April. We have reached out for some clarity on whether the new policy is to stop exits for the duration of the crisis or just for one month at a time.

    We recommend a moratorium on rapid re-housing terminations for the duration of the public health emergency. We are also asking for the development of a policy that provides a blanket extension for all families in the program, recognizing how economic setbacks will significantly impact all families in achieving their goals.

    Housing

    DC Housing Authority (DCHA)

    • The Agency is operating on remote status until April 27, 2020 (subject to change, pending DC government public health instructions).
    • The building lobby is still open to the public in order to provide access to the dropbox, if residents still desire to directly drop off documents.
    • Interim re-certifications and rent recalculations are still being processed, though residents will not be penalized for failure to submit during this period of time (while agency is on remote status- through 4/24/20).
    • Reasonable accommodations will continue to be made, if vital to health and safety.
    • No recommendations for termination will be made during this period of time.
    • The Office of Fair Hearings has currently suspended all hearings through April 27, 2020, and will extend beyond that date, if need be.
    • Requests for Fair Hearings are still being processed.
    • Residents can still contact DCHA through its main number (202-535-1000), and calls will be routed to the appropriate departments/staff.  Residents can expect calls to be returned.
    • DCHA’s COVID-19 Response Page: DCHA Updates and Resources for COVID-19 RESPONSE – DCHA
    • For general inquiries: covid19@dchousing.org

    Housing Choice Voucher Program

    • Vouchers will be extended, and this period of the DC public health emergency (currently until 4/27/20) will not be counted.
    • Initial inspections of vacant/unoccupied units and emergency inspections are still happening, so lease-ups are still occurring, where possible.
    • Concerns regarding interim re-calculation of rent (loss of income)/rent review: hcvpcovid19interim@dchousing.org

    Public Housing

    • Over 25,000 pieces of mail have been sent out to alert residents to the public health emergency and CDC’s recommendations.  Posters and signs have been placed around buildings and common areas. Information directed to senior buildings has been directly delivered to each unit.
    • Common areas have been closed for public health reasons, except for those that contain vending machines.  Deep cleaning of open common areas has been occurring 3-4x each day.
    • Senior buildings-Weekend cleaning is also occurring and meal delivery is continuing.
    • Emergency work orders are being completed.  Non-emergency work orders are being logged during this period.
    • Concerns regarding interim re-calculation of rent (loss of income)/rent review: phcovid19interim@dchousing.org

    As things are constantly changing, DCHA has committed to continue to update residents and advocates on its operational policies and procedures.  Specifically, we are awaiting an update on whether all Fair Hearings will be suspended past the initial date of April 6th and extended to the date that DCHA resumes regular operational status (currently April 27, 2020).  DCHA has indicated that an extension will most likely occur, as it recognizes the limitations of attempting to conduct proceedings via telephone or internet. However, the agency is still exploring the logistics. DCHA has expressed that its intention is not to unfairly impact or penalize any of its residents during this public health emergency.  We certainly intend to hold the agency to that commitment.

    **Update: DCHA’s Office of Fair Hearings has extended the April 6th date and will continue to suspend hearings through April 27th , and beyond, if need be.

    Evictions and Utilities

    The DC Council passed emergency legislation on Tuesday, March 17, 2020, that, among other things prohibited evictions, late fees or utility shut-offs during the public health emergency. DC Superior Court has issued an order postponing all evictions and non-urgent cases until, at least, May 15th.  Landlords will also be required to give a new 21 day notice.

    While these are critical steps, there is more to be done to ensure that DC residents don’t lose their housing or utilities as soon as the public health emergency is lifted. We recommend that the DC Council institute a freeze on rent increases, postpone eviction filings, and significantly increase funds for the Emergency Rental Assistance Program. We will also need to figure out additional ways to support tenants and prevent homelessness in the coming months, including a potential increase to utility assistance and/or other forms of relief.

    Updates from the April 7 Supplemental Emergency Legislation:

    • Expands utility shut-off benefits by including cable and telecommunications prohibitions (providers must continue access to basic level services) during the public health emergency and 15 days thereafter
    • Includes a provision for no rent increases during the public health emergency and 30 days thereafter.
    • Tolls tenant/tenant association deadlines for the duration of the public health emergency and 30 days thereafter
    • Tolls any notice to vacate that a tenant provided prior to the public health emergency so that the tenant has the same amount of time remaining as when the public health emergency went into effect
    • Requires mortgage servicers to create a mortgage deferment program granting 90 days deferment period (at minimum), waiving any fees accrued during the public health emergency, and not reporting any negative info to credit bureaus.
      • Any borrower granted a deferral has to reduce rent for the tenant in a proportional way to the reduction of the borrower’s deferment during the deferment period (but, tenant may be required to repay the amount of rent that was reduced within 18 months or the end of the lease—whichever comes first)
    • Expands the section that tolls the time to request an appeal of administrative hearings for public benefits so that it includes tolling the time to appeal adverse decisions within homeless services

    [See the April 7 Supplemental Emergency Legislation Final Draft and Amendment Sheet]

    Emergency Legislation and Our Recommendations

    The DC Council will be considering a second round of emergency legislation next Tuesday, April 7, on the public health emergency. We, along with many partners and allies, sent this letter this morning advocating for key protections for low-income DC residents.

    The Legal Clinic’s primary focus is on advocating for the following changes or additions to the legislation:

    1. **Ensure that homeless services are included in the section that tolls the time to appeal for public benefits cases. (It would be ironic if the only benefits not protected during a city-wide “shelter in place” order were… shelter.) We have shared suggested language with the Council.
    2. Ensure that all high risk residents experiencing homelessness have access to safe housing, hotel rooms, or other private settings to reduce their risk of contracting COVID-1
    3. Require that DC follow CDC guidance to ensure the health and safety of residents of homeless encampments.
    4. Mandate that emergency shelter applicants can self-certify eligibility factors until the public health emergency has passed.
    5. Require a moratorium on terminations in rapid re-housing and emergency shelters throughout the emergency. This moratorium should include any adverse action, other than emergency actions, that results in the loss of shelter or housing, including: 1) program exits; 2) finding of ineligibility after a person has already been placed; and 3) mandatory “transfers” that result in a loss of housing or shelter.
    6. ** Prohibit any rent increases during the public health emergency.
    7. Prohibit eviction filings during the public health emergency.
    8. Expand and increase funding for the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) to protect residents from homelessness and further displacement after the public health emergency ends.

    **= recommendations that were included in the April 7 Supplemental Emergency Legislation

    Advocacy and You

    While the newest legislation establishes some necessary provisions, the Council has acknowledged that it still doesn’t do enough to address the needs of all DC residents during this public health emergency.  We expect that a third round of legislation will be introduced at some point.

    If you want to add your voice to this advocacy, you might…

    • Send a message to Mayor Bowser (mayor@dc.gov), your Councilmember and to Chairman Mendelson (pmendelson@dccouncil.us) supporting these requests.
    • Check out the demands of the DC Tenants Union and sign this petition.
    • Support relief for undocumented workers here.
    • Fill out and share this survey created by Mutual Aid organizers, aiming to ensure that the demands of impacted DC residents are uplifted and addressed.

  • Ways To Help & Ways to Get Help During COVID-19

    Ways To Help & Ways to Get Help During COVID-19

    During this public health emergency, our staff is teleworking in order to practice social distancing and help slow the spread of COVID-19. We remain available to our community via phone.

    If you or someone you know has a legal issue with which we might be able to assist we ask that you call our main line: 202-328-5500.

    Our Legal Clinic model puts us at the crossroads of two groups: People seeking to get help and people seeking to help. These groups are never stagnant, a reality that has been expressly highlighted during this health emergency. This pandemic has underscored our interconnectedness, and we’ve been inspired to see the many ways in which people show up for one another. The community has mobilized to put in place resources to help meet the host of needs that have emerged as a result of this virus and the valiant efforts to contain it.

    While monitoring our legal cases and working to protect the rights, health, and safety of our clients, we are also doing our best to stay on top of the many resources and opportunities being created by communities across DC. We’ve compiled resources on both “how to get help” and “how to help.” You can find it here. Various organizations have gathered information to make navigating these new waters as smooth as possible, and we’ve included links to some of those resources as well. Please note that this is a compilation – we have not conducted in-depth research on each resource, nor are we necessarily partnered or affiliated with them. We will do our best to keep the document up-to-date, but please be patient with us and use it as a starting point, as things are moving very quickly.

    Below is some quick information about how to get help – check out the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless – COVID-19 Resource Guide for our full compilation.

    1. Mutual aid resources by ward – Get help with groceries, scheduling appointments, translations, cleaning supplies, toiletries, etc.
    • Ward 1: 202-681-9183 (Mt. Pleasant: 202-462-8692)
    • Ward 2: 202-688-5812; w2mutualaid@gmail.com
    • Ward 3: 202-556-1315; ward3.mutualaid@gmail.com
    • Ward 4: 202-681-3098 (Councilmember Todd’s office:  202-724-8052)
    • Ward 5: 202-643-7030; ward5.mutualaid@gmail.com
    • Ward 6: 202-683-9962; ward6mutualaid@gmail.com
    • Ward 7: 202-630-0336 (Marshall Heights: Families: 202-688-5947; Seniors: 202-534-4880)
    • Ward 8: 202-630-0336
    1. Food – DC Food Project has a running list of food programs. DC government meal sites has lists for students and seniors. People’s School DC has a map of free meals. Interagency Council on Homelessness has a list of meal and day programs. Mutual aid numbers above have food resources.
    1. Shelter – Call the DC government shelter hotline: 202-399-7093. If denied, call the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless: 202-328-5500.
    1. Internet access – Comcast is offering free internet for 60 days. Call 1-855-846-8376 to sign up. Spectrum is also offering free internet for 60 days to new customers with students in the household (K-12 and college). Call 1-844-488-8398 to sign up.
    2. Mental and emotional support – The Department of Behavioral Health Access HelpLine is still available 24/7: 1-888-793-4357. There are several AA meetings and resources available online. Join a group here. Healers for Liberation Network DC is providing free mental and emotional support until they are at capacity. Fill out this form to be matched based on your need.
    1. K-12 School: DC schools are closed until at least April 27. Updates and materials on the DCPS website. Call the hotline with any questions (7am-5:30pm): 202-442-5885.
    2. Other listings of resources

  • COVID-19 Updates from the Legal Clinic

    COVID-19 Updates from the Legal Clinic

    In response to increasing recommendations for everyone to engage in “social distancing” to slow the spread of COVID-19, for the first time in our thirty-three years, the Legal Clinic will suspend our community-based intake program and transition temporarily to a phone intake protocol beginning this Friday, March 13.
    We have not made this decision lightly; our entire model hinges on meeting people where they are and building trust and rapport with clients in person. It is vital to remain committed to serving our community during this time, and we intend to continue providing support to clients and volunteers without requiring them to spend time in busy public spaces in order to connect with one another.

    Our Legal Assistance Project staff is working diligently to ensure a smooth transition to the phone intake model for the time being, and we are grateful for the continued dedication of our volunteer community and the patience of our clients during this period of uncertainty.

    Operating Status Update: Beginning Tuesday, March 17, Legal Clinic staff will telework, and our office will be closed. This means we will not be holding in-person appointments or meetings.

    If you are seeking legal help from the Legal Clinic:

    • Please call our main line at 202-328-5500. If your legal issue is one that our staff and volunteers can help with, we will connect you via phone with a volunteer lawyer to get more information about your case.

    If you are a volunteer:

    • If you are not currently signed up for intake, but wish to learn more and get on the phone intake schedule, please contact Kelsey Vaughan at kelsey.vaughan@legalclinic.org.

    If you want to learn more:

    On Wednesday, March 11, Mayor Bowser declared a state of emergency and a public  health emergency. We are monitoring and keeping abreast of measures that local officials are taking to protect public health during this rapidly evolving situation, paying particular attention to those efforts focused on our neighbors experiencing homelessness and using the shelter system or residing in encampments. Here are some resources we are consulting, and encourage our community to read:

    COVID-19/Coronavirus Resource Guide

    The following document contains resources available to the community during this time of crisis. We’ve compiled this information for ease of access, but please note that the list is extensive and the Legal Clinic has not fully reviewed all resources. The guide is being updated frequently, and so is subject to change – check the date and timestamp on the document for the latest version.

  • Our neighbors were displaced in the middle of winter. DC can and must do better.

    On January 16th, the District government forced more than 30 of our most vulnerable neighbors out of their homes to create a “pedestrian passageway” during the coldest month of the year, despite the fact that winter weather was forecast for the following days.  In fact, nearly every day since this mass eviction from the K Street NE underpass in NoMa, there has been a Hypothermia Alert called by the same government that carried out the eviction.  This cruel and unnecessary displacement occurred in an underpass on K Street, NE, which as of early January had 40 tents housing people experiencing homelessness.  This area was one of only three relatively dry, safe refuges in the rapidly gentrifying NoMa neighborhood available to people who cannot go into shelter and have nowhere else to live.  The actions of the District forced many people to move their tents to the already over-crowded underpasses on L and M Streets, NE.  Other K Street residents, however, simply disappeared when the government arrived last Thursday, possibly to somewhere much more dangerous, and possibly without their tents and belongings, which may have been destroyed in this quest to rid K Street of any evidence of homelessness.

    To be clear, we support pedestrians, including people who use wheelchairs and strollers, in having clear and safe access on DC streets. We believe that, with an open dialogue, DC could have solved that problem without displacing encampment residents permanently. We also note that there are many sidewalks in DC that are impeded by overgrown trees, scooters or construction signs where this same sense of concern and urgency to remove the barriers does not seem to exist. Finally, even if there was no quick solution that balanced the interests of all involved, neighbors could have walked one block out of their way while DC worked to ensure that every individual living in that underpass had somewhere else to go. Instead, DC government prioritized the needs of housed neighbors who had alternative routes open to them over the needs of encampment residents who had no alternative home.

    The irony of the District of Columbia government inflicting the violence of displacement upon some of its poorest citizens just before the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday apparently escaped our Mayor, who tweeted tone-deaf messages about the importance of helping others in honor of the holiday, right after the NoMa clearing orchestrated by her own administration.  We can only imagine that Dr. King would have been dismayed and horrified by these actions, and would have stood side by side with the encampment residents, like many members of the community did, to try to protect them from a government whose role is supposed to be helping rather than harming its neediest residents.

    The government’s actions in NoMa last week, like the twice weekly encampment sweeps conducted by District agencies year-round, were initiated and overseen by the office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services (DMHHS), Wayne Turnage.  These so-called “engagements” create incredible stress and chaos for encampment residents, while failing to address the root causes of street homelessness.  In fact, over the past two years in NoMa the number of tents has quadrupled, despite, or because of, the relentless clearing schedule.  The dangers of these aggressive clearing practices were exposed in November 2019, when workers from the Department of Public Works, under the orders of DMHHS, attempted to throw not one, but two tents with human beings inside of them, into the garbage during a NoMa cleanup.

    Against this background, and despite the fact that the vast majority of the tents in the K Street underpass had been there for two or more years, DMHHS chose January, right before the annual Point-in-Time count, to suddenly claim the tents created an emergency which had to be dealt with immediately and permanently. The District’s approach exacerbated the situation by failing to provide any viable alternatives for the people it displaced, other than telling them to use the DC shelters. The shelters that Deputy Mayor Turnage and his staff offered as options for encampment residents are beset by problems and considered filthy, chaotic, and/or dangerous by many people living on the street. Many of our clients who live with mental illness or a history of trauma have told us they can never go to DC shelters. For others, shelters are not options because  they do not allow couples, pets, or more than two small bags of belongings.   Further, as Deputy Mayor Turnage should know, the shelter system does not have the capacity to accommodate the more than 600 people who currently live on the streets of Washington, DC.

    Make no mistake—last week’s clearing and permanent ban on any tents or belongings in the K Street underpass was a deliberate choice, made by a Bowser administration that claims to want to end homelessness but has never adequately funded its own plan to do so, Homeward DC, in its proposed budgets.  By making the choice to move forward in the face of widespread opposition and negative media attention, Mayor Bowser demonstrated that her allegiance lies with the residents of the luxury housing surrounding the NoMa encampments, rather than with encampment residents whose lives and safety depend on being able to sleep in the underpasses when they have nowhere else to go. While the District cited pedestrian safety as the rationale for its actions, in reality it made a clear and regrettable choice to prioritize the wants of some vocal and comfortably housed NoMa residents over the serious needs of encampment residents.

    Many people have misconceptions about why street homelessness keeps going up in one of the wealthiest jurisdictions in the country.  The misperception is due in part to the vitriolic and demonizing stereotypes peddled by organizations like the NoMa BID, which published an open letter regarding the underpass encampments in August 2019. The key factor underlying the increase in homelessness in D.C. and elsewhere over the past several years, however, is simple—an extreme shortage of truly affordable housing.  Cities like DC reward developers of luxury apartments, often for political reasons, and prioritize the creation of those units over subsidizing housing for people in deep poverty.  This has led to a glut of luxury units in places like NoMa.  Cranes are ubiquitous in the District now, and pricey new developments continue to go up, adding to the supply of housing that is unattainable for the vast majority of DC residents, and certainly not for people experiencing homelessness.

    The difficulty of accessing the limited supply of housing subsidies available for people who live on the streets was illustrated by one K Street encampment resident who we spoke with last week.  It had taken him months to get through the lengthy screening process to qualify for a Permanent Supportive Housing subsidy, and was finally ready to be assigned to a unit, when he was arrested on a minor charge and spent several months in jail.  Not only did this cause him to lose all his belongings that he had with him on the streets, but when he was discharged from the DC Jail, no effort was made to connect him to any services or housing.  Now that he is back on the streets, he must start the process of connecting with services, qualifying for housing, and navigating the “Coordinated Entry” bureaucracy all over again. This process, which prioritizes people who stay in the District’s shelter system by setting aside the majority of resources for them, combined with the insufficient resources dedicated to housing, means that the vast majority of the people in the encampments will have to wait months, if not years, to get into housing, even if they score higher for housing than someone in shelter.

    Mayor Bowser often makes statements opposing the politics of our current President.  Yet Mayor Bowser’s statement in response to concerns about the creation of the pedestrian passageway was: “tents and living in tents is not permitted in the District of Columbia…[and are] not safe for the surrounding community” and her approach to street homelessness has become increasingly punitive in nature. This moves her much closer to President Trump, who is urging cities to get tough on street homelessness or they may lose federal housing money, than she may be comfortable with on this issue. (“Advocates say that they expect an executive order on homelessness to assign new resources to police departments to remove homeless encampments and even strip housing funds from cities that choose to tolerate these encampments.”)

    If you agree the District of Columbia can and must do better, please contact Mayor Bowser (mayor@dc.gov), Deputy Mayor Wayne Turnage (wayne.turnage@dc.gov), and Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen (callen@dccouncil.us) to ask that the District:

    1. Suspend its encampment clearings during Hypothermia Season (November 1 through March 31);
    2. Remove the Pedestrian Passageway signs and promise not to immediately dispose of people’s belongings if they move back; and
    3. Protect personal belongings or life-saving items such as tents from destruction unless they are clearly marked as trash and focus on cleaning around encampments and providing real offers services to encampment residents, including meaningful access to shelters and housing.

    You can also attend the oversight hearing at the DC Council on the Deputy Mayor on Health and Human Services on March 5 at 10AM in Room 412 of 1350 Pennsylvania Ave NW. Sign up to testify by contacting Malcolm Cameron: mcameron@dccouncil.us or 202-654-6179.

    The K Street NE underpass clearing in the media:

    “District ‘Cleared’ the K St. NE Underpass. Now What?” AFRO, January 23, 2020

    “ ‘There Is No Plan For Us:’ D.C. Permanently Clears K Street Encampment, Displacing Dozens” DCist, January 16, 2020

    “Northeast DC homeless encampment cleared from K Street underpass” WTOP, January 16, 2020

    “D.C. clears longtime homeless encampment near Union Station” The Washington Post, January 16, 2020

    “As City Prepares to Clear NoMa Underpass, Residents Pack Up and Look for Solutions” Washington City Paper, January 15, 2020

    “Dozens of homeless  people will be forced off a Northeast Street this week” WJLA, January 13, 2020

    “No room on the street: D.C. orders homeless out of underpass in fast-developing neighborhood” The Washington Post, January 10 , 2020

    “D.C. government to remove tents, belongings of homeless to create ‘pedestrian passageway’” The Washington Times, January 8, 2020

    “D.C. to Permanently Clear NoMa Underpass to Make Way for Pedestrians” Washington City Paper, January 7, 2020

    “D.C. Says Homeless Encampments Will Be Permanently Cleared From Under One NoMa Bridge” WAMU, January 7, 2020

  • Honoring the neighbors we lost this year

    Honoring the neighbors we lost this year

    For thirty years, December 21st has been observed as National Homeless Memorial Day. The 21st is the Winter Solstice, the day of longest darkness…a fitting day to honor the lives and mourn the passing of those who died homeless this past year.

    Last night, the People for Fairness Coalition held a vigil to mark Homeless Memorial Day here in the nation’s capital. Tragically, at least 81 of our neighbors have died this year without the dignity of having a home.  That’s 81 sons and daughters, brothers, sisters, moms, dads…and friends. 81 DC residents who might have been spared an untimely death had our community not failed to meet the housing needs of its lowest income members.

    We long for the day when no lives will be lost to homelessness. In the meantime, the greatest honor that we can pay to those who died this past year is to re-commit ourselves to doing all that we can to ensure that every District resident has a  place to call home. We invite you to join us on this journey to a more just DC.

     

  • People Power and Community Lawyering

    In 2016, a report called The Community Listening Project was released after a years-long effort of the DC Consortium of Legal Services Providers to gather input from low-income DC residents about issues they’ve had getting services to combat poverty, poor housing, and other struggles. The Legal Clinic has long been active in the DC Consortium, and when the idea of a Community Listening Project arose, Legal Clinic Grassroots Advocacy Coordinator Kristi Matthews began to work toward ensuring that community voice would be truly present throughout the process. Kristi invited Nkechi Feaster, who had been doing advocacy work with us, to be part of this effort and formed part of a team that placed emphasis on having community members at the helm of survey development and collection, in addition to responding to questions. Tineshea Woodson, another community member involved with the Legal Clinic, played an important role in gathering responses to the survey, and the team followed the process through over the course of three to four years. Ultimately, approximately 600 low-income community members participated in the project’s focus groups or responded to its survey.

    When the Community Listening Report was finally published in 2016, Nkechi, Tineshea, and Kristi continued to

    Some members of the PPA community, including Nkechi, Tyrone, Tineshea, Caitlin, Robert, and Kristi.

    meet, now with an eye toward how to engage the community in the results of the report and next steps. It became clear that an ongoing space for the community to meet, dialogue and engage with one another and be proactive agents of change was necessary, so efforts turned to convening such a gathering. In November 2016, a small group met in Anacostia to start this journey. After significant outreach, organizing, and connecting with people in housing programs and shelters, People Power Action met for the first time as a group in March 2017.

    http://https://youtu.be/vmvD2eDPUy8

    Now over 50 members strong, People Power Action has studied power and gentrification and collectively chosen to focus on land use as a root cause of housing instability and homelessness. Additionally, People Power Action has supported ongoing community struggles while also engaging in legislative and policy processes. Through interactive trainings, members of People Power Action have taught hundreds of people – students, nonprofit staff and boards, and other groups – about displacement.

    http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qawRD3R4Qg

     

    http://https://youtu.be/27skCq6BpDQ

     

    The Legal Clinic is proud to be a home for People Power Action, and provides administrative and organizational support through Kristi and staff attorney Caitlin Cocilova. We believe in creating space and support for people to lift up their own voices and work in cooperation to build a District that serves the needs of those who often find themselves at the margin.

    http://%20https://youtu.be/Pz0H5hJpUqs

    Our systemic reform efforts are rooted in the experiences of direct client work, and we strive each day to learn from the true experts in the topics our work surrounds – those who have personal experience with homelessness and housing instability. Caitlin’s legal and policy advocacy work stems from the community work she takes part in through People Power Action. In addition to informing our perspective on land use-related issues such as DC’s Comprehensive Plan and the DC’s process for disposition of publicly owned properties for which the District government says there is no public use, this work formed the basis for a key note presentation that Caitlin delivered in fall 2019 at Duquesne University School of Nursing’s annual McGinley-Rice Symposium. The symposium’s various presentations, all of which you can see here,[1] focused on homelessness, and in Caitlin’s, titled “Meeting People Where They are: A Community Lawyering Perspective,” she carried People Power Action’s focus and values to Pittsburgh, where she connected the dots between development and displacement across different cities and the ways in which the struggles for space mirror one another and require solidarity.

    As People Power Action heads into its fourth year, its members will continue to provide invaluable knowledge for District residents through their trainings, and continue to build a welcoming community for people who want to push for transformation of systemic injustices. We’ll share future opportunities to engage with People Power Action, and invite you to read more about the group here.

    —

    [1] The McGinley-Rice Symposium site does not require you to have an account to log in, only that viewers enter a name and email address in order to view the presentation videos.

  • DC’s Public Housing Crisis: Centering Solutions on Needs of Current and Future Tenants

    We haven’t checked in what’s going on with DC’s public housing crisis in a while, but not because we haven’t been actively working on how to resolve the crisis in a way that centers the needs and rights of low-income DC residents. Below is some background, an update on where we are now, and some next steps:

    Last winter, the DC Housing Authority (DCHA) released a report that concluded that the District’s public housing stock was in crisis, with 2500 of its units “nearly uninhabitable.”  Since that point we have been working with fellow advocates to figure out a path forward that appropriately balances the pressing needs of current tenants for habitable units with the preservation of deeply affordable, low barrier public housing. We testified at a January Board of Commissioners emergency meeting and have had regular meetings and conversations with DCHA leadership.

    In the spring, we focused our efforts on advocating for public money to be devoted to public housing repairs. While the Mayor did not at that time devote any additional funds to public housing repairs, the DC Council appropriated $24.5 million from Events DC surplus and $1 million from a clawback of the Line Hotel tax incentive for repairs. (For background on that unusually dramatic battle, look here and here.)

    In August, DCHA came out with a “20-Year Transformation Plan” and accepted comments through September 27. The agency held multiple public housing tenant meetings and met with advocates and tenant leaders throughout the comment period to answer questions and listen to our concerns. One important note about the agency’s plan: the $25.5 million appropriated by the DC Council allowed them to fully repair and renovate 503 units at four buildings (Judiciary House, Langston Additions, LeDroit Apartments and Kelly Miller Townhomes), taking them off the table for demolition or disposition.

    Last Friday, we, along with Empower DC, Bread for the City, DC Fiscal Policy Institute, Legal Aid Society for the District of Columbia, Legal Counsel for the Elderly, Neighborhood Legal Services Program, and Washington Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs submitted comments to DCHA’s plan. The introduction to our comments summarizes our concerns and recommendations:

    Ensuring that DC is able to continue to provide low barrier housing to people living with low income is a matter of racial justice, disability justice and making sure that our seniors can truly age in place. True justice also requires that in addition to being affordable, this housing be safe, healthy and dignified.

    Our comments are rooted in our collective experience with public housing in the District, including the extensive experience many of us have working with and advocating for the residents living in the fourteen properties that DCHA seeks to rehabilitate or demolish through this repositioning. Our comments are similarly rooted in our knowledge of the barriers and discrimination that DCHA voucher holders face when trying to rent in the District, as well as the barriers former public housing residents face when trying to return to the mixed-finance properties currently in DCHA’s portfolio. Finally, we all encounter, organize with, or represent many individuals desperately in need of low barrier, deeply affordable housing. We root these comments in our belief that public housing plays a critical and irreplaceable role in DC’s housing ecosystem.

    As such, we are concerned about the financial and practical feasibility of DCHA’s plan to relocate 2,600 families[1] through the voucher program while simultaneously redeveloping entire communities through largely unregulated private partnerships without a dedicated public funding source. 

    Simply stated, DCHA’s Plan is a vision based on a best-case scenario and fails to detail how current and future public housing residents will be protected while also preserving DC’s largest stock of subsidized housing. We acknowledge that, due to years of divestment at the federal level and general neglect, these properties are in extreme disrepair, and that any plan must be, to some degree, about bricks and mortar. But the Plan must primarily and centrally be about the people who live in those buildings, now and in the future. The Plan is virtually silent on the rights of residents (to return and once they are in newly developed properties), the impacts of displacement, the very real challenges of renting with a voucher, or the years of harm endured by residents living in slum conditions. Additionally, the Plan seems to depend on access to highly competitive financing sources, results in a net loss of subsidized housing for large families and does not guarantee the redeveloped housing will be deeply affordable in perpetuity.

    How to get involved:

    1. Sign the petition! You can sign as an individual, and those who wish to officially add an organization to the petition can indicate that in the comments section.
    2. October 1 at 6PM, Bread for the City, DC Jobs with Justice and Empower DC are sponsoring a community film screening and discussion on the film “Not in My Neighborhood.” The event will be held at Bread for the City NW, details here.
    3. October 8 at 6PM, Bread for the City, DC Jobs with Justice and Empower DC are holding a “public housing teach in.” This event will be held at Bread for the City NW, details here.
    4. October 30 at 11AM, Room 500, 1350 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Public Hearing on the “Public Housing Rehabilitation Oversight Task Force Act of 2019.” To sign up to testify, email jtrimboli@dccouncil.us by close of business October 29
    5. UPDATE: November 21 at 12PM, DCHA is holding a special “education symposium” for the Board of Commissioners about the agency’s public housing plan. It will be held at 1133 North Capitol Street NE. DCHA will present on its plan and the comments it has received. There is no longer an opportunity for the public to testify. We are not sure if the public will be allowed to attend.

    We will be updating this blog with more information on how to get involved in this advocacy. In the meantime, if you would like more information or to join this work, please email info@legalclinic.org or call us at (202) 328-5500.

    [1]  The 2,600 families displaced by the Plan are in addition to the already and soon-to-be displaced families from DCHA’s current redevelopment projects at Kenilworth, Barry Farm, Park Morton, Lincoln Heights, Arthur Capper/Carrolsburg and Sursum Corda thereby raising the number of families who are impacted by the Plan to upwards of 4,000.

  • It’s #DoMore24 2019 – Be A Voice for Housing and Justice Today!

    It’s #DoMore24 2019 – Be A Voice for Housing and Justice Today!

    Dear Readers,

    Thank you for being part of our community of fierce advocates for housing justice here in DC. We appreciate your reading these blog posts  as we work to improve the systems that are in place here in the District for those who suffer a housing crisis.

    We understand very well that not everyone has it in the budget to  donate financially, but this #DoMore24 we humbly ask those who do to consider supporting the Legal Clinic as we continue to represent clients who struggle with housing instability and fight for systemic improvements to our safety net programs and affordable housing in the District.

    The Legal Clinic has never received public dollars, and we are in large part only able to do this work due to the generosity of individuals who choose to support the Legal Clinic.

    Click here to support the Legal Clinic during Do More 24 2019!

     

    With appreciation,

    The Legal Clinic

  • We Cry Foul: DC Has the Money for Affordable Housing

    We strongly believe that the budget is DC’s most critical and compelling statement of its priorities. We are also intrigued by studies showing that a perception of economic scarcity “produce[s] racial bias in the distribution of economic resources.” This Council certainly expresses economic scarcity throughout the budget process, but that bias can be interrupted and resources can be more equitably distributed to Black and brown residents.

    It is always hard for advocates whose expertise lies in housing or human services to really know whether there are inefficiencies in other areas of the budget. We are constantly asked to look for those inefficiencies, constantly asked to prove the effectiveness of every dollar spent on the lowest income residents of DC. At the same time, we are told by this Council repeatedly that they have found every dollar they could for affordable housing or, sometimes, that we must further restrict eligibility in emergency shelter because of our scarce resources. Having spent just a little time doing a deep dive into a few programs outside of housing, we cry foul.

    We support the Mayor’s proposed commercial property and commercial deed tax increases. But those resources are not enough. We also support increasing revenue and diverting current funding/enhancements to fund programs that will ensure that DC residents who are struggling the most have a safe place to call home. We have signed onto a letter that lays out our values and lists some options for funding. Here we would like to focus on three options.

    Workforce housing: $20M one-time

    The $20M in one-time funds devoted to the Mayor’s new initiative to create “workforce housing” for District housing making between 60-120% of Area Median Income (AMI) should instead be devoted to public housing repairs and/or eviction prevention. The majority of the District’s workforce would be left out of this program entirely, as the majority of our workforce makes below 50% of AMI. Calling this fund a “workforce housing” fund demonstrates either an ignorance of the true demographics of DC’s workforce or a belief that teachers, police officers, and others making up to $140K are somehow more critical to our workforce than the thousands of low-wage workers who keep this city running. Because the District’s racial income inequality gap leaves most Black households out of this income range, this fund will also almost exclusively serve non-Black households. Finally, very few households in this income range are severely rent burdened particularly as compared to households at below 50% of AMI or those below 30% AMI. This money would be far better, and far more equitably, spent on repairing public housing units or preventing evictions—both of these programs only serve very low income residents, the majority of whom are Black.

    Events DC: $65M recurring, up to $206M one-time

    Until this year, Events DC was under the Finance and Revenue Committee. Now it has moved to the Committee of the Whole. As many of you probably know, Events DC is responsible for the District’s sports arena, stadiums, conventions, festivals, etc. It is funded partially by a dedicated revenue stream from a portion of DC’s hotel and restaurant taxes.

    We’ve taken a look at the last 7 fiscal years, and here is what we have learned:

    • In FY12, Events DC received $101M in dedicated revenue, but only spent $70.6M. $30.4M was swept into an “investment” account. That year 45 DC residents died while homeless.
    • In FY13, Events DC received $104.1M in dedicated revenue, but only spent $76.1M. $28M was swept into an “investment” account. That year 20 DC residents died while homeless.
    • In FY14, Events DC received $105.5M in dedicated revenue, but only spent $68.8M. $36.7M was swept into an “investment” account. That year 53 DC residents died while homeless.
    • In FY15, Events DC received $116.4M in dedicated revenue, but only spent $71.4M. $45M was swept into an “investment” account. That year 41 DC residents died while homeless.
    • In FY16, Events DC received $123.6M in dedicated revenue, but only spent $70M. $53.6M was swept into an “investment” account. That year 51 DC residents died while homeless.
    • In FY17, Events DC received $138.1M in dedicated revenue, but only spent $67.4M. $70.7M was swept into an “investment” account. That year 45 DC residents died while homeless.
    • In FY18, Events DC received $135.3M in dedicated revenue, but only spent $71.8M. $63.5M was swept into an “investment” account. That year 54 DC residents died while homeless.
    Fiscal Year Dedicated revenue Amount of dedicated revenue used Underspending % of Ded $ unspent Surplus Balance # Died Homeless
    12 101M 70.6M 30.4M 30% 45
    13 104.1M 76.1M 28M 26.9% 20
    14 105.5M 68.8M 36.7M 34.7% 53
    15 116.4M 71.4M 45M 38.7% 41
    16 123.6M 70M 53.6M 43.3% 51
    17 138.1M 67.4M 70.7M 51.2% 176.3M 45
    18 135.3M 71.8M 63.5M 46.9% 206M 54
    19Q1 34.6M 20.4M 14.2M 41% n/a n/a

    It is unconscionable, and fiscally irresponsible, for the DC government to let these tax dollars go unspent while District residents are literally dying on the street, living in tents, and becoming sick from the horrible conditions in public housing. Events DC has underspent its budget by up to $70.7M per year, amassing an unobligated surplus over the years of $206M. $206M sits in the bank while we are told that there isn’t enough money for critical repairs to public housing. Instead thousands of DC residents, many of them seniors or children, must risk their health and safety by living in units full of lead, mold, and crumbling infrastructure while the Mayor “studies” the DCHA’s finances for another year. If the Mayor or Council had swept the $30M in underspending in FY12, 1500 households could have received a voucher that year, and thereafter. Instead, because DC Housing Authority determined that there was little to no hope of ever meeting the need, they closed the waitlist 6 years ago.

    Every single person who died on the street from 2012-2018, all 309 people, could have been housed with a small fraction of the money that Events DC failed to spend. The Council could be sweeping half of their dedicated revenue ($63M per year) and a good part of their surplus (up to $206M) into housing needs without impacting a single activity of Events DC.  The city could still continue to spend undisclosed amounts of local money on things like the sponsorship of a Welsh soccer team, as it did this year, although we’d like that to stop too.  However, unless and until the Council redirects this unspent money to increase the housing stability of DC residents, any references to how tight this budget is or how the Council can’t find the funds we need for affordable housing should cease.

    Qualified High Technology Company (QHTC) incentive: $40M recurring

    Every year the DC government fails to adequately fund affordable housing, shrinking away from mere mention of a right to housing. It enforces time limits in rapid re-housing regardless of ability to afford rent without a subsidy. It continues to whittle away at the right to shelter, forcing families to meet more and more onerous burdens to get emergency shelter. Meanwhile, DC operates a program in the District on the complete opposite end of the spectrum. This program is an entitlement program—no matter how many people apply, all eligible applicants are assured participation. It has no time limits—benefits will be provided as long as the participant likes, regardless of need. The burden is on the government to prove ineligibility, not on the applicant to prove eligibility, a benefit our homeless residents would also appreciate. It requires very little of the applicant in the way of proving District residency, and continues serving the participant even after the participant moves out of the District. In fact, for all eligibility factors, it merely requires “self-certification”— showing implicit trust in the applicant’s truthfulness. There is also no “redetermination of eligibility”—once you’re in, you’re in.

    What is this magical low barrier entitlement program? It’s the Qualified High Technology Company incentive. It costs $40 million a year in foregone revenue and, according to a report by the CFO, there is no evidence that it is doing what it was intended to do: incentivize tech companies to do business in DC. According to the DC Fiscal Policy Institute: “The report also found that many of the companies claiming the tax incentives were already engaged in the same business in the same location before they started claiming tax subsidies. This means the incentive gave away millions in tax breaks to companies for activities they likely would have undertaken anyway, without necessarily generating growth. Because the QHTC tax subsidies are not targeted to new businesses or to businesses that are expanding—and because no DC agency has gathered information to assess the program’s effectiveness—the CFO was ‘not able to reasonably identify what new actions were taken due to the incentives’ or ‘what economic benefits are attributable to the incentives.’ The CFO also concluded that the gains in DC’s high-tech sector ‘cannot be attributed to QHTC incentives.’”

    Unless and until this Council and this Mayor take a hard look at its double standard for verifying the eligibility of tech companies and stops handing out millions in tax breaks for no demonstrable benefit while also maintaining one of the worst affordable housing crises in the country, we cry foul on any declaration or implication that DC does not have enough resources to end homelessness.

    Take action! https://actionnetwork.org/letters/stop-displacement-repair-public-housing-and-end-homelessness?source=direct_link&

     

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