Category: Advocacy

 What you need to know:  No children will be provided lifesaving shelter until next winter. The Administration has no plan to change that policy. Families requesting shelter who have no safety plan for where to stay will be reported to CFSA.  CFSA currently has no housing resources to assist such families. The Mayor’s budget proposal has a $7 million funding gap for homeless services. The Administration is suggesting cutting food, transportation, outreach, medical and supportive services to people experiencing homelessness— which will hurt people already desperately in need of services. The Mayor has no plan in place to provide long-term… Read more…

Last week, we told you about the dramatic increase in family and child homelessness in DC over the past four years, in particular over this past winter season, and the District’s ineffective and punitive current response to that crisis.  The Administration does not deny that its policy of not placing any new families in shelter until next winter puts DC children at grave risk.  But instead of alleviating that risk by providing the very services that applicants seek, it has chosen to respond to the need with a Child Protective Services (“CPS”) investigation for abuse and neglect of every family… Read more…

Sarah* and her two young kids have lived in DC their entire lives. Sarah works 7 days a week as a hair stylist but only makes $1,100 a month. Sarah and her children were recently put out by Sarah’s mother.  Every night Sarah tries to find someone to take her kids while she spends most nights sleeping in a car.  Sarah’s family applied for shelter last fall but was told that no families would be placed unless the weather dipped below freezing.  Every week she called the Virginia Williams Family Resource Center (VWFRC), DC’s central family intake site for emergency… Read more…

On Saturday, February 11th from 9:30 am to 4:00 pm Mayor Gray will hold a “One City Summit” at the WalterE.WashingtonConvention Center.  (You can register here or by calling (202) 709-5132.)  The purpose of the summit is twofold:  to provide an opportunity for DC residents to voice their concerns and priorities for the District, and to allow the Mayor a chance to hear these priorities and use this community input to inform the City’s  policies and actions moving forward. We at the Legal Clinic applaud any effort to involve DC residents in decision-making.  Our participation in government should not end… Read more…

Today, starting at 2pm, the District of Columbia Council’s Committee on Human Services is conducting a roundtable to discuss the Department of Human Services’ plan to protect the lives of people who are homeless this winter. Below is the testimony that will be delivered by Legal Clinic Staff Attorney Amber W. Harding. Council of the District of Columbia Committee of Human Services Hypothermia Roundtable Thursday, October 20, 2011 Testimony of Amber W. Harding, Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless It has long been the stated policy and law of DC to provide emergency shelter to each and every person experiencing… Read more…

Dear Chairman Brown: In large measure due to your leadership, over 1500 District residents struggling with homelessness have been sleeping a little easier since May 25th.  Especially in these challenging fiscal times, we at the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless want you to know how very grateful our community is that the Council was able to make significant progress in closing the funding gap for homeless services, averting a potential crisis for DC’s shelter and transitional housing programs.  We appreciate your efforts to restore some funding to IDA and TANF, as well. But our collective work is far from… Read more…

Guest blog post by Stephanie Niedringhaus Each day, as I walk between Washington’s Union Station and my office, I see people who are either homeless or in difficult housing situations. I buy Street Sense from some, chat with others. Whether I am walking past or stopping to talk, I am always conscious of the U.S. Capitol just behind me. The contrast between what happens there and the circumstances of people on the street couldn’t be starker. Many of us know there is an enormous wealth gap in the U.S., but too few recognize this gap as a moral and political issue.… Read more…

Dear Friends: Many thanks for being so responsive to our many pleas for help during budget advocacy season. Because of your support and the efforts of so many concerned community members, the potential crisis in the shelter system has been averted! Here’s a quick report on what happened at Wednesday’s vote: The DC Council passed the Budget Request Act for FY2012. (Only one reading and vote is needed on the BRA.) The budget which council members adopted includes these important provisions: – An additional $17million for homeless services, to further close the gap left by the loss of one-time federal… Read more…

Several weeks ago, hundreds of residents called and emailed the D.C. Council demanding that it fill the $20.5 million gap in homeless services funding. The Council heard the message, but said it would only be able to find a few million dollars for homeless families; homeless individuals were out of luck. In response to the impending humanitarian crisis, community members, service providers, advocates, and even business leaders all have highlighted what would happen if the Council passed the proposed budget without additional funding for homeless individuals. On Wednesday, reality met politics when hundreds of community members descended on the Wilson… Read more…

Note: Larry Tanenbaum of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer, and Feld has been named District of Columbia Bar Pro Bono Attorney of the Year. Below is his statement about the Mayor’s Fiscal Year 2012 proposed budget cuts. ______________________________________ I am an attorney in Washington, D.C. and provide substantial pro bono services to clients who are disabled and dependent on Interim Disability Assistance (“IDA”) and Supplemental Security Income (“SSI”) to meet their needs for food, shelter and other basic necessities. I am writing out of concern that the Mayor’s FY12 proposed budget would eliminate any appropriation for IDA, leaving some of the… Read more…