We have long advocated for substantial reform for the rapid re-housing program in DC. The urgency of that advocacy intensified last winter, when the Department of Human Services announced it intended to start terminating almost 1000 families for reaching a time limit in rapid re-housing, even though the agency knew that nearly all of those families would be thrown into crisis as a result. In the spring of 2022, 66 organizations and experts and...
Despite Strong Community Opposition, DC Elected Officials Segregate and Exclude Immigrants from Homeless Services
On Tuesday, September 20, 2022, the DC Council passed The Migrant Services and Supports Emergency Act of 2022 without making any of the significant changes that we advocated for. Councilmember Pinto tried to amend the bill to remove many of the harmful provisions and to add in legal and safety protections for migrants. Councilmember Nadeau and Mayor Bowser strongly opposed the amendment, and managed to convince their colleagues to follow their...
That’s a Wrap for DC’s Budget: Did We Meet Our Goals for Housing?
Our collective advocacy during the fiscal year 2023 budget season led to significant policy wins, and increased investment in deeply affordable housing – and there is still more work to be done!
What Did Mayor Bowser Put in FY23 Budget Towards Our Housing Priorities?
With DC Council turning to its version of DC’s budget, we share an assessment of how far Mayor Bowser’s proposed budget goes towards meeting needs for affordable housing and ending homelessness in DC. We hope the Council sees this as their critical “to do” list over the next few weeks!
Over 50 Organizations and Experts Demand That the DC Council Reform Rapid Re-housing
The following letter was submitted to the DC Council on behalf of 69 organizations and experts. Don’t forget to send an email and sign up for a call-in day echoing these asks to your elected leaders! DC Council members, We, the undersigned organizations, join together to ask you to stop Mayor Bowser from terminating DC residents from the rapid re-housing program for hitting an arbitrary time limit. This year, as many as 913 families are...
Action Alert: It’s Past Time to Reform Rapid Re-housing!
The Legal Clinic, along with the Fair Budget Coalition, is advocating for money to keep families facing termination from rapid re-housing housed, an increase in permanent affordable housing subsidies, and legislative reform to make sure that this problem gets fixed systemically.
