It’s budget season again, and the Legal Clinic continues to advocate for budgets and laws that further housing justice for D.C. residents.  Along with our Fair Budget Coalition and Way Home Campaign partners*, we implore D.C. to “Meet the Needs” of all D.C. residents—particularly those who struggle the most to maintain their lives in the city. Recent housing investments and legislation during the height of the pandemic were crucial to minimize...

Today, the Legal Clinic joins our legal services and tenant advocacy colleagues in urging the D.C. Council to vote no on the District of Columbia Housing Authority Stabilization and Reform Emergency Amendment Act of 2022. See below for the letter we sent to the Council today. Take action to urge your elected representatives to pursue real reform instead of this bill, which is harmful at worst, performative at best. Send an email with Empower...

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...

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...

Immigrants of all countries of origins, languages, and incomes should be welcomed and supported as new residents. We reject any assertion that immigrants are in competition with long-time DC residents for resources, as DC has sufficient resources to meet the needs of all who come here. Similarly, we reject the scarcity mindset that leads to pitting these populations against each other.

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!