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!

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...

Despite living in a well-resourced District of Columbia, DC residents are facing homelessness, housing instability, and crisis-level lack of affordable housing every day, so there is much work to be done to address these issues in DC in order to further housing justice. The budget process is an opportunity to do just that.