It’s time for a change. We need D.C. to recommit to ending homelessness with investments in deeply affordable housing, and we need them to start with this budget. D.C. residents cannot wait any longer.
Learn more here about what needs to happen and raise your voice for housing justice for D.C. residents!
In Mayor Bowser’s first year as mayor, she released Homeward DC, with the following proclamation: “Together, we will end long-term homelessness in the District of Columbia. By 2020, homelessness in the District will be a rare, brief, and non-recurring experience.” The Bowser Administration failed to keep this promise, and D.C. residents are feeling the impact of that broken promise daily. Not only do we see housing insecurity increasing in D.C., with evictions at a historic high, but the mayor’s final budget proposal contains precisely zero dollars dedicated to ending homelessness.
Last year, despite many voices raising the alarm that unhoused D.C. residents were facing significant and increasing hardships, D.C. did not fund a single voucher for homeless individuals and funded far too few for homeless families. Unhoused individuals were left in harm’s way when the federal government declared, with no housing or shelter resources, that it would forcibly remove people from the streets of D.C. Because local government had failed to invest in housing solutions, homeless individuals have faced escalating property destruction and law enforcement harassment from both the federal and our local government in the last year. Meanwhile, two consecutive years of eviscerating the rights of D.C. residents in rapid re-housing gutted due process and cemented an abrupt, inhumane benefit cliff. Combined with the failure to adequately invest in the long-term housing supports that actually work for families, these policy choices have forced housing-insecure families into a never-ending loop of time-limited housing, eviction, homelessness and shelter.
Excerpts from D.C. Council Oversight Hearing Public Testimony
“Since taking in my grandchildren, I have given them love, stability, structure, medical care, school enrollment, and safety. What I have not received is stable housing support. I did what the system asked of me. I prevented two children from entering foster care. I should not now face homelessness for doing so.”
“Funding had dried up, leaving us high and dry, with the daunting task of figuring things out on our own. My heart is heavy with the weight of my circumstances. I’m not just fighting for myself for permanent supportive housing; I’m fighting for my daughter, who deserves a stable and loving home.”
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Participate in The Way Home Compaign’s Email Action to DC Council: Send an email to the Council telling them to prioritize funding to end homelessness in this budget:
Wednesday, May 13th at 9am: The Council will hold the last public hearing on the budget before they begin to make decisions. Join Fair Budget Coalition members to show support at the hearing, and you can submit written testimony later.
Tuesday, May 19th at 3:30pm: Join the Legal Clinic for a film screening of the short documentary Lead Me Home. Afterwards, we will have a panel discussion on homelessness. Please RSVP here by May 15.
Email D.C. Leaders in Your Own Words: If you would like to write your own email that goes to all councilmembers and the mayor, along with constituent services staff, use the form below.