Earlier this year, Miriam’s Kitchen and our partners at The Way Home Campaign encouraged Mayor Bowser to make bold and necessary investments in proven programs that prevent and end homelessness here in the District in her Fiscal Year 2025 budget proposal.
We knew this would be a tough budget season because the mayor was tasked with filling a shortfall of $1 billion. However, Mayor Bowser is proposing to balance this budget to the detriment of District residents who are most in need, with dire racial equity implications and threatening progress we have made toward ending chronic homelessness. We are now encouraging the DC Council to fill gaps and lessen the blow to vulnerable communities.
Though we are pleased with the commitment made to fully fund two non-congregate shelters and maintain crucial 24/7 shelter access, Mayor Bowser’s proposed FY25 budget makes significant cuts to programs critical to preventing and ending homelessness in the District. Her budget drastically cuts Rapid Rehousing (RRH) for individuals, Emergency Rental Assistance (ERAP), and the Housing Production Trust Fund (HPTF) from FY24 levels. Most alarmingly, the mayor’s proposed budget includes no new housing vouchers, including permanent supportive housing (PSH) for individuals or families.
More broadly, this budget also cuts key pieces of our collective social safety net by stopping planned increases to the Earned Income Tax Credit and eliminating the Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund, creating more susceptibility among our low-income neighbors to experience homelessness.
Please keep reading for a more in-depth analysis of the mayor’s proposed budget and what it means for ending chronic homelessness in the District. New information about the proposed budget is constantly becoming available so we will continue to share updates as we learn them.
If you have not done so already, please TAKE ACTION HERE! We need YOUR help to let the DC Council know that you are concerned about the harm this proposed budget will cause and that you are calling on them to increase investments in ending chronic homelessness.
The Mayor’s FY25 Budget Proposal – Key Insights and Analysis
Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) – flat funded; some funding for DHS staff
Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) provides long-term vouchers, case management, and voluntary supportive services to individuals and families experiencing chronic homelessness. PSH is recognized as a best-practice intervention to end chronic homelessness.
We called on Mayor Bowser to invest $36.6 million to expand the PSH program for singles to serve an additional 1,260 people and $22.8 million to serve an additional 580 families. Unfortunately, however, the mayor has proposed a budget with no additional funding for PSH for individuals or families.
While some concerns about the implementation of PSH vouchers have been raised, it is estimated that the 385 remaining individual PSH vouchers for FY24 will be matched before the start of the new fiscal year.
With no new vouchers funded for FY25, we’ll essentially be telling people living outside or in shelter that, at best, they will have to wait until October of NEXT year to even start the housing process. This is unacceptable and extremely concerning given the sheer number of people that need life-saving housing and support.
The mayor’s proposed budget also flat funds PSH for families, despite over 500 families in need of this housing solution. With homelessness rising, drastic cuts to DC’s social safety net, and the upcoming termination of 2,000 families from Rapid Rehousing, this decision will hurt families and have dire consequences for the homeless services system.
Rapid Rehousing (RRH) for Individuals – cut by half
Rapid re-housing is a time-limited subsidy that supports individuals who are currently experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness, by helping to secure and maintain housing during periods of financial hardship. Currently, the singles RRH program serves 600 individuals, which is estimated to be just half of those who need it and have joined the waitlist for the program. The mayor’s proposed budget cuts singles rapid rehousing in half, which means not only that 300 fewer people will be able to access the program next year but also that wait times, which are already as long as 4.5 months, will increase dramatically.
Homeless Street Outreach – cuts to FY24 funding levels, failure to meet current needs
As of the January 2023 Point-In-Time Count, unsheltered homelessness is up 19 percent from the previous year and is at its highest point since 2017. Homeless street outreach connects individuals living outside with life-saving resources and supports and helps our neighbors to navigate the housing process.
Earlier this budget season, we called on Mayor Bowser to invest $6.4 million for homeless street outreach to maintain current levels of outreach capacity and to increase support to specific neighborhoods that have seen an uptick in street homelessness.
While the Mayor’s budget maintains last year’s local funding amount for homeless street outreach, there is no money to make up for the federal money that is ending. The result is that fewer outreach case managers will be on the streets and less support will be available for those most at risk come October 1.
An additional $2.9 million for street outreach is needed to:
- make up for outreach capacity lost through the sunset of the CARE pilot, a time-limited initiative to address unsheltered homelessness in tent encampments.
- Add encampment focused outreach in Wards 6, 7, and 8 (where it has not previously existed)
- Address increased outreach needs in specific neighborhoods, such as U Street and Georgia Avenue
Decreasing street outreach capacity at a time when unsheltered homelessness and the criminalization of street homelessness is increasing is woefully shortsighted.
Project Reconnect – flat funded
Project Reconnect is a shelter diversion and rapid-exit program for unaccompanied adults experiencing homelessness. This program provides flexible funds that help prevent individuals from entering homelessness and rapidly exit the homeless services system.
Miriam’s Kitchen and The Way Home Campaign called on Mayor Bowser to increase funding for Project Reconnect to serve more people in need. The mayor’s proposed budget maintains existing funding and does not expand resources to reach more people.
DC Flex – Singles case load cut by 75%
DC Flex is a program that provides flexible funds for individuals to spend on whatever they may need including utilities, security deposit, appliances, and other expenses. The program gives a yearly stipend of $7,200 to use on a variety of expenses and can be used in the case of an emergency or an unexpected expense. The Way Home Campaign recommended that current funding for DC Flex be maintained at $1m with a caseload of 100 individuals. The mayor’s proposed budget cuts funding to both the families and singles DC Flex programs and specifically cuts the capacity of the singles program down to just 25 individuals. This is a particularly disappointing decision given that the program did not begin until a full year after it was funded and has been cut before even reaching the 6-month mark.
Non-Congregate Shelter & 24/7 Shelter – funded
We were happy to see that Mayor Bowser almost fully funded our non-congregate shelter ask at $13 million to ensure that two non-congregate shelter sites would be online and operational by FY 2025. Mayor Bowser also funded our 24/7 shelter access ask at $7 million, compared to our ask of $8.4 million, which will help continue operations six 24/7 shelter sites across DC. We are glad to see that this funding was included in the FY25 budget; however, a budget that only funds shelter operations and no new housing is concerning and will not move DC closer to ending chronic homelessness.
Medical Respite Beds – not funded
Medical respite beds are a critical intervention for our most medically vulnerable neighbors experiencing homelessness, where they would have short-term residential care while recovering from a physical illness or injury. We see no funding for medical respite beds in the mayor’s budget, despite knowing there is a need for 150 beds.
Storage – not funded
As we know, lack of storage is often an issue for our unhoused neighbors and the FY25 proposed budget includes no funding for a storage facility or program.
Local Rent Supplement Program (LRSP) – decrease in funding
The mayor’s proposed budget includes no new funding for vouchers in the Local Rent Supplement Program (LRSP). For extremely low-income families, those who fall below 30% of the area median income, LRSP is a rental subsidy that covers the difference between what they can afford to pay and the cost of the rental unit. The lack of funding for these new vouchers means working poor families who struggle most to afford rent are losing an opportunity to apply for necessary assistance.
Housing Production Trust Fund (HPTF) – $40 million cut
The Housing Production Trust fund is the main fund to produce and preserve affordable housing in DC. We saw the mayor add $60M to the Housing Production Trust Fund (HPTF), which was a $40M decrease from her promise to add $100M to the trust fund each year. This reduction of funds to HTPF will make it more difficult to create more affordable housing in a time where we need it the most and housing will continue to be less affordable as housing costs skyrocket.
ERAP – decrease from FY 24 funding levels does not meet the need
Mayor Bowser funded the emergency rental assistance program (ERAP) at $20M, which does not meet the need. Our request was $100M to meet the current need and the mayor only added an additional $12M of DC funding with $8M being recurring federal funding. Without necessary ERAP funding people will not have money they need to pay rent and will face increased evictions.
What’s next?
If you haven’t yet, act now to tell the DC Council how important it is to fill budget gaps, supporting programs that prevent and resolve homelessness. Over the coming weeks, we’ll share more ways you can be involved. Thanks for your support of TWHC and our neighbors!
