This week, the DC Council took their first vote on Mayor Bowser’s proposed FY 2025 budget. As we shared in April, the Mayor’s budget not only fell horribly short of meaningfully addressing chronic homelessness, but also made devastating cuts across DC’s social safety net. While the Council has made increases to many programs, shockingly few adjustments were made to fill funding gaps in ending homelessness.
Miriam’s Kitchen FY 2025 Budget Analysis
The Mayor’s proposed budget contained NO new housing vouchers. Fortunately, the Council was able to fund an additional 477 vouchers. However, this number still falls far short of what is needed across the board and especially for individuals experiencing chronic homelessness. The DC Council added only 43 vouchers for individuals experiencing homelessness, a stark contrast to the nearly 2,000 individuals in need of Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) and the 887 unsheltered individuals living outside (68 more than last year), who are facing repeated encampment evictions.
It was particularly disconcerting to hear councilmembers raise concerns over the government’s ability to implement voucher dollars as a justification for not funding more of them. In the case of PSH for individuals, the reason there are remaining unspent voucher dollars is because the fiscal year has not yet come to an end. We anticipate that the 390 remaining PSH vouchers for singles will be matched by the end of the fiscal year. This means that if the current budget passes, we will only be able to connect 43 individuals experiencing homelessness to housing in the next fiscal year.
By under-investing in vouchers for single adults and ERAP (Emergency Rental Assistance Program), among other critical housing investments, the stage is set for another year-over-year increase in homelessness. This not only takes DC off our course of resolving homelessness, but also threatens our progress toward racial equity. Black Washingtonians, both singles and families experiencing or at-risk of homelessness, will be disproportionately impacted.
In 2023, more than 90 of our unhoused neighbors died on our streets. Cuts to critical housing solutions in the wake of that loss, to programs that could have saved them, are unconscionable political missteps that put more of our neighbors at risk of a similar outcome. Housing saves lives, but only if we fund it.
The DC Council will take their next vote on the budget on Wednesday, June 12, and we will be working between now and then to urge policymakers to increase investments in ending homelessness. Please stay tuned for a deeper analysis of the Council’s budget as well as ways you can help! We’ll be mobilizing our supporters through The Way Home Campaign in the coming days, so please make sure you are signed up to receive updates.
