Last week, Mayor Bowser released her budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2024. Despite months of hard advocacy, we are dismayed that her budget includes little if any funding to end chronic homelessness. Washington, D.C. still has the capacity to end chronic homelessness, but this will only happen if the DC Council reverses the significant cuts proposed by the mayor’s budget while further expanding proven solutions to homelessness.
There are several takeaways from this proposed budget, but our top five are:
No Financial Support for Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH)
For the first time since she became mayor, Mayor Bowser’s budget does not include any funding to expand PSH. It’s true that DC government agencies have struggled to implement historic funding but as we currently understand it, the mayor’s budget does little to address implementation concerns. That is why we are calling on the DC Council to allocate the funding needed to ensure that we speed up voucher implementation while funding additional future vouchers.
Homeless Prevention Cut, Some Additional Funding for Outreach (but Questions Remain)
While we initially thought vital homeless prevention programs for single adults were expanded, we now know the budget cuts homeless prevention for single adults by half. This, combined with the 80% reduction to Emergency Rental Assistance (ERAP), is alarming and jeopardizes the progress we’ve made towards ending chronic homelessness. The budget does include nearly $400,000 to fill in gaps left by the federal government for homeless street outreach. Additionally, we are seeing a small but welcome increase in Rapid Rehousing for single adults. However, we do not have enough details about how this money will be used to determine if it meets the need.
No New Shelters, but Some Progress
We are disappointed that the mayor’s budget does not include funding to maintain 24-hour shelter access, increase the amount of housing focused shelter case managers or add critical medical respite beds. We are pleased that some of the money previously set aside for shelter renovations will be redirected towards bridge housing or non-congregate shelter, but we worry about the overall impact of greatly reduced shelter capacity.
Huge Cuts to Emergency Rental Assistance
The mayor’s proposed budget reduces funding for the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP), DC’s main tool for preventing eviction, by $34 million dollars. At the current spend rate, this is only enough eviction prevention to last for one month. Gutting ERAP will undoubtedly increase both homelessness and housing instability.
Removing Funding for Public Restrooms
In 2019, the DC Council passed and funded legislation that would add 10 public restrooms over the next five years. This work, led by our partners at the People for Fairness Coalition, recognizes that all people deserve access to safe, accessible, and dignified restrooms, including neighbors experiencing housing instability. We are extremely disappointed that, despite legislation already having been passed and funded along with a robust consultation and committee process to recommend designs and locations for public restrooms, Mayor Bowser removed this funding.
Please read The Way Home Campaign’s blog post for a more detailed analysis of this year’s budget proposal. We also invite you to stay connected and join us in the coming weeks to help fund vital programs in the fight against homelessness in DC.
