FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

James C. Durrah II

media@miriamskitchen.org

MAYOR BOWSER’S NEW BUDGET ADDS MORE SUPPORT FOR THE HOMELESS

BUT LEAVES CRUCIAL GAPS IN FUNDING

This new budget provides expanded support for Washington, D.C.’s homeless population, but still

doesn’t meet asks from local advocacy groups.

 

Washington, D.C. (May 28, 2021) – Mayor Bowser’s budget, released on Thursday, will end chronic

homelessness for up to 758 individuals and 347 families. Leveraging both federal and local funds, this is

the mayor’s largest single-year increase in permanent housing vouchers for single adults. Despite

expanded funding, the new budget leaves a large disparity between current resources and the asks from

local homeless advocacy initiative, The Way Home Campaign, that is calling for $100 million to end

chronic homelessness for 3,100 households. The Way Home Campaign, comprised of 107 organizations

and 6,000 voters is led by the Miriam’s Kitchen.

 

Leaders from local nonprofit Miriam’s Kitchen – which offers comprehensive support for homeless

citizens in D.C. – express significant concern that 2,000 households will continue to experience chronic

homelessness for at least another year because of the new budget’s critical funding gaps. Currently,

Mayor Bowser’s proposed budget meets just 28% of the urgent housing needs for single adults

experiencing long-term homelessness. Miriam’s Kitchen Senior Manager of Policy and Advocacy Jesse

Rabinowitz says the need for more housing is particularly acute for single adults. “Thousands of our

neighbors continue to live outside, in tents, and in crowded shelters even during a pandemic. This

underinvestment continues a troubling pattern of underinvesting in single adults, and thus, undermines

D.C.’s plan to end homelessness, Homeward DC 2.0, and Mayor Bowser’s commitment to ending chronic

homelessness by 2017.

 

While we are grateful to see the influx of vouchers, largely due to federal funding, we have much work

to do to as thousands of our neighbors continue to go without housing,” Rabinowitz states. Advocates

caution that the mayor’s budget may not accurately reflect D.C.’s allotment of federal housing vouchers,

and they insist that any gap in vouchers between the federal allocation and the mayor’s commitment be

closed with local funding.

 

Miriam’s Kitchen encourages advocates across D.C. to join The Way Home Campaign to stay up-to-date

with key initiatives dedicated to ending chronic homelessness.

 

About Miriam’s Kitchen

Founded in 1983 as a soup kitchen, Miriam’s Kitchen has evolved over the years to provide more than

meals. Today, Miriam’s Kitchen is a critical player in the fight to end chronic homelessness in D.C. On the

direct services level, we serve more than 3,000 men and women experiencing homelessness—helping

them to improve their health, increase their income and obtain housing through a range of programs

and partnerships. And at the systems level, we work with leaders across the city to make instances of

homelessness rare, brief and non-recurring.

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