Domestic violence is the leading cause of homelessness in the District, but each year, domestic violence service providers and advocates fight against budget cuts proposed by the mayor that they say would spell the end of many of the city’s programs. This year is no different.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser seeks a more than 10% cut to the Office of Victim Services and Justice Grants (OVSJG) budget for victim services and a more than 20% cut to the Department of Human Services (DHS) budget for domestic violence services in her proposed fiscal year 2027 budget. With domestic violence-related homicide on the rise in D.C. and demand for support from survivors increasing, providers say that if implemented, these cuts would be deadly for victims of domestic violence.
Domestic violence services providers and victim advocates are already stretched thin due to the increasing need for emergency housing, legal aid, and mental health support from victims. Rising demand on top of cuts to the DHS and OVSJG budgets for domestic violence services in prior budget seasons has left providers fearing these cuts would cause the end of numerous programs, such as emergency housing shelters and advocacy organizations, throughout the city.
Koube Ngaaje, president and chief executive officer of the District Alliance for Safe Housing (DASH) — an organization that provides emergency housing, transitional housing, and financial assistance for survivors of domestic and sexual violence — said OVSJG provides the majority of the funding that 80 domestic violence services programs rely on. Ngaaje said these providers would need $59.6 million from the city to continue the same level of service they were providing in fiscal year 2026.
“Those 80 community-based and institutional partners, including six district agencies, are the backbone of the district’s safety, housing, and legal services system,” Ngaaje said.
The mayor’s office has been foreshadowing major budget cuts since February. The fiscal year 2027 budget represents a 3.3% budget cut from the fiscal year 2026 revised budget.
Micaela Deming, a policy director for the D.C. Coalition Against Domestic Violence, said if the cut to DHS services funding goes through, it would make many programs unsustainable.
“We’ll have entire programs closing down,” Deming said. “That means emergency shelter like middle-of-the-night shelter closing down, and it means entire education and outreach programs so people know about what services are available, closing those down.”
According to the 2025 Point-In-Time (PIT) Count, 48% of adults in homeless families reported a history of domestic violence, and 77% of those adults said domestic violence led to their current episode of homelessness. Among unaccompanied individuals, 22% reported a history of domestic or intimate partner violence, and 48% said that experiencing contributed to their homelessness.
Ngaaje said the wrap-around housing, legal, financial, and mental health support services organizations like DASH and others provide are vital in securing positive outcomes for survivors and removing them from homelessness. She said survivors of domestic violence are more likely to find security and succeed with domestic violence-specific services, not just traditional homelessness services.
“Survivors of domestic and sexual violence have unique needs, and when you put that DV lens at the intersection of homelessness, it does require specialized services,” Ngaaje said.
For Ngaaje, homelessness and domestic violence intersect, and the fact that less than one percent of domestic violence services are funded by DHS, the D.C. agency in charge of providing homeless services, shows that DHS is not recognizing the connection.
“There is no way we will be able to solve homelessness if we do not properly invest to address the domestic violence,” Ngaaje said. “And because domestic violence is a leading cause of homelessness, you cannot support one without the other.”
Victim services funds within the OVSJG budget rose last year, which was the direct result of advocacy after the mayor’s proposed budget was released, according to Deming. But, Deming said, even with the additional funding, providers are still having to turn away victims who call looking for support.
“We’re in a time of economic downturn and increased domestic violence homicide, and so the need just keeps increasing, and we’re not meeting the need we already have,” Deming said. “So even with the increases that you see, we are still unable to meet current need.”
Ngaaje has seen these specialized services help survivors get out of the dangerous situations they might be experiencing at home and make it easier for them to leave by providing the legal services they might need to fight for custody of their children or the shelter with around-the-clock security they might need to feel safe again. And with domestic violence-connected assaults and homicides rising, providers expect more demand for their services.
If the D.C. Council approves the mayor’s proposed budget cuts, Ngaaje said DASH would serve 1000 fewer individuals than it served last year across all their platforms. She said that would mean those individuals staying in unsafe situations could result in their deaths.
“We anticipate that there will likely be higher instances of domestic violence and/or sexual violence-related lethality,” Ngaaje said. “So we will lose people. People will die.”
Ngaaje said individuals will rely more heavily on D.C.’s emergency services, which will cost the city more in the long term. She said it is “disheartening” that every budget season, domestic violence services providers have to advocate for their life-saving services to be funded. These proposed cuts following the fiscal year 2026 reductions make the situation even more dire for providers.
“The organization is already operating with as lean a model as we possibly can,” Ngaaje said, referring to DASH. “Not only are we going to have direct impacts on survivors, but we are also going to have direct impacts on the organizations that are doing this work. We are going to dismantle the public safety infrastructure that the city relies on.”
Deming said, in addition to the cuts to DHS and OVSJG, all of the other cuts made throughout the budget, like harsh cuts to the District’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and the implementation of a childcare subsidy waitlist, have impacts on domestic violence survivors.
“We know that there is a direct safety impact when all of those other cuts happen as well,” Deming said. “And so we are also really concerned about and committed to advocating for the rest of the social safety net, SNAP, TANF, child care, all of those things, because survivors rely on those as well.”
Ngaaje hopes providers and advocates will be able to protect the OVSJG budget from the mayor’s proposed cuts. She said, looking at the budget, she would like to ask the D.C. government who it is prioritizing with this new budget.
“A couple of budget cycles ago, I said your budget is a moral document, but it is also a very clear statement of your priorities,” Ngaaje said. “So who will be prioritizing in this budget?”
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include the correct spelling of Micaela Deming’s name. We deeply regret the error.
This article originally appeared in Street Sense’s May 6, 2026 edition.
