Only 97 families leaving Rapid Rehousing (RRH) have been approved for permanent housing assistance, D.C. Housing Authority (DCHA) Housing Choice Voucher Program Director Anton Shaw said during an Oct. 9 DCHA board meeting. While over 2,200 families are being removed from the RRH program this year, only 489 families have applied for the available vouchers, according to Shaw.
The slow rate of applications, which DCHA blames mainly on a lack of communications from the Department of Human Services (DHS), is just the latest blow to the RRH program. While it’s meant to help families exiting homelessness achieve housing stability, few families are able to afford housing when the time-limited subsidy ends. With the high costs of housing in the city, advocates and participants fear families will return to homelessness if they can’t get connected to other resources, like the vouchers DCHA is offering.
In D.C., homelessness among families has increased 39% since 2023, marking the second consecutive year of rising rates in the District. More families need assistance with the rising cost of living in D.C., yet the safety net around D.C. citizens is weaker than a few years ago.
RRH assists families experiencing or at risk of homelessness by subsidizing their housing for 12-18 months. Families are expected to contribute 30% of their income towards rent and are only eligible for the assistance if they are part of another DHS program. Over 2,000 families in RRH received letters this summer saying they were no longer eligible to continue in the short-term rental assistance program due to funding shortages. In July, the DCHA board voted to prioritize those families for 1,300 Housing Choice Vouchers, which would offer long-term housing assistance.
On Oct. 3 and 4, DHS (which runs RRH), and DCHA held mass application sessions. “We were expecting a larger turnout,” Shaw said during the meeting. Only 101 families showed up out of the 500 applicants expected, and only 37 completed applications.
“What we learned was families came to the session but did not have their paperwork, their documents, their income, statements, TANF [Temporary Assistance for Needy Families] information, proper ID, and so on. So even though they came and signed in, they left,” Shaw said. DCHA staff blamed the low turnout and low number of applications on DHS and case managers, saying there was a lack of communication with RRH participants about the application sessions and document requirements for approval. DCHA said they trained DHS personnel on this process, but still, most families were not properly prepared, especially regarding the specific documents required and the differences between the federal and local voucher applications.
Application sessions will continue, but delays in the process are causing concern many families won’t have housing as their RRH subsidy ends. “Is there a safety net?” DCHA Commissioner Rosa Burbridge asked at the meeting. “Is there somewhere in the near future that we can have a safety net that catches those families that seem apparently falling through?”
Of the 97 families DCHA has approved for a voucher, only one family was ready to move into a unit, pending their contract processing in the days after the meeting.
“It’s not just one family. That’s a family that will not be homeless, that will enjoy the holidays. So great job on that, because one is better than zero. Right?” Burbridge said.
