Local officials are discussing controversial new legislation that would require homeless people to prove city residency in order to receive government-funded housing in the District.
The legislation is aimed at preserving scarce housing resources for homeless families who are District residents, officials say. But homeless advocates worry the law is unfair and too broad and will make it even more difficult for vulnerable people to find shelter in the District.
On Monday, November 8, the city council met to mull the changes to the Homeless Services Reform Amendment Act, which are set to be voted upon no later than mid-December. According to critics, including the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, asking desperately poor and homeless people to produce proof of their residency is imposing an unrealistic burden.
Representatives from the city Department of Human Services disagreed. According to the new legislation, residency can be proven by multiple methods: children registered in school and families successfully registered with other safety-net programs will be considered to have residency in the District of Columbia. There are currently 185 homeless families living in government-provided housing in Washington.
According Clarence Carter, Director of the City’s Department of Human Services, the plan is to nearly double this number and to house 335 families in the next 10 months. According to Carter, in order successfully accomplish this and truly aid those in Washington, stricter verification of residency must be met. Council members Tommy Wells and Michael Brown spoke in support of the residency requirement.
Wells, who presided over the hearing, said he has a deep concern that funding which is set to aid residents of Washington should be preserved for D.C. natives.
“(The District of Columbia is) going to have to ration resources,” in order to provide homes to families in need. Invoking the city’s budget troubles, Wells continued by saying that in rationing the City’s limited resources. “The most difficult choices (must be made to benefit) the most vulnerable.” Councilman Brown said he sympathized with those who have found themselves without homes in the District and hoped that this legislation aids their cause.
“The face of homelessness has changed,” began Brown, it now includes those who are “enrolled in school and working.”
He said his main concern in passing these new regulations is that money set aside for residents in the City do not go to residents of other states who cross the border to attempt to receive benefits. According to Director Carter, only 25 percent of the total number of homeless families are funded solely by the District of Columbia. Federal stimulus money that had been earmarked to fund the remaining 75 percent of this population run out at the end of 2011, creating a $25 million dollar gap in the budget for 2012.
This gap will increase again in 2013, leaving the city to either cut programs or find new sources of funding. The Homeless Services Reform Amendment Act does nothing to stop these budget shortfalls, creating only stricter methods for receiving city provided benefits.
