The D.C. Council took its final vote on next year’s budget, adding money for excluded workers but leaving housing demands unmet

D.C. Council committees proposed small increases to housing programs and social services during the markup process, but did not meet housing advocates’ demands.

After passing a resolution to allow people applying for vouchers to self-certify their identity, DCHA released regulatory guidance that banned that practice.

Aida Peery writes about her experiences in permanent supportive housing and how she thinks it could improve in the new year.

How does a homeless person in Washington, D.C. find housing? Here’s what you should know about a house application & process for finding housing.

When the public health emergency came to an end last month, families who stayed in rapid rehousing beyond the limit began to ask the question, “What happens next?” Now, the DHS has announced that all families in its rapid rehousing program will be given a minimum of six months’ notice before being told to move.

The D.C. Council debated several amendments to fiscal year 2022 budget legislation to include a measure to tax high-income earners at a higher rate to support a number of new initiatives, as well as a failed measure to allocate additional funds for hero’s pay — a financial incentive program for the city’s essential workers. The final votes are coming up in early August.

Following the mayor’s 2015 strategy to “make homelessness rare, brief and nonrecurring,” Homeward D.C. 2.0 expands on permanent supportive housing and rapid rehousing proposals to focus on individual, unaccompanied homelessness. 

At a nearly nine-hour-long work session held on July 8, councilmembers deliberated over the mayor’s proposed budget, recommending a variety of changes intended to help bolster programs they feel are most needed.

The Mayor’s FY2022 request to increase the Housing Production Trust Fund is now being considered by the D.C. Council, but the fund has not met past targets to assist low-income residents.

Spurred by deepening housing, homelessness and gentrification crises, a nationwide wave of militant housing activism is growing as its successes go viral.

Stephanie Sneed, the executive director of DC Fair Budget Coalition, offers perspective on how DC should utilize federal COVID relief funding.

Reporting on the Built for Zero program, which has been utilized by Bakersfield to effectively eliminate chronic homelessness through its innovative personalized approach.

DC was too slow to spend money that could have paid for 520 permanent supportive housing vouchers. These losses are permanent because funds appropriated for housing vouchers largely do not roll over.

DHS is holding town halls at its PEP-V sites to tell residents that PSH vouchers have run out, so most will need to find another plan for where to go before PEP-V closes in September.

Ward 1 Councilmember Brianne Nadeau recently recommended DC government buy hotels to continue providing rooms for people experiencing homelessness who are especially vulnerable to COVID-19, and to turn them into more housing. The new federal pandemic-relief bill includes funds that can be used for just that.

Public housing programs fall far too short when it comes not just to housing the homeless in the first place, but at retaining housing once gotten

During the holiday season, DHS ran its fourth annual A Home for the Holidays campaign and states they leased up 335 families and singles to housing.

All three PEP-V sites have been at or near capacity for the past 5 weeks, stressing workers and residents who have to wait weeks to get their problems resolved.

Thirteen people living in D.C. shelters have tested positive for COVID-19 cases since Nov. 18 according to data from the Department of Human Services, ending a 20-day streak of no new cases among shelter residents.