Hypothermia Hotline:

1-800-535-7252

Fair Budget Coalition issues budget recommendations

The Fair Budget Coalition advocates for budget and public policy initiatives that address poverty and human needs in the District of Columbia. It accomplishes these goals by leveraging the collective power of its membership base, which comprises more than 70 organizations, as well as people impacted by poverty and other concerned DC residents. Over the last eight years, FBC has advocated successfully for over $240 million dollars in funding for programs and services in the District, through restorations, increase in funding, and future commitments. In addition, it has helped hundreds of District residents share their stories with elected officials through public testimony, meetings and public actions.

Each year, FBC releases its set of budget recommendations covering many different issue areas. This year's recommendations from the Housing & Homelessness group (co-chaired by the Legal Clinic) are focused on solutions to the District's homelessness crisis. Recommendations by FBC include:

1. Housing and Homelessness: Fund better tracking of outcomes for Rapid Rehousing and Emergency Rental Assistance Programs. Create a coordinated entry system for homeless singles. Invest in Permanent Supportive Housing. Provide year-round shelter for homeless families and fund the Local Rent Supplement Program. Commit funding to the Housing Production Trust Fund for long-term, safe and affordable housing.
2. Income Inequality: Move from a regressive to a progressive tax system and close loopholes in business taxes in order to even out the District's large income gap.
3. Employment Justice: Increase funding for adult literacy initiatives, compliance structures for worker protection laws and minimum wage increases.
4. Safety Net: Implement changes to TANF, such as a cost of living adjustment to benefits and exemptions to time limits for parents with infants. Expand Interim Disability Assistance, education/job training for youth, and food stamps benefits for seniors living in poverty.
5. Domestic Violence: Fully fund domestic violence programs that seek to end the cycle of domestic violence.
6. Education: Invest in the School Mental Health Program to identify and assist youth struggling with mental health issues.

For more information, view FBC's recommendations here.

Budget Hearings

Testifying at budget hearings is an important way to ensure that the District allots sufficient funding for programs that are proven to assist our clients in getting back on their feet. Interested in testifying? Talk with your Case Counseling Attorney or email Kristi Mathews at kristi@legalclinic.org to learn more.

April 7: Public briefing on the Mayor's Proposed FY 2015 Budget at 10 AM

April 9: Department of Housing and Community Development at 10 AM

April 11: Office of Disability Rights at 11 AM

April 28: Office of Administrative Hearings at 10 AM

April 30: DC Housing Authority at 10 AM; 

Department of Human Services at 11 AM

For a complete schedule of budget oversight hearings, visit the DC Council's calendar.

Rec Center Case

DC Superior Court decides favorably for families in lawsuit

Last month, Judge Robert Okun of the DC Superior Court ruled in favor of families experiencing homelessness in granting a preliminary injunction against the District government's use of recreation centers to shelter families during a hypothermic alert (Reid vs. DC). The injunction compels the District to find alternate and more appropriate shelter for families that meets the Homeless Services Reform Act's "apartment-style" or "private room" requirements. In ruling, Judge Okun cited the psychological harm that comes to children while being sheltered in such congregate settings as the rec centers, as well as the lack of privacy and shower facilities that placed undue hardship on the families. The District sought a stay of the injunction, claiming that it would be impossible to find alternative space for these families. (It appears, though, that DC General had empty rooms on many of the nights of the rec center placements.) The DC Court of Appeals denied they stay, and an appeal is now pending.   

A huge thank you to all of the members of the pro bono team from Hogan Lovells for their work on this case and for their outstanding advocacy all winter long on behalf of homeless families. 

This year's Home Court game once again ended with the Hill's Angels triumphant, eking out a narrow 46 - 40 victory over the Hoya Lawyas in this annual fundraiser to benefit the Legal Clinic. The real winners, though, will be the Legal Clinic's clients, with the event raising over $600,000 to support our work, helping us to be present to our clients in their most challenging times.

The festivities featured a silent auction and concessions donated by Dominos, SweetGreen, and Wiseguy NY Pizza. During breaks in the game, Georgetown Law students entertained the crowd with banter and contests. Jack the Bulldog, Georgetown's mascot, even made a guest appearance to cheer on the Hoya Lawyas. 

We retired the jerseys of Dean Everett Bellamy (Hoya Lawya #24) and Congressman Mick McIntyre (NC) (Hill's Angel #7) at this year's game. "Dean B" has been a faithful participant in Home Court nearly every year since the event's inception in 1988, pouring out heart and soul not only on the court, but in support of the student organizers and team members leading up to the event. Congressman McIntyre played in his fifth Home Court game this year, and while a relative newcomer, he has become the most enthusiastic supporter and recruiter that the Hill's Angel's have seen. He will be retiring from Congress at the end of this session. 

A huge thank you goes out to the Georgetown Law students who worked so hard to put together the event, especially Home Court chair Andy Hogan and vice chair Matthew Taylor. Thanks also to all of the Members of Congress and their staffers who took time to come out for the event, as well as to Dean William Treanor and all of the Georgetown Law professors and administrators, for making Home Court such a huge success.

At the end of May, the DC Housing Authority plans to begin a "re-engineering" of its Public Housing, Section 8, and Section 8 Mod Rehab waitlists. All three lists have been closed since April 2013 after the waitlist reached over 70,000 households. The purge will take place over a 100-day time period this summer. DCHA plans to first email all households that provided an email address with a confirmation link that applicants must click in order to remain active with DCHA. The campaign to update the waitlists will then move to paper mailings, which will go out every thirty days until the campaign ends in August. Clients should be advised to be in contact with DCHA if they are still in need of housing assistance so that their application is not moved to inactive status. 

The Good and the Bad in DC's Response to Family Homelessness

(February 27) Read staff attorney Marta Beresin's testimony at the DC Council's DHS oversight hearing, about the need for increased case management and affordable housing solutions for families seeking emergency shelter.

Family Homelessness Crisis is an Affordable Housing Crisis

(February 28) Staff attorney Will Merrifield also testified before the   Human Services Committee, about the reality of DC's proposed "New Communities" model and the loss of thousands of affordable units for families now seeking emergency shelter.

No Sweet Dreams for DC's Homeless Children

(March 5) It's 1995 all over again, as families are being pushed into shelters that the District decided nearly 20 years ago were unacceptable for families.

DC Continues to Leave Children Without Safe Shelter

(March 19) From the article: "We need community members to speak up and demand that the District stop putting vulnerable families in harm's way. Children and their parents should not be punished because the DC government's plans for hypothermia season were inadequate or because of a misplaced belief that families seeking shelter have alternative resources that they are not tapping."

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The next morning, March 12, advocates and community members struggling with poverty entered the Wilson Building to protest the huge income inequality present in the District. Advocates dressed in Charles Dickens-era clothing and carried a visual depiction of the huge disparities in income, education, taxes, and housing for DC residents, highlighting a "Tale of Two Cities" -- one wealthy and one poor. A recent study by DC Fiscal Policy Institute showed that the District of Columbia has the fourth largest income gap of the 50 largest cities in the US: the wealthiest 5% of Washingtonians makes 54 times what the lowest 20% makes.