Without significant investment in permanent housing resources and real reform to the broken rapid re-housing program, thousands of D.C. families will lose their housing support and likely face eviction or homelessness.

Providing housing instead of handcuffs is not only the moral, effective, and humane choice, but also the Constitutional one.

The Legal Clinic continues to advance advocacy that centers housing and racial justice for D.C. residents. Budget cuts and further underinvestment in human services cannot be D.C.’s response to increasing rates of homelessness, soaring housing instability, and plummeting housing affordability.

The Legal Clinic will stand with our friends at the People for Fairness Coalition this week at the 11th Annual Memorial and Vigil to commemorate those lives lost. We will continue to stand with our unhoused clients every single day to demand that the D.C. government prioritize the lives and needs of people by ensuring that everyone in D.C. has access to safe, accessible shelter and housing.

Despite a promise to end homelessness in D.C., the mayor’s proposed FY24 budget funds ZERO new housing vouchers. As you know, tenant vouchers are a crucial support for thousands of D.C. residents. The impact of no funding next year will be devastating for those who are unhoused/housing insecure. With such a well-resourced D.C. budget, D.C.’s lowest-income residents should not have to continue to struggle for basic resources each year....

Mayor Bowser’s proposed FY24 budget isn’t just tight, it is deeply and fundamentally out of balance– particularly when it comes to the needs of District residents experiencing housing instability and homelessness. Where the government has failed to follow the law or implement its programs, there is no consequence levied on the government-only on District residents. When cuts are made to critical programs, they are accompanied by...