by guest blogger “Ms. K”  I’m a mother of six, and I first got on TANF in 2005 after my husband lost his job and my income alone wasn’t enough to make our mortgage payments. We lost our home and moved in with relatives. At the time I had a newborn and the stress on my family was enormous. For various reasons, I had to leave my job and TANF assistance helped us survive. We shuffled in and out of homelessness for several years and now...

You read on our blog the past few weeks about families struggling with homelessness just a stone’s throw from our nation’s halls of power.  You saw parents and children interrupt the DC Council and ask their city leaders to invest in housing so that no family has to live on the street.  The Council will vote on the FY13 budget on May 15th. We’re down to the wire and it’s time to take action!  Remember: → No families are getting into...

You read our blog posts last week about the crisis faced by hundreds of homeless residents.  You heard directly from families struggling to protect their kids.  In exactly two weeks, the Council will vote on a budget.  Whether or not that budget responds to the needs of DC’s most vulnerable residents will depend in part on how many of us raise our voices to demand that it does.  It’s up to all of us to urge the council to pass a budget that...

At last Thursday’s Council hearing on the DHS budget, Raynette Tolen shared with Councilmember Jim Graham and other members of the Council’s Human Services Committee her desperate wish to reunite with her two oldest children – boys who are presently in the foster care system and who won’t be reunified with their mom and siblings until Ms. Tolen has safe and adequate housing.  Ms. Tolen, who herself grew up in foster care and aged out of...

 What you need to know:  No children will be provided lifesaving shelter until next winter. The Administration has no plan to change that policy. Families requesting shelter who have no safety plan for where to stay will be reported to CFSA.  CFSA currently has no housing resources to assist such families. The Mayor’s budget proposal has a $7 million funding gap for homeless services. The Administration is suggesting cutting food,...

Last week, we told you about the dramatic increase in family and child homelessness in DC over the past four years, in particular over this past winter season, and the District’s ineffective and punitive current response to that crisis.  The Administration does not deny that its policy of not placing any new families in shelter until next winter puts DC children at grave risk.  But instead of alleviating that risk by providing the very services...