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Fiscal Year 2023 Budget

Mayor Bowser releases her proposed Fiscal Year 2023 budget on March 18th. We need your help to ensure that her budget includes robust funding to end chronic homelessness. 

Click here to read the policy recommendations that accompany these budget demands. 

Upcoming oversight hearings

Upcoming oversight hearings and key dates 

Between March and April, the DC Council hosts oversight hearings about the budgets of all DC’s Agencies. This is a chance to share your thoughts about DC’s homelessness crisis, the urgent need for more low-income housing, DC’s treatment of homeless encampments, and anything else! Mayor Bowser releases her budget on March 16th, so the clock to ensure her budget invests in housing justice is ticking! 
 
If you’d like help signing up, writing, or practicing your testimony, please email Jesse at jesse.rabinowitz@miriamskitchen.org.  

 

Monday, March 28th at 10 am: Committee on Health- Budget Oversight over the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services (including encampments) 

  • To submit written testimony, email mcameron@dccouncil.us 

  • To submit a 3 min voicemail testimony, call 202-350-1828 

  • To testify live (either phone or online), email mcameron@dccouncil.us or call 202-341-4425 by noon on Friday, 3/25. 

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Wednesday, March 30th at noon: Committee on Housing- Budget Oversight Hearing on the DC Housing Authority 

  • To submit written testimony, email housing@dccouncil.us 

  • To submit a 3 min voicemail testimony, call 202-350-0894 

  • To testify live (either phone or online), email housing@dccouncil.us or call 202-724-8198 by noon on Monday, 3/28. 

  •  

Thursday, March 31st at 9 am: Committee on Human Services- Budget Oversight over the Department of Human Services  

  • To submit written testimony, email humanservices@dccouncil.us 

  • To submit a 3 min voicemail testimony, call 202-350-1927 

  • To testify live (either phone or online), visit https://www.brianneknadeau.com/testify or call 202-724-8170 by 5 pm on Monday, 3/28. 

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Thursday, April 7th at 9am: Committee on Housing- Oversight Hearing about the Housing Production Trust Fund and Department of Housing and Community Development 

  • To submit written testimony, email housing@dccouncil.us 

  • To submit a 3 min voicemail testimony, call 202-350-0894  

  • To testify live (either phone or online), email housing@dccouncil.us or call 202-724-8198 by noon on Tuesday, Tuesday, April 5th.  

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Other key dates 

  • Wednesday, March 16th: Mayor Bowser releases proposed budget 

  • Friday, March 18th: Mayor Bowser briefs DC Council on proposed budget 

  • ADD GOVT HOUSING  

  • Wednesday, April 20th-Thursday, April 21st: Committee Mark-ups and Reporting on Agency Budgets  

  • Wednesday, April 27th: Council Budget Work Session 

  • Tuesday, May 10th: Council takes first of two votes on the budget  

  • Tuesday, May 24th: Council takes second of two votes on the budget  

  

Visit https://dccouncil.us/2021-2022-performance-oversight-fy-2023-budget-schedules/ (scroll all the way down) for the most current schedule for all oversight hearings. 

Thanks to our collective advocacy, DC’s Fiscal Year 2022 budget included over 2,470 Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) vouchers: a historic investment that will help us reach our shared goal of ending chronic homelessness!

Now that the funding has been secured, we turn our focus towards ensuring those resources are implemented as intended and in a timely manner. We have an ambitious goal before us. Implementing these vouchers - the most ever allocated in one fiscal year- will require significant shifts in operations and a renewed commitment to meeting the unique needs of our unhoused neighbors.

PSH voucher matches are behind schedule, but can still all be used by September 30

As of January 2022, DC had ended homelessness for just 100 individuals with Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH). While it was never realistic for all 2,400 vouchers to be used within the first 4 months of the Fiscal Year, this number is behind the pace we had hoped to have achieved by now. This slower than anticipated rollout is a critical opportunity for the DC Council, the Department of Human Services, the DC Housing Authority, and housing providers to collectively address issues that may be delaying implementation and push for lasting solutions.

We must act with a sense of urgency

In December, the 2021 Annual Homeless Memorial Vigil, led by the People for Fairness Coalition, mourned 69 people who passed away in 2021 without housing, including 22 people who were matched to housing resources, but died before they moved into their homes. These deaths remind us that our collective work to end homelessness is urgent and that we must eliminate the red tape that stands between our unhoused neighbors and safe, stable housing.

The sooner this money is spent, the sooner our neighbors will exit homelessness.

Click here to read our full implementation recommendations

  • The Way Home DHS implementation Recommendations
  • The Way Home DCHA Implementation Recommendations