Deputy Mayor for Human Services

March 12, 2013

BB Otero

Deputy Mayor for Human Services

Executive Office of the Mayor

1350 Pennsylvania Avenue

Washington, DC 20004

Dear Ms. Otero,

Thank you for the opportunity to submit recommendations for a budget that serves the best interests of our city. We appreciate the Mayor’s commitment to the city’s most vulnerable children and families during his State of the District speech. While reducing poverty as you know well requires comprehensive investments in education, training, jobs, housing and social supports, we have focused our recommendations on the most cost-effective solutions that reduce homelessness among families. By fully funding these programs, the District would save millions and reverse the trend of growing family homelessness in DC.

As you know, family homelessness in our city has increased 74% in the past five years. The Homeless Children’s Playtime Project (HCPP) receives no public funds to provide the only ten weekly play programs for children and teens at five family shelters in DC. Our 150 volunteers are dedicated to nurturing healthy child development and learning while reducing the effects of trauma among children living in temporary housing programs in the District. We seek to help create a city that provides every opportunity for homeless children to succeed by advocating for affordable housing and safe shelters for all families.

$54,000, $15,000, $2,000

• In purely economic terms, we know that it costs $54,000 to shelter a family at D.C. General for a year which is a typical length of stay. 40% of the families have been there before which suggests a heavy reliance on the most expensive “solution.”

• To end a family’s homelessness costs an average of $15,000 for a subsidy through the tenant-based Local Rent Supplement Program (LRSP). This is the best option many families have to escape homelessness and afford their own apartments, and stay in them if the subsidy continues as long as they are eligible which we recommend, to preclude families from returning to DC General.

• To prevent a family from becoming homeless in the first place, the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) costs an average of $2,000. Each year, the organizations that manage ERAP funds run out, leaving families few options but to lose their housing and turn to the emergency shelter system.

We believe it makes no economic sense to underfund programs that prevent and end homelessness among families, forcing an overreliance on the costly shelter system. Given the recent media attention, the public is rightfully concerned about the record 600 children at D.C. General. The political will is in your favor to do something meaningful to stem the tide. We understand there might be some resistance to long-term housing subsidies, but the fact is, as long as DC suffers from high rates of poverty, the alternative is more homelessness. We have known too many families who become homeless again after the subsidies run out after a couple of years. They are unable to afford to pay market rate rent on a minimum wage salary and end up in the shelter system again.

Ultimately, we advocate for fully funding ERAP and LRSP to prevent and end homelessness among families. We know, for example, that investing an additional $4.5 million in the Local Rent Supplement Program would end homelessness for 300 families and ensure adequate shelter space year round for families with no safe place to sleep. While this would help clear out D.C. General and the hotels, prevent families from sleeping outside or in other unsafe conditions and make a dent in the numbers of homeless families, we ultimately do not want to whittle around the margins of the problem but to address it head-on. Given the financial, educational and moral costs of maintaining the status quo, our goal as a city should be the eradication of homelessness among children. Does the Mayor’s budget reflect this goal?

We hope the plan for TANF case managers to follow families with a more aggressive, trauma-informed, and skilled approach kicks in soon. In addition to spotty case management, one of the biggest barriers to entering the workforce we notice our families face is lack of child care. Quality child care (as you know well!) has many cognitive and emotional benefits for children and allows parents to escape homelessness through employment and training programs. However, reimbursement rates have not kept pace with market rates and vouchers and child care slots are nearly impossible to obtain. We hope the Mayor will support quality child care by investing $5 million in 2014 and $20 million over four years to raise reimbursement rates and streamline the voucher process.

By more fully funding ERAP, LRSP, and child care, we can help reduce the many costs of homelessness that unnecessarily hurt thousands of DC’s children each year. We hope we can count on the Mayor to make a bold commitment. Thank you for your consideration!

Sincerely,

Jamila Larson, LICSW

Executive Director

(202) 425-8218

Board of Directors: Kirsten Lodal • Robert Edwards • David Graling • Jamila Larson • Dr. Geoffrey MountVarner

• Patricia Mullahy-Fugere • Jan Piercy