Advocate for Affordable Housing in DC!
The DC City Council is in the process of making decisions on the District's Fiscal Year 2008
budget. The choices it makes will have important consequences for issues we all care about—
including affordable housing. You have an immediate opportunity to influence these choices.
The Issue
Approximately 55,000 households are on the District's waiting list for public housing assistance—3,000 more than were on the list earlier this year. Countless more individuals and households are not on the list but also lack an affordable place to live.
The most important thing the City Council can do right now to address this crisis is to increase the Mayor's proposed budget for the Local Rent Supplement Program by $12 million. The additional funds would allow the DC Housing Authority to:
- Renew the housing vouchers that have been issued to low-income families and
nonprofit operators of affordable housing, like SOME. - Provide vouchers to defray the rent costs of hundreds of additional families.
- Issue more vouchers to nonprofit organizations so that they can develop new housing units for very low-income residents.
The impact of such funding was demonstrated last week with the announcement by the DC Housing Authority that SOME will receive 221 vouchers to house single adults, families, and elderly persons. SOME applauds the proactive creation of this program by the City Council and calls on the Council to build on the momentum of this brand-new program.
What You Can Do
You can influence the City Council's budget decisions for 2008 by letting its members know that you want them to address the critical shortage of affordable housing in DC Ask them specifically to:
- Approve at least $12 million above the amount in the Mayor’s proposed budget for the Local Rent Supplement Program
- Provide additional funding for other housing initiatives to give homeless and low-income residents a safe, affordable place to live.
The City Council's e-mail address is dccouncilmembers@dccouncil.us. Online e-mail functions and telephone numbers for individual Council members are accessible from the Council's website.
The Council is currently holding hearings and receiving written testimony on the Mayor's proposed budget. Through this process, Council members are forming their views about next year's spending. So it is very important that they hear from you as soon as possible.
You can help strengthen our efforts by letting us know of the contacts you make. Please cc. us on your e-mails, if you can, or drop us a note at advocacy@some.org.
Want to Learn More?
For further information about the affordable housing crisis in the District and what we and our coalition partners are advocating to address it, please visit the Affordable Housing page of our website. And read the recent testimony of C.A.R.E. (Citizens About Real Empowerment) members—homeless and formerly homeless people who are speaking out about problems they know first-hand.
Thank you for joining with us to advocate for policies that will help turn around the affordable housing crisis in our nation's capital. | 
