DC Safety Net on Fire! Council Moves Quick on Social Welfare for a Billionaire Arena Owner While Longtime DC Families Left to Struggle to Meet Basic Needs

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“The Safety Net Continues to Burn” as D.C. City Council Poised to Give a Billionaire Half-a-Billion Dollars in D.C. Taxpayer Dollars; Key Programs to Help DC's Families and Working Residents Remain Un- & Under-Funded

Washington, DC — The second vote on DC's 2025 Budget is upcoming this Wednesday, and it spells terrible news for DC's most vulnerable longtime residents and families. 

Here's what's at stake for DC's longtime families and residents struggling to survive in their city:
  • ERAP (emergency rental assistance to prevent eviction and housing insecurity) is funded at less than ½ of FY24 – yet the need has grown and the funds run out almost as soon as the portal opens each quarter. 

  • Housing vouchers for individuals and families experiencing homelessness are funded at less than 1/10th of the need, leaving us deeply worried about the trauma and hardship they will face in FY25 without housing. 

  • The Mayor is planning to evict 2200 families in the next 2 months (and another 1000 in FY25) from their housing in the Rapid ReHousing program. Without any housing solutions for where they will go, virtually no vouchers in the budget, and no way to pay market rate rent, these families are in immediate danger of homelessness. This is a horrific human tragedy awaiting the families and the city unless lawmakers take action.

  • SNAP benefits have not kept pace with the realities of struggling households. There were no new or improved investments in food/nutrition programs (outside of the schools) this year, even though several Councilmembers stated concern about senior hunger.


In contrast, social welfare for a billionaire (Ted Leonisis) was quickly made available by the Council who are primed to serve up half-a-billion taxpayer dollars for downtown arena funding.

“The safety net continues to burn, with the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP), housing vouchers to end homelessness, and nutrition assistance each horribly, shockingly underfunded. Thousands of housing-insecure families lack access to ERAP to prevent eviction, even as landlords have doubled the number of eviction filings compared to last year and rents have risen more than incomes. There are 3,200 families facing immediate homelessness with the Department of Human Services evicting them from the rapid rehousing program — 2,200 this summer, and another 1,000 starting in the fall. And unhoused individuals living on the street routinely face encampment clearance with no corresponding investment in housing and services to promote their health and well-being. DC’s seniors, both housed and unhoused, face the highest rate of older adult hunger in the country, yet their food assistance benefits are paltry, especially in the face of high, even rising, costs for food and housing.” –Niciah Mujahid is executive director of the Fair Budget Coalition.


Advocates for DC's working families and individuals making less than $55,000/year are asking the city to raise money on the classes of income earners who have gotten wealthier over the pandemic.

Chairman Mendelson's recently proposed property tax increase on high-value homes only raises $5.7 million in FY 2025, and while a step in the right direction, measured against all that is at stake residents are demanding the Council to improve the wealth tax proposal and consider higher taxes on those with incomes above $500,000/yr.

The budget vote is scheduled for Wednesday.

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