EDITORIAL/OPINION

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Hope for the Homeless?

The Amidah is one of the oldest prayers in the Jewish liturgy and in one of its most beautiful verses, it voices praise to the God who “keeps faith with those that sleep in the dust.” It is a stark and poignant reminder that the tragedy of homelessness has always been with us.

Now it appears that this divine protection has been given a helping hand by the D.C. Council, whose 2022 budget underwrites “thousands of housing subsidies and program slots funded in part through federal coronavirus dollars and a tax increase on D.C.’s highest earners,” according to a recent analysis in Greater Greater Washington. “The Way Home,” as the program is called, will also make a significant investment in construction and rehabilitation of at least 3000 units of affordable housing, opening the door to a more secure future for 3500 households.

It’s a start.

Homelessness, as we don’t have to tell you, has exploded, not just in Washington but around the country. Covid-related job losses and evictions have added to the numbers of unhoused individuals and families, but other factors including untreated mental illness, addiction, systemic racism and restrictive zoning laws have long contributed to a lack of affordable housing -- which is, by far, the primary cause of homelessness. Gentrification and changing demographics, primarily in cities, have made once-affordable neighborhoods stratospherically out of reach.

In this month’s issue of The Georgetowner, we begin the first in a series of articles on homelessness in all its sorrowful dimensions. We tell the stories of men and women living on the streets and what brought them there. We explore what our representatives, BID and social service providers are doing to support them while protecting the equally important needs of neighborhood residents and businesses. And, in a conversation with Attorney General Karl Racine, we learn what actions are being taken to defend the rights of D.C.’s most vulnerable and stem the tide of homelessness.

Budgets are moral documents and safe, affordable housing should be a right not a privilege. We are pleased by the Council’s actions and hope it marks the beginning of a more humane and effective policy. As Covid has shown, fate can change in an instant.

Watch this space.

Accountability by and for All?

As with past years, this is the summer of our discontent and our August of accountability. It is both down-the-street and half-a-world- away. Like a new variant, neglected history or facts can whack you upside the head, whether the fall of Afghanistan, graveyard of empires, or a pandemic’s trickery to make us fight over masks and vaccines — or the specter of famine in remote parts of the world, or the challenge of homelessness right here in the nation’s capital.

These are the summer days when vacations are called for — and call to us. The concerns of our times insist on our undivided attention and leave our heads spinning. If you thought you were taking a break, think again.

We were prepared to opine on police brutality as well as the need to increase the number of officers in the Metropolitan Police Department. While acknowledging Black Lives Matter, we believe police need our full support. Yet it is sometimes the side issues that can tell the tale better.

The D.C. budget puts money toward so-called violence interrupters and other community initiatives. A fine idea, but the nonpartisan and non-advocacy organization D.C. Witness in a July 30 Washington Post opinion piece argued that rather than being interrupted, violent crime was merely dispersed throughout the city. Publisher Amos Gelb — an associate of this newspaper — invited those involved to look at the numbers at dcwitness.org.

“D.C. Witness is a six-year-old website that tracks every homicide in D.C. from initial act to judicial resolution, telling every story and gathering data about each case. The goal is to bring transparency and accountability to our city’s criminal-justice system and the policies implemented to reduce violent crime,” wrote Gelb, who insightfully added, “A recent report by the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform ... reviewed all D.C. violent crime reduction strategies and blasted the mayor and council’s approach as ineffective with more than 100 programs that often overlap and even compete with no evaluation. ‘D.C. is resource rich and coordination poor,’ it concluded.”

We cite this particular debate as an example for those with the stated responsibility to accept full accountability, because it is not about doing more -- as in throwing money at a problem or putting boots on the ground without an accurate assessment of the threat landscape -- it’s about doing right with the relevant lessons and facts before us.

D.C. Approves $17.5 Billion Budget

BY PEGGY SANDS

A slightly amended $17.5 billion, 2022 fiscal budget for the District of Columbia was approved unanimously by the D.C. Council in its second required vote on Aug. 10. Mayor Muriel Bowser said she would sign it even though several of her priorities – including funds to increase the number of police officers in the District – were not included.

Also not included was a proposal by Georgetown’s Ward 2 Council member Brooke Pinto to fund and implement a 35-year, $140 million tax abatement for developers to convert vacant downtown office buildings into housing.

The final budget, after months of negotiation, greatly expands spending on housing and homeless services and grants, increased payments and aid to low-income residents, while also funding incentive grants to businesses and some workers. It refocuses some law enforcement funding to violence interruption programs. A final change last week included an amendment that would significantly boost monthly tax credits for low-income families in the coming years.

The historically high budget was fueled and made possible largely by an influx of federal funds particularly from pandemic emergency money – some of which was delayed in getting to the city because of its non-state status.

Highlights of the new budget include about $5 million to hire new police officers – less than half of what the mayor requested for 170 new personnel. Much of the remainder of the $11 million public safety allocation would go toward violence interruption efforts.

D.C. public and charter schools will receive a 3.6% increase in per-pupil funding as well as expanded school-based mental health programs. A last-minute repurposed $3.2 million also was approved to fund full time librarians in the 36 DCPS schools that do not have them. Job programs and training at the University of the District of Columbia will be funded. Salaries for early educators also will increase from the current $17 to $18 an hour.

For small business relief, the new budget includes $88 million, some to pay overdue rent. The often-criticized Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs will be broken into two separate agencies to focus separately on consumer services and regulation enforcement.

A tax increase on “wealthy” residents — those who make over $250,000 a year — will be used to expand the local tax credit to low- income residents and families and pay out a “monthly refund” of up to $500 that many see as akin to a basic minimum income. A new “baby bonds” program will invest up to $600 a year into trust funds for residents under age 18, that can be used later to pay for college, start a business, or buy a house.

That same tax on the wealthy will provide permanent housing for some 3,000 people in D.C. who are “currently experiencing homelessness.” A new $41 million fund would help residents who are currently living in the country without authorized immigration status and who did not receive any other federal assistance.

Funding for building and preserving (i.e., repairing) affordable housing was dramatically increased to $400 million in the new budget. Some 2800 units of new housing are expected to be produced with the new funds.

The council also approved help for the unemployed including to exempt unemployment benefits from D.C. income tax requirements. Some 10,000 residents who waited for more than two months to get their first unemployment benefits will get a onetime $500 payment.

Analysts say much of the new budget focus – especially the increased city tax on the wealthy — was enabled by the 2020 election of two new progressive lawmakers to the City Council: Janeese Lewis George (D-Ward 4) and Christina Henderson (I-At Large). The budget shows that the Council’s progressive wing can now wield some power, a Washington Post article concluded.

The 2022 budget will take effect Oct. 21.