The first vote on the Fiscal Year 2011 Budget Request Act and the Budget Support Act is Wednesday. We will recap the discussions in our next blog post a little later this morning….
To put the budget in context, and remind councilmembers of the reason why our revenue has shrunk and why human services has increased during this time, we are publicizing a new report: The Recession is Creating Hardship for Many DC Residents.
There are growing signs that the recession is creating hardship for thousands of DC families. With unemployment in the District of Columbia at the highest level in more than 30 years, incomes have fallen, and poverty has increased. DC households are having trouble feeding their families and paying housing bills. These issues are covered in a new analysis by the DC Fiscal Policy Institute.
Despite increasing hardship, support has been cut for several services that that could help residents hurt by the recession ‘ including emergency rent and utility assistance. The Council has worked to restore some cuts, but many remain in place. The Council has the opportunity to restore more of these cuts, as it completes work on the FY 2011 budget.
The report highlights several measures of rising hardship.
- Housing and Homelessness: 8,400 households had their electricity shut off in 2009, an increase of 43 percent since 2007. Homelessness among families with children jumped by 37 percent between 2008 and 2010.
- Hunger: Two of five DC households with children said that they had difficulty affording enough food in 2009. More residents are turning to school lunches, and the number of food stamp recipients has grown 30 percent since the start of 2008. Demand for emergency food assistance has jumped, too. The Capital Area Food Bank reports that 88,400 people in the DC region now receive emergency food assistance each week from a food pantry, or soup kitchen — 19,000 more than four years ago. Some soup kitchens, like SOME, have seen a 20 percent increase in visitors in recent years
- Child abuse and neglect: The stresses associated with poverty are considered major contributing factor to child neglect. The number of reported cases of child neglect has increased by one-third over the past two years, according to District figures.
The District has faced challenges responding to this rising need, because the recession also has left the city with fewer resources, as tax collections have fallen. Many services have been frozen or even scaled back ‘ for example, the District has closed two social service intake centers even though there has been a huge increase in demand, and homeless shelters have been over capacity all winter.
The FY 2011 budget does little to restores these services. The budget proposed by Mayor Fenty included no increases in homeless services or energy assistance. It called for cuts to some services that help families in crisis, including emergency rental aid, legal assistance for low-income residents ‘ such as those facing eviction ‘ and the “rapid housing” program that works to keep children from entering the foster care system. The Council worked to restore legal services funding, but most other cuts remain.
This is tough news for residents struggling to survive the recession. The budget is now in the hands of the DC Council, which today will start final deliberations on the FY 2011 budget and will holds a final vote on May 26. Responding to the growing hardship many residents are experiencing should be at the top of the Council’s list.
