Chairperson White and members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Kate Coventry, and I am the Deputy Director of Legislative Strategy at the DC Fiscal Policy Institute (DCFPI). DCFPI is a non-profit organization that shapes racially-just tax, budget, and policy decisions by centering Black and brown communities in our research and analysis, community partnerships, and advocacy efforts to advance an antiracist, equitable future.
DCFPI envisions a future where homelessness is rare, brief, and non-recurring, as outlined in Homeward 2.0, DC’s strategic plan to end homelessness. [1]DC has made great strides towards this vision, but voucher implementation delays are undermining progress.
Black residents bear the brunt of implementation delays. Nearly 76 percent of unaccompanied adults counted in the District 2024 Point in Time Count were Black.[2] This is the result of the enduring legacies of structural and individualized racism—such as racist zoning and residential segregation, redlining, restrictive covenants, and practices barring federal employment—that for years prohibited Black families from equitably accessing the housing and employment markets. To help the District get back on track to achieving the goals set out in its strategic plan, this Committee should:
- Require, or at minimum strongly encourage, the Department of Human Services (DHS) and the DC Housing Authority (DCHA) to quickly review and issue the 750 Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) applications for DHS clients currently in process at DCHA; and,
- Require DHS and DCHA to issue timely and regular updates, including developing metrics that will be reported on monthly to the general community so that stakeholders can monitor implementation.
Implementation of Vouchers Is Falling Short With Significant Human Cost
In fiscal year (FY) 2024, 756 individuals exited DC’s homeless services system to permanent housing, representing just 8.6 percent of the 8,768 individuals served by the homelessness system. This is lowest number of exits, as well as the lowest percentage housed, since the initial implementation of Homeward DC in 2016.[3] And the current average time from being matched to a voucher to lease up is 380 days—or more than a year.[4] To put this in perspective, Homeward DC 1.0, the first Strategic Plan to End Homelessness included a target that by 2020, any household experiencing housing loss would be rehoused within an average of 60 days or fewer.
District leaders must treat these implementation delays seriously because they have real costs for the individuals experiencing them, such as not knowing where they’re going to spend the night and struggling to receive needed services like medical treatment or counseling. As they wait on a voucher, these residents who are unhoused are often forced to stay in places that are unsafe or make their illnesses worse.[5] And this is occurring amidst the threat of an Executive Order that will lead to more encampment clearings on National Park Service land. DC must reduce wait times to reduce these human costs.
DCHA has not explained what is leading to the current implementation delays—which is an opportunity for this Committee to interrogate and use its oversight powers to help identify the main drivers. DCHA has 750 PSH applications from DHS clients currently in process.[6] DCFPI urges the Committee to require, or at minimum work with, DHS and DCHA to ensure they:
- Approve or reject all currently pending local and federal voucher applications and issue vouchers by June 1st, prioritizing those that have been pending the longest; and,
- Reduce the match-to-lease-up time for all DHS households to 90 days or fewer by December 1st, with a focus on increasing the pace each month. This is a good preliminary goal as the District works towards rehousing all households in 60 days.
To approve all pending applications, the agencies should implement a sprint to the finish, bringing together decisionmakers in government agencies, service providers, and individuals with lived experience to systematically investigate issues that arise and quickly develop solutions. A coordinated effort is key, because only by acting together can DC improve the lease up process. The District should be prepared to hire new staff or redeploy existing staff to meet the need.
Leadership at DCHA and DHS should monitor progress of this stakeholder group’s recommendations and the sprint. This includes developing metrics and publishing them monthly to the general public, such as specific barriers to implementation and the amount of time each step of the lease up process takes so that stakeholders can pinpoint problems and bottlenecks. The group should also document the racial and gender breakdown of those applying and separately receiving resources to ensure equity in the distribution of vouchers.
- Homelessness will be rare when services are in place to prevent as many people as possible from experiencing homelessness. Homelessness will be brief when individuals are helped as quickly as possible. And homelessness will be non-recurring when individuals have the supports they need to maintain their housing.
- Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, “Homelessness in Metropolitan Washington: Results and Analysis from the Annual Point in Time (PIT) Count of Persons Experiencing Homelessness,” May 2024
- DC Interagency Council on Homelessness, “ICH Single Adults System Work Group Meeting,” January 9, 2025.
- Reported at the Interagency Council on Homelessness at the ICH Single Adults System Work Group, October 10, 2024.
- Angela Hart and McKenzie Beard, “Crackdown on homeless encampments raises public health questions,” October 23, 2024.
- Jenna Cevasco, “DCHA Providers Group Meeting,” Department of Human Services, January 30, 2025.