Kevin Gawora

On January 6^th, Mayor Bowser announced she will approve a reallocation of $2.5 million originally earmarked for the Family Services Administration (FSA), which deals with the homeless population and housing services, in the Department of Human Services (DHS) to the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).[1] The decision, to be formally approved on January 20^th, comes as overall funding for the DHS has increased since the pandemic, rising from $614.75 million in 2020 to a projected $862.61 million allocated for this year, after the transfer.[2] Furthermore, funding for the FSA has increased by 74% during the same period, rising from $299.28 million to $519.02 million.[3] By contrast, funding for the MPD has fallen from $612.49 million in 2020 to $528.58 million in 2023, making it only slightly larger than the FSA budget.[4] Overall, funding for the DHS has soared by 40% since the start of the decade, while money allocated for the police has fallen by 15% (see Figure 1).

Although the decision to decrease funding for the DHS is unwelcome news, it fortunately only has a minor impact in terms of the total DHS budget. The cut represents a decrease of 0.3% of total DHS funding for FY 2023.[5] Assuming the impact of the funding cut will be felt evenly across sectors of the DHS, funding for the vast majority of programs within the FSA would still be substantially higher than their 2020 levels (see Figure 2). Emergency rental assistance would still have seen the greatest boost to funding relative to 2020, as 562% more funds were allocated to that program this year than at the beginning of the decade.[6] Other programs within the FSA like Permanent Supportive Housing, Rapid Rehousing for Families, Homeless Prevention and Transitional Youth Housing have all seen their funding increase by 411%, 183%, 151% and 139%, respectively, since the start of 2020.[7] Although data on homelessness for 2021 and 2022 is not yet available, it will be interesting to see the impact of this large relative increase in funding on both the quantity of homeless population and their access to care and services.

However, with the funding cut, not all programs would continue to be better off than where they were at the beginning of the decade. Without an additional $2.5 million in DHS-wide funding, certain programs, including Rapid Rehousing for Individuals and the Homeless Services Continuum, would see them with only 99% and 94% of their funding levels, respectively, relative to 2020.[8]   Although these are not drastic cuts, services in these departments would still have to be reduced, leading to fewer resources available for rehousing in certain cases of homelessness. Furthermore, the 6% cut in the Homeless Continuum program implies an across-the-board reduction in all aspects of aid to the homeless community, from food and emergency rental assistance to housing navigation. However, how the Homeless Continuum program is strictly different from homeless services in general is somewhat unclear in the budget.

Increasing funding for the DHS has been one reason behind D.C.’s successful package of policies to reduce homelessness. Although the recent cut in funding is unlikely to substantially effect the scope and scale and services provided, it is important to balance the cut across programs so that those which saw the largest increase in funding in recent years bear the brunt of the decrease in funding. Ensuring that every program within D. C’s Family Services Administration has at least stable funding relative to the start of the decade is crucial to providing services that address all causes of homelessness and tackle every case with enough resources. It is hoped that, despite a decrease in funding, D.C.’s successful program of tackling homelessness will continue as a model for other cities around the country.

[1] FY 2023 Reprogramming Request – REPROG25-0002 – FY 2023 Reprogramming Request: $2,500,000 from the Department of Human Services (DHS to the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) (dccouncil.gov)

[2] FY 2023 D.C. Budget – https://app.box.com/s/3rlimcccdb0e93ipigk216d423olsilg, page E-71

[3] FY 2023 D.C. Budget – https://app.box.com/s/3rlimcccdb0e93ipigk216d423olsilg, page E-75

[4] FY 2023 D.C. Budget – https://app.box.com/s/bzjtghnj6tsfqxvlleob88r41k7lildf, page C91

[5] FY 2023 D.C. Budget – https://app.box.com/s/3rlimcccdb0e93ipigk216d423olsilg, page E-71

[6] FY 2023 D.C. Budget – https://app.box.com/s/3rlimcccdb0e93ipigk216d423olsilg, page E-74

[7] Ibid.

[8] Ibid.

 

 

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