June 13, 2024

Dear Neighbor,

I wanted to send you a quick Fiscal Year 2025 budget update, following yesterday's Council vote. Guided by the principle of avoiding cuts that could harm residents and increase long-term costs for taxpayers, my Housing Committee team and I secured funding for 619 additional housing vouchers. The Mayor's proposal included none.

I’m proud that the FY 2025 budget includes budget reforms I fought for to find and eliminate wasteful spending, redirecting those funds to effective programs. We can't keep passing higher budgets and tax increases year after year. These reforms will make our government smarter, more efficient, and more effective.

Although the budget we voted on yesterday is a major improvement from the mayor's proposal, we have not filled all the gaps. I did what I could with the budget we had in our committee and the support we got along the way. While the whole process isn’t done yet, I want to thank Chairman Mendelson, as well as Councilmembers McDuffie, Nadeau, Henderson, and Bonds who supported various housing and human services needs with money from their committees. Continue reading, below, for a rundown of the additional changes I was able to make to the FY 2025 budget. The work continues* and I will keep you updated.

Sincerely,

Robert

Filling Holes in the Housing Budget

• For residents experiencing homelessness, we went from no new housing vouchers funded at all to 619 funded housing vouchers, including 168 for individuals experiencing chronic homelessness and 456 for families, including those exiting rapid rehousing.
• We increased funding for street outreach for homeless residents by about $1.5 million from the Mayor’s proposal and found funding for furniture for those settling into new homes.
• We plussed up the Mayor’s proposed budget for the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) by $6.7 million to reach a total of $26.7 million, which will keep many more people in their homes--though it is still not enough.
• We also increased funding from the Mayor’s proposal for homelessness prevention and increased funding for domestic violence survivors, since domestic violence is a leading cause of homelessness.
• We funded more housing for returning citizens coming out of incarceration.
• We included new funds for Housing Counseling Services.
• And for those looking to buy a home, we added $2 million to the Home Purchase Assistance Program (HPAP).
• The Council’s budget also includes funding to support residents on Talbert Street while they transition to new homes.
• To create and preserve housing, this budget adds $20 million more to the Housing Production Trust Fund and about $4.5 million to the Housing Preservation Fund.
• We also increased funding for public housing repair and maintenance.

Watch: Sharing the improvements we were able to make to the housing budget

Funding for Budget Reform

I don't want the DC Council to face the same difficult choices year after year, having to cut vital programs or raise taxes. For a different outcome we need to do things differently. I'm proud that the FY 2025 budget takes steps to get us there by incorporating the budget reforms I pushed for: a financial performance review to audit the District's spending, identifying cost savings, and building the Council's capacity for agency performance and program evaluation. I've spoken with leaders in other states, including Delaware and Pennsylvania, who have done similar reviews and found hundreds of millions of dollars. I'm confident that a financial performance review in the District would find a minimum of $100 million dollars that we can invest back into effective programs and services. Though we're facing a tough budget year, we can't afford not to do this work.

Funding for Teacher Retention

Over the past four academic years, the District had a city-wide teacher turnover rate of 28.5%, higher than the national average, with Wards 7 and 8 consistently experiencing the highest turnover rates. The FY 2025 budget takes this into account, allotting $3.5 million for all elementary schools east of the river to use to hire new staff. This is a crucial step, but I introduced an amendment to take it a bit further. My amendment gives these schools the option to use their funding for an additional educator, permanent substitute teacher, a wellness coordinator, or a staff member to facilitate flexible scheduling. The goal of this amendment is to retain teachers, and, as a result, lead to improved student outcomes. Teachers across the city have asked for measures such as permanent substitute teachers, wellness coordinators, and flexible scheduling to avoid burnout and turnover, and this was the best road to that given our budget constraints. I want teachers to know that we are listening to them. I also continue to push for the Council to pass my Teacher Retention for Student Success Act, which would incorporate more of what teachers are asking for to help them stay in the profession.

Need to Reach me or a Member of my Team?

My office is available to you. Connect with me and my staff via phone or email. Please call my personal office at (202) 724-8174, or my committee office at (202) 727-8270, or email any of my team members in the staff directory, below.

Your feedback is incredibly valuable! If you have a moment, please take my 3-question constituent survey:

  PERSONAL OFFICE STAFF

Robert White | Councilmember | rwhite@dccouncil.gov

Angela Fowlkes | Chief of Staff | afowlkes@dccouncil.gov

Katie Whitehouse | Legislative Director | kwhitehouse@dccouncil.gov

Andre Strickland | Constituent Services Director | astrickland@dccouncil.gov

Devon Haynes | Communications Director | dhaynes@dccouncil.gov

Lisa Wright | Senior Legislative Assistant | lwright@dccouncil.gov

Sam Walden | Policy Analyst/Scheduler | swalden@dccouncil.gov

HOUSING COMMITTEE STAFF

Shawn Hilgendorf | Committee Director | shilgendorf@dccouncil.gov

Sean Cuddihy | Deputy Committee Director | scuddihy@dccouncil.gov

Caitlin Cocilova | Senior Legislative Counsel | ccocilova@dccouncil.gov

Francesca Bryce | Legislative Counsel | fbryce@dccouncil.gov