Friendship Place Director of Advocacy Lynn Amano on her work with City leaders.
Over the past four budget seasons, our advocacy has progressed in meeting our strategic goals, thanks to help from our coalition partners and supporters. In particular, we support the efforts of the Coalition for Non Profit Housing, Fair Budget Coalition, and The Way Home Campaign. The combined efforts of these coalitions leverage our support with others to significantly impact budgets and policy. We have recently started a Coalition on Aging and Homelessness to bring together various organizations to help address some of the problems faced by older individuals who have faced homelessness.
This year was a tough budget cycle for everyone. Lost revenues from people no longer working in the city, the commercial real-estate decline, and ever-increasing costs combined to make this the harshest budget in a long time. For example, the mayor proposed ZERO new vouchers for the homeless.
Working in coalition, there were some increases in needed funds. Here’s what made it into the FY ’25 Budget:
Homelessness Prevention/Rehousing Information & Data
Individual Vouchers: 148 ($4.2 M), up from zero in the mayor’s budget.
Emergency Rental Assistance (ERAP): $27 M, up
Family Vouchers: 325 (11.5 M) in Permanent supportive housing vouchers, plus 120 Targeted Affordable Housing Vouchers, plus1300 HCVP (Federal) vouchers approved by DCHA for families exiting Rapid Rehousing
Rapid Rehousing: Cuts including a loss of $5M for singles (down to 300 from 600 spots).
Non-Congregate Shelters (2, The Aston and CCNV): Fully funded at $13.1 M.
Street Outreach: $5.3 M
Additional Homelessness Prevention/Rehousing Information
DC Flex Program: No new dollars
Career Map: No new dollars, maintaining 400 of 500 families currently in the program,
Housing Production Trust Fund: Funded at $80M, down $20M+ from mayor’s funding levels the last 5 years.
Housing Preservation Fund: $5M to preserve affordable housing.
Public Housing Repairs: $57.9 M
We are especially grateful to our many FAN members who wrote letters and showed up for Council Walkarounds with our coalition partners.
If you’d like to join our efforts to end homelessness in DC, our Friendship Action Network (FAN) will keep you up to date on our progress with opportunities to help us accomplish our goals. Please sign up HERE!
About our Advocacy Work
Friendship Place believes that advocacy is the most effective way of gaining the support needed to access the required resources for preventing and ending chronic homelessness. Strategic advocacy by staff, board, supporters and participants, propels Friendship Place to work at the systemic level, advancing our vision of a region in which every person has a place to call “home.”
Our advocacy at the city and federal level has led to increased funding for programs that are successfully reducing homelessness. Our work is also encouraging changes to policies that affect veterans, families, and individuals experiencing homelessness.
At the local level, we have succeeded in mobilizing our community to speak out against proposed cuts to homeless services. Our advocate teams testify at every relevant DC Council hearing each year, urging our elected officials to direct resources to proven, rapid solutions like homelessness prevention, rehousing and job placement, while investing sufficient funds in supportive housing to end homelessness for those who are more vulnerable and need longer-term help.
As a result, we have seen the DC Council increase funding in the District budget for permanent supportive housing, as well as new funding for rapid rehousing.
We welcome anyone – individuals, service providers, campaigns, and coalitions who share our passion to end homelessness to join our (Friendship Action Network) FAN group.
Please contact Lynn Amano at 202.290.4318 or lamano@friendshipplace.org.