WAMU: Inside D.C.’s Annual Homelessness Count, The City’s Biggest Night for Street Outreach
A year ago, CLC and several other organizations including DC Legal Aid, Bread for the City, and the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless sent a letter to Councilmember Nadeau addressing concerns with the city’s over-reliance on the Rapid Re-Housing program. WAMU cited this letter in their most recent piece about homelessness in DC:
“Housing advocates have also expressed concern with Rapid Re-Housing, one of the programs the city has been using to get families out of shelters and off the streets. Last April, several organizations including the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, Bread for the City and the Children’s Law Center criticized the city’s ‘overreliance’ on the program in a letter to Councilmember Brianne Nadeau (D-Ward 1) who chairs the D.C. Council Committee on Human Services.
The letter argued that because those in the rapid rehousing program are only given a subsidy for a limited time, it sets families up to fail. Attorneys, the letter argues, ‘continue to see far too many families facing eviction after being ‘exited’ from Rapid Re-Housing without enough income to cover the rent.'”