Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless

Announcing our new Legal Monitor Program! Join us to help protect the rights of unhoused DC residents in interactions with law enforcement. You do not have to be a lawyer to become a Legal Monitor. Sign up today!

Proud to sign onto an amicus brief led by @washlaw4cr.bsky.social & @aclu-dc.bsky.social supporting @dcattorneygeneral.bsky.social lawsuit to stop the federal deployment of National Guard.

DC's 200-year fight for Home Rule is inextricably linked to racial justice.

www.washlaw.org/civil-rights...

This Wednesday, Congress will discuss a bill to put people in jail/fine them for sleeping outside in DC. DC residents have no vote in Congress, yet some people in Congress want to rewrite our laws AND lock people up for being homeless.

Tell Congress NO.

www.votervoice.net/NHLC/campaig...

We are hiring a new member of our Communications and Development team! Please spread the word! www.legalclinic.org/jobs-and-int...

We're building a strong rapid response to counter the abuse of power by the Trump Administration-- hiring a Civil Rights Attorney to strengthen our team's work to ensure that homeless people can live their lives w/out police harassment and property destruction. www.legalclinic.org/jobs-and-int...

No one has authority in this country to decide who has a right to live in a jurisdiction and who doesn’t. No one can be banished from a jurisdiction. We will not stand by if the federal government attempts to abuse its power in this way.

The federal government does not have legal authority to disappear large groups of people because they cannot afford housing or because they are visibly homeless. They do not have the authority to force people to move out of the state or city they live in.

People without homes have the same legal rights as anyone else in this country. They are protected from unlawful search and seizure by the government. Their property cannot be taken without due process. They have the right to travel, the right to choose which jurisdiction to live in.

People without homes work, just like people with homes. They have families and they don’t. They vote or they don’t. They support Republican candidates, Democratic candidates, and third party candidates. They have a variety of personal, religious, and political beliefs. They are just people.

People are not criminals or dangerous, by virtue of their unhoused status. People are struggling to afford rent and food in an expensive city. We should not have homelessness in our nation’s capital. But the path to ending homelessness is housing, not displacement.

We are watching closely as the federal government broadcasts various threats to folks without homes in D.C. We want to be clear about a few things. 🧵

@brianneknadeau.bsky.social @cmcharlesallen.bsky.social @cmchenderson.bsky.social @cmlewisgeorgew4.bsky.social @cmzparker5.bsky.social @cmbrookepinto.bsky.social @robertwhitedc.bsky.social
@anitabondsdc.bsky.social

We know
@chmnmendelson.bsky.social worked hard to find funding for these priorities. We are grateful for his efforts. But the remaining gaps are significant, and will result in immediate and irreparable harm to DC residents. We encourage the Council to increase revenue to meet these needs.

Some lowlights:
❌ Not enough ERAP
❌ No housing vouchers for individuals
❌ MORE families will be terminated from housing than will receive housing support
❌ Families will still be forced to share rooms in shelter with strangers
❌ Rights in rapid re-housing eviscerated

Some highlights:
✅Increased ERAP and vouchers for families
✅Funding to expand non-congregate family shelter
✅Guardrails and restrictions on use of shared sleeping spaces for families (Subtitle K)
Thank you also to @cmfrumin.bsky.social for efforts here

@chmnmendelson.bsky.social proposed budget is out. While we are very grateful for all the work the Council has done to mitigate the harm in the mayor's proposed budget, there is still a long way to go for this budget to reflect DC values, particularly in the area of homelessness & housing:

Reject Subtitle K: Don't Send Families Back into Congregate Shelters, Stop RRH Harm, & Fund Vouchers Unfortunately, the mayor's budget proposal is full of harmful cuts to critical programs and services that assist D.C.'s lowest-income residents. Despite an insufficient amount of funding for housing v...

Don't forget to take action here. The first budget vote is tomorrow! actionnetwork.org/letters/reje...

If the mayor wanted to “... diversify the options that we offer families who are coming to shelter and exiting shelter” she would have funded an array of housing options at levels that meet the expected need. Instead, she underfunded/cut housing while proposing endangering families in shelter.

We agree with Community of Hope that "despite so much progress on family homelessness over the past decade... any return to the congregate approach could be a “slippery slope” that could bring D.C. back to its darker days of people languishing in crowded shelters."

D.C. prepares for family shelters to exceed capacity under budget proposal The administration proposed a return to allowing congregate sheltering for families — a practice that has been prohibited for years due to concerns about health and safety risks.

New from the Washington Post:
www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...

Take action and stand with unhoused DC residents! actionnetwork.org/letters/reje...

No jurisdiction that claims to care about ending chronic homelessness or street homelessness passes a budget that has *zero* permanent supportive housing for individuals. DC can and must do better.

It is unacceptable that, after terminating 3000 families from rapid re-housing in 1 year, the mayor now wants to terminate more families, even more quickly, with no checks/balances/legal rights. Rapid re-housing need legal reform *and* sufficient exit paths. #KeepFamiliesHoused

Not one family should be forced to share sleeping space with strangers.

The first Budget Vote is on Monday. Check out this thread on some of our highest priorities for funding and policy change and take action at the link! @chmnmendelson.bsky.social

New: In a reversal of long-held commitments, Bowser wants to change the law and once again place homeless families in large, communal shelters.

Advocates see this as a troubling reversal of progress the city made after closing DC General and opening non-congregate shelters:
wamu.org/story/25/07/...

Reject Subtitle K: Don't Send Families Back into Congregate Shelters, Stop RRH Harm, & Fund Vouchers Unfortunately, the mayor's budget proposal is full of harmful cuts to critical programs and services that assist D.C.'s lowest-income residents. Despite an insufficient amount of funding for housing v...

Instead, let’s decrease the use of shelter by investing more in resources that keep families housed. Read and sign @washlegalclinic.bsky.social action here: actionnetwork.org/letters/reje...

Congregate shelter settings pose a significant threat to child health and safety! We urge @councilofdc.bsky.social to BLOCK the mayor’s attempt to reverse established law that requires DC to provide non-congregate shelter to families experiencing homelessness.

We appreciate that @cmfrumin.bsky.social and the Human Services Committee tried removing some harmful provisions in Subtitle K, but what's left would still hurt thousands of DC families, eliminating their basic rights.

The mayor’s FY26 budget is filled with harmful cuts that affect DC’s lowest-income residents and would reverse long-standing protections for families experiencing or at risk of homelessness. Read the full story below: