Even though I’m not the chair of the Human Services Committee anymore, you know that these issues are very dear to my heart, and I am very concerned about the cuts that are being made to our most vulnerable residents in this year’s budget, and I really want to talk about exactly what’s happening and what we need to do.

Starting with homelessness and housing, there are cuts to permanent supportive housing, to housing vouchers, to rapid rehousing, and to the emergency rental assistance program.

These are cuts to existing programs with people in them, meaning people will lose their housing subsidies. And I don’t know what happens then, because the budget doesn’t have a plan for that.

These housing cuts are on top of cuts to TANF, which is our cash assistance program for families, cuts to the Alliance, which is our healthcare program for our immigrants.

And it’s on top of cuts to our childcare ecosystem. So, creating a wait list for subsidy, and reducing the amount of subsidy, so providers will have trouble making ends meet.

So let’s play this out a little bit: we are cutting the assistance for people who are not working or who are under employed. We’re also cutting childcare assistance, so people maybe can’t go to work now ’cause they have to stay home with their kids, and we’re cutting the housing programs that allow them to thrive, even though they’re really not making enough money to live here in the city.

This is the whole social safety net. And I don’t understand what the plan is. Because there aren’t adjustments anywhere else in this budget that will create a soft landing for people, who, ultimately, are now going to be experiencing homelessness. I cannot emphasize enough. We have made so many strides in addressing homelessness in the District of Columbia. Working together, with the Interagency Council and homelessness, working together as a council, funding the Homes and Hearts Amendment Act – was my big project in 2021, where we raised taxes on the wealthiest residents just a little bit and put funding for 2,000 residents to be housed. This is backtracking.

So I think we are teeing up a conversation right now for how we are going to make people pay their fair share in this budget.

I learned recently from a colleague at the Fair Budget Coalition. There are 1,500 people in this city whose wealth comprises more than 50% of the wealth in the entire city.

That number was staggering to me. And somehow, I don’t think those 1,500 people are gonna notice if we raise their taxes by $10,000 a year.

So let’s do it. Let’s figure out a way forward, so that we’re not punishing our most vulnerable residents with these draconian budget cuts that the mayor has put into place just to make a mark.

That’s not how we treat people here in the District of Columbia. So join me in the fight. We’ve got about half the budget left to go. We’ll be working on it together.