This week, committees shared their proposed changes to the Mayor’s FY27 budget proposal. I’m very excited about the work we’ve done in the Committee on Public Works & Operations, which I chair.  

In my final Committee budget as a Councilmember, we were able to send funds to every other committee to help fill gaps in the safety net created by the Mayor’s proposal, including to support more people in temporary housing, and to expand food access, wellness for seniors, and programming for teens. We found ways to take small actions, such as licensing and building code changes, to effect big results, like building more housing and speeding up business contracting issues. 

Many of the agencies and programs under the oversight of the Committee on Public Works & Operations were spared from large cuts. A few were even increased. Not all were spared, of course, and my Committee worked to balance funds among these agencies and programs to ensure the most efficient use of taxpayer funds and protect core services for residents, including behind-the-scenes operational programs that make the rest of the work of government possible.  

Councilmember Nadeau recaps what the Committee was able to achieve during her final Budget Markup as Chair of the Committee on Public Works & Operations.

While the Committee budget markup this week focused on being stewards of the agencies under our purview, I am also deeply concerned over the significant cuts in the FY27 budget as proposed by the Mayor – the Pay Equity Fund for early childcare educators, Paid Family Leave, Healthcare, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, and childcare subsidies, among others. These proposed cuts compound the harm of years of disinvestments from critical programs like Emergency Rental Assistance.  

We sought where possible to find funds we could transfer to programs that support residents’ housing, health care, and other needs – programs that are not under our Committee jurisdiction but that are core to my longstanding priorities as a Councilmember, and that I know fellow Committee members care deeply about, as well.  

Within the agencies under the purview of the Public Works & Operations Committee, we applied funds to a wide variety of needs revealed in oversight, including unfreezing vacant-but-necessary roles at the Office of Human Rights and ensuring that the Department of Public Works has enough funding to hire a manager for the popular standalone public restroom program—which we have provided with a large infusion of recurring funding.   

Partnership with other Council committees was critical this year: the Committee on Health helped fund a pilot program for procuring a variety of litter can designs to help address pest issues; the Committee on Transportation and the Environment transferred funds for the anticipated costs of legislation to help stop the explosion of event ticket prices through market distortion; and the Committees on Youth Affairs and Transportation and the Environment sent funds to make more public restroom sites permanent.  

Meanwhile, this Committee arranged transfers out to fund a variety of important initiatives that the Council already passed but that required additional resources to implement, such as the One Front Door Amendment Act of 2026 to unlock more multifamily housing construction, and the portions of last year’s RENTAL Act that will improve the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase (or TOPA) process for residents, plus a whole suite of new or enhanced initiatives under the Committee on Health to help ensure residents have access to nutritious foods.   

I’m proud to say that, through a combination of in-Committee cuts and identification of new revenue sources, we were able to apply some patches to the safety net, including a recurring transfer of over $1.5 million to the Committee on Human Services to open the doors of the Aston non-congregate shelter to more people in need of temporary housing assistance, and a recurring transfer of about half a million dollars to the Committee on Housing beginning in FY28 to fund additional local housing vouchers.  

But let’s be clear: the Council has much more work ahead in this budget cycle before we can be confident that all residents are contributing their fair share and that all residents have real opportunities to participate in a growing D.C.    

Let’s dive into some of the changes we are recommending to the budget.   

Supportive Services 

One of our core responsibilities as a community is caring for the most vulnerable of our neighbors – ensuring that all have access to food, health and mental health services, housing, and more. Curtailing those services as proposed by the Mayor, because revenue is tight, is not a responsible or effective path forward.  

• I’m especially proud that in this budget we are making permanent a program I initiated in 2021 to provide support to people living with substance use disorders and create safe and vibrant public spaces through the Substance Abuse and Behavioral Health Services Targeted Outreach Program. The Committee transfers funds to the Committee on Health for this purpose. This program started at Columbia Heights Civic Plaza and has since expanded to locations in wards 1, 5, 6, 7, and 8. Despite subsisting on one-time funding each year, this program has shown considerable early successes – for example, a 51% decrease in nonfatal overdoses in the 600 block of T Street NW in less than a year.  

• By establishing a modest new carrier-for-hire fee on food and other deliveries, similar to the way ride hailing operators are charged a small fee, we are able to expand access to healthy food and reduce food insecurity by providing:  

• $500,000 to support the renovation and expansion of Food and Friends’ Ward 5 Headquarters to expand access to medically tailored meals;  

• $413,000 to restore the Office of Food Policy and the Food Policy Council and move them from the Office of Planning to DC Health;   

• $300,000 in recurring funds to reduce the waitlist for the Produce Plus Program, which provides $40 each month in free food for low-income residents at farmers markets;   

• $200,000 for the Grocery Access Pilot Program to enable over 1,000 low-income residents to purchase groceries online without delivery fees; and  

• New or restored funds for multiple grocery delivery programs, including for low-income seniors, and farmers markets in low food access areas.  

• We’re going to restore access to life-saving healthcare by allocating funds to maintain insurance coverage threatened by loss of federal funds, and to establish grants to provide care to uninsured patients. 

• With a transfer from the Committee on Executive Administration and Labor, we will be able to support the wellbeing of District seniors with programs at VIDA Senior Center.   

• We will protect additional households from homelessness starting in FY28 by transferring funds from this Committee to the Committee on Housing for Local Rent Supplement Program vouchers.    

• This Committee will transfer funds to the Committee on Human Services to operate 90 additional rooms at the Aston shelter, a major expansion in the District’s ability to provide more dignified non-congregate shelter to families experiencing homelessness.  
  

Supportive and Accountable Licensing 

With oversight of the Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection and the Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration, this Committee has the ability to make a big difference on important issues with small actions.   

• Our proposed budget expands consumer protections and business accountability by fully funding B26-0174, the “Enhancing Consumer Protection Procedures Amendment Act of 2025”. People harmed by unfair business practices will have a much better chance of getting justice.  

• We’ll elevate the public’s engagement with the Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration (or ABCA) to a 24/7 service model, by providing a one-time enhancement of $689,000 for software licenses to launch the ABCA Online Portal.  

• In short, we’re funding targeted changes with big implications for oversight of licensing boards, reducing costs for businesses, and streamlining resolution of contract disputes.  
  

A Thriving, More Livable City 

Keeping our city clean and providing basic public services is at the core of this Committee’s oversight work.   

• We must do better on public trash pickup, and residents are demanding solutions to the proliferation of rats and other pests. One way we do that is through our various food waste collection programs. In this year’s budget, we promote clean, pest-free public spaces by funding an agile pilot approach to litter can procurement, with the support of a transfer from the Committee on Health.   

• Public restrooms – yes! After years of delay and obstacles to adding desperately needed public restrooms in the District, we launched a pilot three years ago by funding four moveable fully, functional, clean restrooms at a fraction of the cost of building permanent ones. With this budget, we increase access to public restrooms for residents and visitors in almost every ward by adding funds for nine existing and two new units, with funds from this Committee and transfers from several other committees.  

• We live in a busy-and sometimes loud-city. In 2024, after years of effort, the Council approved my legislation to set common-sense standards for noise-reducing home construction and to establish a grantmaking program for home improvements to lessen the impact of street noise on residential neighbors. Today this Committee transfers funds to the Committee of the Whole to implement my Harmonious Living Amendment Act of 2024, to promote comfortable residential living alongside thriving urban streetscapes.   

• The Committee’s proposed budget promotes safe and healthy food vending and improved relationships between vendors and surrounding communities, by adding funding for vendor management in the Columbia Heights and Mount Pleasant Vending Zone.  
  

Commitment to Housing  

I’ve promised since my first term in office to build more affordable housing across Ward 1 and the District. Each year, I’ve ensured millions of new budget dollars for housing. And in 2021, I crafted the Homes and Hearts amendment to provide more than 2,400 residents a safe and stable home. I did not do this work alone, of course. The Council has also committed every year to building more – and more affordable – housing.   

• Sometimes building more housing and more affordable housing comes as a result of sweeping legislation or large infusions of money. Sometimes it is made possible by removing smaller obstacles, making it easier and more cost-effective to build housing. Today’s budget vote facilitates building more, bigger, and higher-quality housing in smaller buildings by supporting implementation of the One Front Door Act, a bill that I introduced and the Council recently approved, which changes long outdated requirements in the building code for an unnecessary second staircase in small residential buildings. The Committee transfers $703,555 to the Committee of the Whole for this purpose.  

• The Committee’s report helps tenants whose homes are up for sale achieve real benefits from the TOPA process, by transferring funds to the Committee on Housing to implement provisions from Title III of the RENTAL Act (many of which originated as provisions of my Common Sense TOPA Reform Amendment Act of 2025) such as setting up a system of trusted Qualified Purchasers and Tenant Support Providers.   
  

Improved Public Spaces in Ward 1 

This Committee’s proposed budget changes make improvements to several public spaces in Ward 1:  

• It creates safe, welcoming, and vibrant spaces in Columbia Heights and Mount Pleasant by transferring $200,000 to the Office of Planning and the Department of Parks and Recreation to support implementation of the recently released Columbia Heights and Mount Pleasant Public Realm Design recommendations. These funds include immediate operating support for sidewalk vending and programming as well as capital funds to improve plazas and other public spaces.  

• It builds new park facilities and makes improvements to small parks in the Lower Georgia Avenue neighborhood in Ward 1 through a $3 million enhancement to the Facilities Committee.  

• It helps complete construction of the new African American Civil War Museum through a transfer to the Committee on Human Services. And  

• It supports businesses and pedestrians in Adams Morgan through a transfer to the Committee on Transportation and the Environment to fully implement the grantmaking portion of the PLAZA Act.  
  

Protecting Public Safety and Human and Civil Rights 

There’s been a lot of talk in recent weeks about how we help our teens find positive activities and outlets – something that everyone on this Council agrees is a preferred and more effective alternative to increased policing.  

• Actions in this report respectfully engage youth and promote public safety by:  

• Funding late-evening hours and programming at recreation centers, through a transfer of $235,000 in one-time operating funds for FY26 to the Committee on Facilities; and  

• Supporting the expansion of DPR recreation centers by sending $1.6 million in recurring operating funds to the Committee on Facilities.  

• We help put at-risk young adults on a path to success by connecting them with powerful interventions to reduce gun violence through a $300,000 recurring transfer to the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety for the Pathways Program.  

• This budget report reverses a proposed cut to OAG through a $260,000 recurring transfer to the Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety to build on the District’s success in protecting domestic workers’ employment rights. 

• Our report empowers victims of discrimination to seek faster resolution of their claims by expanding the Human Rights Enforcement Unit to include an additional Senior Attorney Advisor, Investigator/Intake Specialist, and Outreach Specialist to enforce the District’s civil rights laws. 

Next Tuesday, the Council will meet as a group to talk about revenue raisers. I’ll be proposing a modest increase on people’s passive income that could raise us $120 million. This is one way we can make sure that those with the most are paying their fair share so that those with the least don’t bear the brunt of our current financial challenges.  

And next Wednesday, the Council will spend the day in our budget work session. It’s a day for all of us to talk through the changes proposed by each committee and to flag key outstanding priorities that we were not able to fund through in committees’ budgets.  

The Council Chairman will then incorporate everything into a proposal of his own, which the full Council will take up on June 9.  

This is your budget, and you still have a chance to have your say. You can and should still contact your Councilmembers with your take.