|
Dear Angela,
We've hit the ground running and I have many updates to share with you! In this newsletter you'll find: updates on the Council's latest actions; how I'm doing things differently as the new chair of the Housing Committee; information the start of budget and oversight season and how YOU can have a say in the process; where my team has been in the community and how we're working for you; and a handful of timely resources.
Sincerely,
Robert
| |
What's New At The DC Council | |
-
New Councilmembers and new Council committees: With the start of the new year, the Council kicked off Council Period 25. We said goodbye to Councilmembers Cheh and Silverman and welcomed Councilmembers Frumin and Parker. Chairman Mendelson reassessed the committee structure and leadership, and I was incredibly honored to be assigned as chair of the Committee on Housing. I am clear-eyed about the District's urgent housing and homelessness challenges and know that this committee demands close oversight, strong relationship building and listening to residents, and responsive constituent service. Read my full statement on chairing the Committee on Housing here.
-
A new contract for teachers: On Tuesday, I was proud to vote in favor of the long-overdue Washington Teachers' Union (WTU) contract. They have been fighting for this new contract for three years--in the face of a global pandemic and many other challenges. Our teachers so deserve this increase in pay, as well as improvements like morning blocks for instructional prep time. We still have so much to do in order to retain quality teachers, including mental health support for themselves and their students, more flexible schedules, and more accurate evaluations. The next WTU contract negotiation cycle begins in a few months, and I look forward to supporting the union in securing a strong and fair contract.
-
Criminal code reform: The District's criminal code was written in 1901. DC is decades behind other states that have revised their codes. Before the holidays, the Council voted unanimously to pass the revised criminal code, which was developed over the course of 16 years in partnership with a wide array of experts at the table. In order to responsibly implement it and have enough time to transition, the revised criminal code was not set to go into effect until 2025. Unfortunately, Mayor Bowser vetoed this legislation, saying her veto was due to the rise in violence we're seeing today, under our current outdated criminal code. In January, I joined my Council colleagues in voting to override the Mayor's veto, because I do not believe the current 120-year old criminal code has improved safety. To reiterate: this bill was never intended as a crime prevention bill, it was a commonsense and overdue modernization of our antiquated criminal code. Unfortunately, the Mayor's veto clouded the issue, playing on people's real concerns about violence, and now some members of Congress have voted to overturn this bill. I joined my Council colleagues in sending a letter to the House of Representatives leadership urging them to honor the District's right to self-governance. I am extremely concerned that this will open the door to more Congressional interference in our local legislating. This is just the latest example of why the District urgently needs statehood: to protect the will of our voters and the integrity of our local lawmaking.
-
Budget and performance oversight season begins: If you've had any interactions, good or bad, with District government agencies, the Council wants to hear from you! We are entering oversight season, where we ask DC agency leadership questions and hear from residents to learn how our agencies are working and what they need to improve. These oversight hearings help determine how the Council divides up the DC budget for the coming year. From now until May there will be many opportunities for you to weigh in on your priorities for what we put funding towards in the budget. Check out opportunities for residents to testify about the agencies my committee, the Committee on Housing, oversees in the Your Voice Matters section, below.
| |
How We're Working For You | |
|
My team and I have jumped into action on housing and homelessness in the District:
-
In my first week as chair of the Housing Committee I called on the Mayor to invest half a billion dollars over five years ($100 million a year) in repairing and maintaining the District's public housing. Right now, DC has 2,007 unoccupied units of public housing, and many are empty because of deferred maintenance. We need to get these units back online so residents in need have access to safe and dignified housing.
-
I'm working to get to the bottom of DC's housing voucher logjams, which are preventing people from moving into housing and directly feeding into the growth of encampments like McPherson Square. We have enough housing vouchers to house people, but the system to access the vouchers is severely backlogged. Executing encampment clearings while people sit on waiting lists for support is cruel and is slowing the process of ending encampments. Read the statement I put out this week about what DC must do immediately for our unhoused neighbors living in McPherson Square, and how we fix our broken housing voucher system to end the cycle of encampments.
-
My mantra is that we need to bring the Housing Committee into the community. I cannot make informed policy decisions without hearing directly from impacted people -- from residents in public housing to unhoused neighbors. Here's a handful of the visits I've done so far:
- Residents of historic Langston Terrace have long pushed for critical updates to their homes. I joined their Revitalization and Sustainability planning meeting to hear about updates and next steps in the planning process
- I met with Jews United for Justice to share my plans for the Housing Committee priorities and hear from them about their housing advocacy priorities
-
I canvassed Shaw with service providers and volunteers on a cold and rainy January night as a participant in the annual Point in Time Homelessness Count. This annual survey helps the District learn about who our unhoused neighbors are, what they are experiencing, and what resources we can provide to help them find safety, health, and housing
-
The DC Housing Authority (DCHA)'s new, temporary stabilization and reform board had their first meeting on January 25. I attended and gave opening remarks. Here's a Twitter thread from Street Sense journalist Annemarie Cuccia with a rundown of the meeting
- The DC Legendary Musicians, a coalition supporting and celebrating the past, present, and future of music in the District, invited me to their first meeting of the year and I spoke about affordable housing with a focus on housing for musicians and performing artists
-
I am also proactively meeting with the leaders of each agency under my committee's jurisdiction (click here for the full list of agencies and commissions) to listen and outline my priorities.
We reintroduced legislation:
-
Common Ground Amendment Act: Requires that the District government be more thoughtful before giving away our public land to first make sure we are meeting our housing needs — particularly affordable, family-sized units, which the District desperately needs. I reintroduced this bill in January 2023 so that it can serve as the foundation for our future considerations on land use.
-
Pathways to Behavioral Health Degrees Act: Builds the District’s pipeline of behavioral health specialists by funding a Master of Social Work degree program at UDC and making master's degrees in both social work and counseling free for DC residents and people working in DC who have bachelor’s degrees to attend with a scholarship covering tuition, books, and a monthly stipend for living expenses and transportation. In exchange for the scholarship, recipients will be expected to give back by working for a District school, government agency, or health care provider organization for a minimum of two years after receiving the degree.
-
Public Health Emergency Credit Alert Amendment Act: Allows residents who experienced financial hardships because of the pandemic to include a note on their credit report to give context to creditors and potential landlords. The credit reporting agencies don’t want to do this because they say it would be a burden on them, but I’m fighting to get this bill passed. The reality is that the credit reporting agencies have been doing this since June 2020 without issue because Council passed the same legislation on an emergency basis during the height of the pandemic. We need to now make the protection permanent so the letter continues to be sent to creditors because negative information can stay on a credit report for 7 years. We need this tool to paint a better picture of the people behind the credit score and encourage those using the credit report to consider the full context of people’s lives when making the decision to open or close a door to them.
-
Stop Discrimination by Algorithms Act: I want to thank former Attorney General Karl Racine and his team for their groundbreaking work to pioneer new civil rights protections for the automated era in which we live. There is no question that algorithms perpetuate discrimination by race, gender, history of incarceration, and other characteristics. I take seriously the fact that people are experiencing ongoing harm from algorithms that prevent them from accessing educational opportunities, moving into their dream home, or receiving appropriate medical care during an urgent hospital visit. Last Council period we were not able to pass this bill out of committee before the end of the year, so I reintroduced this important legislation this year.
We published our 2022 Annual Report:
In January I released my 2022 Annual Report, which you can dig into here. Councilmembers are accountable to our constituents, and District residents deserve to know how taxpayer dollars are used and what we're accomplishing on their behalf.
We met with residents like you in the community:
- I joined Westminster DC Presbyterian to help kick off their Black History Month event. In my remarks I urged people to use this month not only to honor and remember the Black civil rights leaders who came before us, but to lift up leaders who are doing the work today to bring more power and justice for Black people in the future.
- I joined a community meeting about public safety at Johnson Middle School. I'm grateful to Jimmie Jenkins and Manpower DC for organizing, and glad to be in the company of Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White, the DC Metropolitan Police Department, and the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement.
- I met with incredible PAVE (Parents Amplifying Voices in Education) advocates during their visit to the DC Council and we spoke about the importance of mental health supports for both students and teachers.
- I virtually joined the 7D Citizens Advisory Council to talk, and more importantly listen to residents share their thoughts on public safety, which is on everyone’s mind right now.
- My team and I marched in the Dr. Martin Luther King Day Parade in Anacostia. It was an amazing day with the best energy, and DC pride and culture was on full display.
- On Dr. King's birthday, I volunteered at Mamatoto Village, an organization and community protecting Black maternal health in the District and worked alongside the Howard University Men's Basketball Team and Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie to package diapers, sort clothes, prep postpartum kits and more.
| |
|
To make policies that get at the root of the challenges facing the District we have to hear directly from impacted DC residents. Below are the upcoming hearings and public roundtables that my committee, the Committee on Housing, is hosting in the coming weeks. You can sign up here to testify.
- Monday, February 13th, 2023 - 9:30 AM - Performance Oversight Hearing on the Department of Housing and Community Development and the Housing Production Trust Fund
- Thursday, February 23rd, 2023 - 9:30 AM - Performance Oversight Hearing on the Housing Finance Agency, the Interagency Council on Homelessness and the Department of Human Services
- Thursday, March 2nd, 2023 - 9:30 AM - Performance Oversight Hearing on the District of Columbia Housing Authority
- Monday, March 27th, 2023 - Noon - Budget Oversight Hearing on the Office of Advisory Neighborhood Commissions and the Office on Returning Citizen Affairs
- Wednesday, March 29th, 2023 - Noon - Budget Oversight Hearing on the Office of the Tenant Advocate, Rental Housing Commission, and District of Columbia Housing Finance Agency
- Friday, March 31st, 2023 - 9:00 AM - Budget Oversight Hearing on Department of Human Services
- Monday, April 3rd, 2023 - 9:00 AM - Budget Oversight Hearing on the Department of Housing and Community Development and the Housing Production Trust Fund
- Thursday, April 6th, 2023 - 9:00 AM - Budget Oversight Hearing on the D.C. Housing Authority
If you prefer to submit written testimony, copies should be submitted to Housing@dccouncil.gov. All testimony received will be made part of the official record.
Members of the public are invited to tune in to our livestreams of all committee proceedings here.
| |
|
Below are various resources that I hope will help solve issues you or your family may be facing. And if you have a specific need, my Constituent Services Director, Andre Strickland, is available to support you.
-
OSSE Hiring Fair Thursday, February 16 & Friday, February 17 at Old Council Chambers, 441 4th St. NW | Come to the Office of the State Superintendent of Education's hiring fair and learn more about the 200 positions they're currently hiring for! | RSVP here by February 14 to attend
-
DC's Attorney General won a class action lawsuit for Instacart drivers! If you made deliveries for Instacart between October 1, 2016 and April 30, 2018, you could be eligible for a refund of $150 or more. File your claim at www.instacartworkerrefundsdc.com
|  | |
In The News: Catch Up On Our Work | |
Need To Reach Me Or A Member Of My Team? | |
My office is available to you. Connect with me and my staff via phone or email. Please call my personal office at (202) 724-8174, or my committee office at (202) 727-8270, or email any of my team members. | |
Robert C. White, Jr. Councilmember, At-Large | Council of the District of Columbia
| | | | |
