| 1 | 1 | | 1 |
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| 2 | 2 | | Councilmember Robert C. White, Jr. 2 |
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| 3 | 3 | | 3 |
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| 4 | 4 | | 4 |
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| 5 | 5 | | 5 |
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| 6 | 6 | | A PROPOSED RESOLUTION 6 |
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| 7 | 7 | | __________ 7 |
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| 8 | 8 | | 8 |
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| 9 | 9 | | IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 9 |
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| 10 | 10 | | ____________________ 10 |
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| 11 | 11 | | 11 |
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| 12 | 12 | | To declare an emergency with respect to the need to amend the District of Columbia Housing 12 |
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| 13 | 13 | | Authority Act of 1999 to allow applicants for local rent supplement vouchers to self-13 |
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| 14 | 14 | | certify eligibility factors; and to prohibit the Housing Authority from inquiring into an 14 |
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| 15 | 15 | | applicant’s immigration status or prior criminal arrests, convictions, or pending criminal 15 |
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| 16 | 16 | | matters. 16 |
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| 17 | 17 | | 17 |
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| 18 | 18 | | RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this 18 |
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| 19 | 19 | | resolution may be cited as the “Local Rent Supplement Program Eligibility Emergency 19 |
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| 20 | 20 | | Declaration Resolution of 2023”. 20 |
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| 21 | 21 | | Sec. 2. (a) The District of Columbia Housing Authority (DCHA) administers the Local 21 |
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| 22 | 22 | | Rent Supplement Program (LRSP), which uses local funds to provide lower-income residents of 22 |
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| 23 | 23 | | the District with various housing supports, including tenant-based vouchers, project-based 23 |
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| 24 | 24 | | subsidies, and sponsor-based subsidies. 24 |
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| 25 | 25 | | (b) While the LRSP is modeled in part on the federal Housing Choice Voucher Program 25 |
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| 26 | 26 | | (HCVP), some HCVP eligibility criteria do not fully address the District’s housing subsidy 26 |
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| 27 | 27 | | goals. 27 |
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| 28 | 28 | | (c) Specifically, the HCVP’s exclusion of individuals with certain criminal records or 28 |
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| 29 | 29 | | charges and individuals who are not citizens or lawful permanent residents of the United States 29 |
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| 30 | 30 | | overlooks the reality that these individuals and their families continue to need housing support, 30 |
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| 31 | 31 | | and that failure to provide such support can contribute to costly social problems for all residents 31 |
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| 32 | 32 | | of the District. 32 (d) Furthermore, the HCVP’s requirement of formal documentation of various eligibility 33 |
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| 33 | 33 | | criteria poses a barrier to individuals who, for various reasons such as periods of homelessness, 34 |
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| 34 | 34 | | lose track of vital records. 35 |
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| 35 | 35 | | (e) The Local Rent Supplement Program Enhancement Amendment Act of 2021, 36 |
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| 36 | 36 | | effective November 13, 2021 (D.C. Law 24- 45) amended the District of Columbia Housing 37 |
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| 37 | 37 | | Authority Act of 1999 to require DCHA to issue administrative rules allowing self -certification 38 |
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| 38 | 38 | | of eligibility factors for LRSP assistance “when an applicant cannot easily obtain verification 39 |
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| 39 | 39 | | documentation.” The same legislation prohibited DCHA from using “immigration status, prior 40 |
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| 40 | 40 | | criminal convictions, or pending criminal matters” as eligibility criteria for LRSP assistance. 41 |
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| 41 | 41 | | (f) In July 2022, in response to concerns that DCHA and its partner agencies had not fully 42 |
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| 42 | 42 | | complied with the Local Rent Supplement Program Enhancement Amendment Act of 2021, the 43 |
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| 43 | 43 | | Council passed the Local Rent Supplement Program Eligibility Emergency Amendment Act of 44 |
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| 44 | 44 | | 2022 and substantively identical temporary legislation. This legislation reinscribed the prior 45 |
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| 45 | 45 | | legislation’s directives not to exclude would- be LRSP beneficiaries based on their citizenship; 46 |
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| 46 | 46 | | immigration status; prior criminal arrests, convictions, or pending matters; or inability to access 47 |
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| 47 | 47 | | vital records. 48 |
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| 48 | 48 | | (g) Council Chairman Phil Mendelson introduced substantively identical permanent 49 |
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| 49 | 49 | | legislation on January 19, 2023. The permanent bill is pending before the Committee on 50 |
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| 50 | 50 | | Housing. 51 |
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| 51 | 51 | | (h) The LRSP eligibility temporary legislation currently in effect is scheduled to expire 52 |
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| 52 | 52 | | on July 26, 2023. 53 |
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| 53 | 53 | | (i) Emergency action is needed to prevent a lapse in the existing temporary law’s 54 |
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| 54 | 54 | | important protections. 55 Sec. 3. The Council of the District of Columbia determines that the circumstances 56 |
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| 55 | 55 | | enumerated in section 2 constitute an emergency making it necessary that the Local Rent 57 |
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| 56 | 56 | | Supplement Program Eligibility Emergency Amendment Act of 2023 be adopted after a single 58 |
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| 57 | 57 | | reading. 59 |
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| 58 | 58 | | Sec. 4. This resolution shall take effect immediately. 60 |
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