An eviction in Shaw DC, 2016. (photo by Flickr user Elvert Barnes, shared under Creative Commons license)
Perhaps they are neighbors. Or they are friends. Or they are you. A number of federal workers and contractors furloughed in the government shutdown are DC residents, and At-Large Council member Anita Bonds will soon introduce a bill that aims to protect them from losing their homes. Rachel Kurzius with DCist writes:
Now, the office of At-large D.C. Councilmember Anita Bonds is working on emergency legislation that would protect federal workers and contractors from being evicted or foreclosed upon; having cars or other property repossessed; falling behind in student loan payments or other bills; or losing insurance because of missed premiums, says senior advisor David Meadows. (Read more)
Bonds’ office is trying to create a local version of a bill introduced on Capitol Hill by Democrats this week that would prevent landlords and creditors from from taking action against feds and contractors during the shutdown and for 30 days after. The Federal Employee Civil Relief Act is itself modeled after a bill that provides protections for active duty service members.
The shutdown’s impact on housing in DC goes beyond federal workers struggling to pay their bills. We have neighbors in some apartment buildings who receive housing vouchers and assistance. They could be impacted if the shutdown goes beyond 90 days. Says DCist:
The D.C. Housing Authority… received its standard payment from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in early January and has set aside financial reserves that will allow the agency to operate through March of this year.
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ADRIAN SALSGIVER says
As the homeless population increases, we better think of adding tents and a feeding station to the Van Ness neighborhood. When the Social Security payments stop and the EBT cards stop working, only the people who lived in the Van Ness neighborhood prior to the shutdown should be eligible to live in the encampment.
Green Eyeshades says
This comment is impressively apocalyptic. I did like the comment. It is not too extreme. We certainly see plenty of evidence that the Orange Maniac in the White House would like nothing better than to bring apocalypse down on our heads purely for his sadistic pleasure.
There is no current risk that “Social Security payments [will] stop.” But if federal food stamp benefits (SNAP) are paid out through EBT cards, there is indeed a risk that “EBT cards [will] stop working” because the shutdown currently affects the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, which pays the SNAP benefits. WaPo reported that food stamps might run out as early as March.
What we really need is not “tents and a feeding station” but emergency appropriations by DC Council to replace all SNAP benefits and other “EBT card” benefits affected by the shutdown. The District can bill Congress for the cost after the shutdown is over.
Green Eyeshades says
According to a tweet from the Mayor’s office and this video of the Mayor at the Capital Area Food Bank yesterday, the District is in fact adding Two Million Dollars in support for that Food Bank to provide food for furloughed federal workers:
https://www.pscp.tv/w/1BdGYOveXeBxX
(Link to Mayor’s tweet courtesy of District Line Daily on Washington City Paper, wcp dot com.)
WaPo reported yesterday that the District is taking steps to make furloughed federal workers eligible for unemployment benefits from the District, despite resistance from the federal Dept. of Labor:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/as-shutdown-drags-dc-approves-eviction-protections-and-emergency-food-stamp-funds/2019/01/22/2e2686b2-1e64-11e9-8b59-0a28f2191131_story.html
That WaPo story had a photo of the Mayor at the Food Bank yesterday, but said nothing about the District giving that Food Bank Two Million Dollars.
WaPo’s lede was that DC Council did in fact pass Councilmember Anita Bonds’s emergency bill to protect furloughed workers from evictions and foreclosures.
Tracy J. says
Thanks for this update. I see now that Mayor Bowser and the District’s Housing Finance Agency have also announced a $9 million program to protect furloughed workers from foreclosure.
Green Eyeshades says
apologies for posting too quickly — WaPo’s second graf did in fact state that “the Bowser administration tapped $2 million in emergency funds to help food stamp recipients,” but did not earmark that support specifically for furloughed workers.