This story is part 2 of WTOP’s series “The Long Road Off the Streets,” looking at the difficult path out of homelessness through the experience of one D.C. woman.
Local and federal resources are available to help people experiencing homelessness, but “parts of the system that need to be working better together” have left this D.C. mother without a roof over her head for nearly six months.
Belinda Whitfield received a Local Rent Subsidy Program voucher in July 2023. This voucher allowed her to search for apartments in her preferred neighborhood — the only caveat was that the rent costs would have to be deemed reasonable by the District of Columbia Housing Authority.
Her first submission for an apartment was denied.
In September, she found a studio apartment in the Eckington neighborhood that seemingly met the criteria for the voucher.
But six months later, she still heads over to a shelter every night, waiting until she can move in to her own home.
Adam Rocap, deputy director of Miriam’s Kitchen — an organization that advocates for people experiencing homelessness — said a six-month wait is “not unheard of,” but it is longer than normal.
“There’s a lot of parts of the system that need to be working better,” Rocap said.
For someone experiencing homelessness for long periods, especially people with health and mental health problems, Rocap said voucher programs do work. People are usually paired with a case worker, such as in Whitfield’s case.
What’s taking so long?
While D.C. has heeded the calls to scale up housing help programs, Rocap said long waiting periods, such as Whitfield’s, can crop up as programs expand.
“Every time you try to scale up something that’s proven and works, like permanent supportive housing, and especially when it has to go through large government agencies, we see these growing pains and problems, where all the bureaucratic systems aren’t working the way they should,” Rocap said.
More than 40,000 names appear on a waiting list for vouchers in the District, according to D.C. Housing Authority data, which said that the total number may include people who applied more than once for housing.
Whitfield herself waited a year before she received a voucher to help her pay rent.
“That’s one of the steps that is taking far too long,” Rocap said.
Rocap said agencies should assume that everyone is eligible for a voucher because he said he believes more than 95% of those applying for one will be eligible for it.
Follow Belinda Whitfield’s story
Another slowdown is due to the process of determining whether the rent for a unit is reasonable, which Rocap said changed in 2023.
Before the change, people using the vouchers had a price range that they knew to aim for when looking for an apartment. Now, Rocap said the property needs to be analyzed by the housing authority — the location, bedroom size, age of unit, utilities and amenities are all factored in the equation.
Rocap said the assessment of the property has led to people going through the process, only to discover when the examination is complete that the voucher won’t cover the apartment they found, forcing them to find a new one and start the process again.
“That’s creating a lot of headaches because it’s very hard to predict,” Rocap said.
Most people are in their new home within four to six months after receiving their voucher under the Miriam’s Kitchen housing program.
How DC has responded
While the voucher process remains time consuming, the District said work has been done to streamline the process — including a new online application that’s easier to use.
Even with the changes, the D.C. Department of Human Services said it can still take a person experiencing homelessness just under six months to get into their new home after receiving a voucher. For families, that process can take more than six months.
“It is taking residents longer to find a unit post-voucher approval, so we are working to kind of streamline this process, as well, and hoping that we can kind of speed it up,” said Rachel Pierre, head administrator of the D.C. Department of Human Services’ Family Services Administration.
One way Pierre said the city is working to get people into homes quicker is a new system for landlords, which lets them list available units. Those units will then be posted on a website, where people using vouchers can find them and know they would be accepted with the voucher. Pierre encourages landlords to submit their units to the repository.
“We are proud of some of the improvements that have been made in the system, but we do know that for the individual experiencing homelessness, one day is too many,” Pierre said.
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