DC Cannot Sacrifice Vital Human Services in the Face of Budget Shortfalls

Hello Chairperson Frumin, councilmembers, and staff of the Committee on Facilities. Thank you for the opportunity to address the committee today by providing testimony regarding the performance of the Department of Human Services. My name is Rachel Metz, and I am the Research and Data Manager at DC Action. DC Action uses research, data, coalition building, advocacy, and a racial equity lens to break down barriers that stand in the way of all kids reaching their full potential. We are also the home of DC KIDS COUNT, an online resource that tracks key indicators of child and youth well-being.

I’m here today to reinforce the importance of the programs DHS administers, and of the wider social safety net. With the new CFO projections showing far less revenue growth than previously expected due to federal government downsizing, there is already talk of cutting programs and services. We want to make clear the real-world impact – and lasting harm – of those potential cuts on DC’s children and families.

The District has enormous inequalities. Even though DC has the highest median household income ($108,210) of any state and the highest educational attainment in the US, with 69% of adults having earned a bachelor’s degree or higher, approximately 21,500 District children lived in families with incomes below the federal poverty line (FPL) in 2023. Roughly 9 out of 10 of those children are Black. As we saw with the last recession and COVID-19 pandemic, economic downturns fall most harshly on those who are already struggling, while those at the top of the economic ladder are often better able to weather the storm.  

Let’s be clear, too. The federal poverty line is a very low bar – just $26,700 a year for a family of three in 2025. In the District, where the cost of living is estimated to be more than $90,000 a year, families making double or even triple the federal poverty line are likely still struggling to meet their basic needs. We know households with children are twice as likely to experience housing insecurity as households without children. Households experiencing food insecurity are more likely to have children at home than those households with enough to eat. In FY23, 58,293 children and youth under age 18 were enrolled in SNAP at some point during the year. This represents nearly half of all District children! At some point in FY24, 25,370 children lived in households that received TANF benefits. Given this level of need, it is perhaps unsurprising that the District of Columbia ranks first in the nation for highest rate of youth homelessness per capita, a persistent issue that can only be solved by supporting young people in reaching stability, not clearing encampments.  

Unfortunately, children and young adults feel the effects of inequality in both short- and long-term ways when their basic needs are not met. Food insecurity impedes children from reaching their full physical, cognitive, and psychosocial potential. Enrollment in public health insurance programs in childhood has been linked to higher reading test scores, increased rates of high school and college completion, fewer chronic health conditions, and less frequent hospitalizations. Other social safety net supports have similar effects on children’s well-being. That is why the District has wisely expanded local eligibility and benefit levels for some of our most important public assistance programs serving children and families. 

In a jurisdiction with as high a cost of living as DC, the federal income requirements for public health insurance for children and parents are simply too low to cover all the families who need the support, so the District includes families with somewhat higher incomes. Similarly, the federal government gives states flexibility in setting eligibility criteria for child care subsidies and the District’s guidelines are more generous than many states. Continuing the trend, while the initial income eligibility threshold for TANF is lower than for SNAP, once families are enrolled in TANF their income can increase to 200% FPL – one-and-a-half times the regular cutoff for SNAP – without the family losing their SNAP benefits. In the face of callous federal policies that will perpetuate intergenerational poverty, the District must protect the inclusivity of our social safety net programs.

We appreciate that the Mayor and Council are facing tough choices this budget season but it is incredibly concerning to hear our local leaders already talking about sacrificing the economic security programs DHS operates. Human services should be the absolute last thing facing cuts! We hope that you will do as much as possible to buffer our children from the harms of inequality and the callous choices of the adults in federal [so-called] leadership roles. Thank you.