Advocacy Resources

Here are some organizations working to address the affordable housing crisis in our city. Join the fight for housing for all families in DC!

Advocates for Building Assets and Affordable Housing (ABAAH) is a broad coalition of more than 30 D.C. organizations, developers, housing advocates, tenants, senior citizens, individuals with disabilities, and homeless families. It focuses on promoting affordable housing in DC, especially for low-income residents. For more information, visit www.ahadc.net.

Coalition of Housing and Homeless Organizations (COHHO) is a membership organization made up of homeless individuals and service provider organizations whose purpose is to advocate to decrease the incidence of homelessness, improve homeless services, and to increase affordable housing in Washington, DC. The primary functions of the organization include research, public outreach, education and training, capacity building, and advocacy. For more information, visit www.cohho.org.

Coalition for Nonprofit Housing and Economic Development (CNHED). The mission of CNHED is to strengthen and support the ability of nonprofit community development organizations to improve the quality of life in the District of Columbia’s neighborhoods through advocacy, information sharing, training, capacity building, research and communications. www.cnhed.org.

DC Fiscal Policy Institute conducts research and public education on budget and tax issues in the District of Columbia, with a particular emphasis on issues that affect low- and moderate-income residents. By preparing timely analyses that are used by policy makers, the media, and the public, DCFPI seeks to inform public debates on budget and tax issues and to ensure that the needs of lower-income residents are considered in those debates. For more information, visit dcfpi.org.

Fair Budget Coalition fights for a just and inclusive District of Columbia through advocacy and organizing and by advancing budget and public policy initiatives which reflect the interdependency of the District's community and economic development systems. www.fairbudget.org.

SOME (So Others Might Eat) coordinates an Advocacy Program that focuses on public policy solutions to the problems of homelessness and poverty in Washington D.C. SOME’s work is informed by the direct experiences of their clients and staff. SOME partners with direct service providers, other advocacy groups, and individual community members to identify issues that need attention. Working with them, SOME develops recommendations for local and national funding, policy, and law. For more information, visit www.some.org.

Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless works to end the unnecessary suffering caused by poverty and advocates for justice for people who are homeless or at-risk of becoming homeless in Washington, DC. Since their founding in 1986, the Legal Clinic has become a principal force in protecting the rights of homeless and other low-income people here in the District of Columbia through a unique combination of direct representation, class action litigation, policy and budget advocacy, and community outreach and organizing. For more information, visit www.legalclinic.org.

Washington Interfaith Network is a multi-ethnic, interfaith, non-partisan politically active grassroots organization, consisting of more than 45 dues-paying member congregations, schools, union locals and other entities working to improve life in the District of Columbia for all residents. WIN is one of over 60 affiliates of the Industrial Areas Foundation. For more information, visit www.windc-iaf.org.

Statistics are People with the Tears Washed Off

• Poverty in the District is at the highest level in nearly a decade. One in five DC residents — 110,000 people — live in poverty. Since with the late 1990s, some 27,000 more DC residents have fallen into poverty. - DC Fiscal Policy Institute, 2007

• Many DC workers earn poverty-level wages. The bottom fifth of working DC residents earned $10.81 per hour or less in 2006. This wage level is barely enough to keep a family of four with a full-time worker above the poverty line of roughly $21,000. - DC Fiscal Policy Institute, 2007

• A family in DC needs to make $24.73 an hour to afford a typical two-bedroom apartment, in order to pay no more than 30% of their income on rent. The minimum wage in DC is $7/hour. - National Low Income Housing Coalition, 2007

• Between 2000 and 2004, the District lost 7,500 apartments priced at less than $500 a month. - DC Fiscal Policy Institute, 2006

• Nearly one in three children live in poverty in the District, compared to nearly one in five nationally. - DC Action for Children, 2007

• Approximately 66% of D.C. households pay more than 30% of their income on rent, which is the benchmark considered to be affordable housing - U.S. Conference of Mayors, 2003

• Washington, D.C. has the widest income gap between rich and poor of any city in the country, with the poorest fifth of D.C. residents earning an average of $6,126 a year, while the richest fifth earn an average of 31 times that much, $186,830. - DC Fiscal Policy Institute, 2007