Blog / Housing

As Social Work Month continues, BFC is taking a deep-dive into one of our most impactful social services programs: the Housing Access Program, run by social worker Stacey Johnson, helps people find places where they can apply for housing. We’re in a housing crisis in DC where rental amounts far outpace incomes, and in order to find truly affordable housing, individuals and families must navigate a maze of information, requirements, and applications. That’s where HAP can help.

It’s that time of year again: Social Work Month! Each March, we pause to thank our social workers, social work students, and all social services staff. The theme this year, per the National Association of Social Workers, is “Leaders, Advocates, Champions” – and at Bread for the City, our Social Services Department is all that and more.

Bread for the City’s Housing Access Program (HAP) was created as a way to help streamline and centralize both education and assistance for people in need of affordable housing. 100 clients have now been housed as part of this program, and here we share Anita’s journey.

After 13 years of waiting, Sharon (a Bread for the City client) again has a home of her own. The Southeast Housing Preservation Project provided encouragement, support and transportation assistance along the way.

Exciting News! Bread for the City has launched a monthly Housing Access Program (HAP) Clinic that is presented entirely in Spanish. This session takes place once a month on the 4th Monday of the month at our Northwest Center.

Yesterday, the DC Council unanimously passed the Fair Criminal Record Screening for Housing Act (“Housing Ban the Box”) – an extension of the Employment Ban the Box law that Bread for the City advocates and clients helped to pass in 2014.

On October 1st, Bread for the City clients, community members, and allies rallied outside DC General and DC Jail to demand that DC Mayor Muriel Bowser and the District’s City Council invest more in housing than they do in police and prisons. In its current FY17 budget, DC is spending about $700 million on jails and police, compared to only $235 million on housing programs – a 3:1 ratio.

By the time Ms. Faith* found her way to the crochet class at Bread for the City’s SE Center, she was under a lot of stress. While usually reserved about her personal life, Ms. Faith chose that day to open up to Bread for the City staff member Judy Hawkins, who teaches the crochet class, about her situation.

Ms. Faith was out of work and living in her car with her husband and two children. Her only income was $531 in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) to support her entire family. While she and her husband were both enrolled in job readiness programs, it was still very difficult to balance taking care of her children, focusing on the program requirements, and moving her car around from place to place in search of a relatively safe, quiet place to park for the night.

When Judy heard Ms. Faith’s story, she connected her to Bread for the City’s Southeast Housing Preservation Project (SHPP) for housing assistance and case management services. Ms. Faith met one-on-one with the SHPP case manager to talk about her housing situation and gain support to help stabilize her family. In Ms. Faith’s eyes, SHPP planted a seed.