Zoning Commission adopts amendment to let CFSA group homes serve foster youth to age 21

The Zoning Commission approved final action on zoning case No. 24-19 on May 1, 2025, adopting a text amendment to Subtitle B §100.2 to explicitly include foster children under age 21 within the definition of “child” for youth residential care homes. The motion passed by a roll-call vote of 5-0.

The change, requested by the DC Child and Family Services Agency, aligns the zoning definition with the Youth Residential Facility Licensure Act and was designed to remove a zoning-related barrier that had prevented the Department of Buildings from issuing occupancy/ licensing letters for facilities serving foster youth older than 18. Tanya Torres Trice, interim director of the DC Child and Family Services Agency, told the commission the discrepancy discovered in 2023 left CFSA unable to license group homes for older foster youth despite the licensure act allowing care through age 21.

"Failure to amend the zoning definition will create a crucial shortage of placements for our older foster youth," Torres Trice said, adding that the agency’s current contracts with group-home providers are expiring this year and that losing those homes would displace 49 foster youth.

Why it matters: CFSA contracts with eight group-home providers that serve older foster youth; according to the presentation, only one contract had renewed at the time of the hearing, two had extensions to August 2025, and five were set to expire later in 2025. CFSA said emergency regulations granted earlier allowed continuity for a limited period but that a permanent zoning fix was needed to avoid placement disruptions for the affected youth.

Office of Planning planner Maxine Brown Roberts told the commission OP was supportive and recommended approval, saying the OP report was in the public file. The commission’s Office of Zoning staff noted that the commission previously granted emergency approval on Jan. 30, 2025, which remained effective for 120 days unless the commission took final action sooner.

The petitioners told the commission that before 2023 the Department of Buildings had issued letters permitting CFSA-licensed group homes to serve youth up to age 21, but a 2023 DOB clarification interpreted the existing zoning definition to cap occupants at 18. CFSA said that interpretation prevented DOB from issuing the letters necessary for licensing despite the licensure act’s language.

Several group-home organizations and an individual formerly in care submitted letters in support. The record included letters from Sasha Bruce (Exhibit 22), Maximum Quest Residential Care (Exhibit 24), God Anointed and New Generation (Exhibit 26), and Umbrella Therapeutic Services (Exhibit 27), plus a personal testimony from Kenneth Jenkins (Exhibit 23). Commissioner Wright said he was satisfied with the information presented: "I think this is a very important and appropriate text amendment, and ... I’m satisfied with the information that I have." Vice Chair Miller said he was "glad we did address it on an emergency basis earlier" to avoid service disruption.

The commission offered little debate and moved directly to a motion to approve. The motion text on the record asked the commission to "approve zoning case number 24-19, DC Child Family Services Agency, text amendment to Subtitle B §100.2." The subsequent roll-call vote recorded Commissioners Imamura (yes), Miller (yes), Hood (yes), Wright (yes) and Stidham (yes); the final tally was 5-0-0 in favor of approval.

The petitioners and Office of Planning emphasized the change was intended to align local zoning with the Youth Residential Facility Licensure Act and restore CFSA’s ability to license group homes that provide services to foster youth through age 21. Chair Anthony Hood thanked the CFSA team for their work on the issue and noted the commission had received multiple supportive submissions.

The commission noted it will next convene for its regularly scheduled meeting on May 8, 2025. That meeting schedule was announced as the hearing concluded.