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Service providers and advocates: D.C. faces lengthy voucher wait times and lease-up delays that stall permanent housing placements
Summary
Several homeless service providers and advocates told council staff that the average time from voucher match to lease-up for permanent supportive housing is about a year (roughly 380 days). They urged DHS and DCHA to execute a rapid ‘sprint’ to reduce the backlog, publish transparent metrics and commit staff to speed lease-ups.
Homeless-service providers told the Committee on Human Services during the March 5 oversight hearing that a large backlog of permanent supportive housing (PSH) and local-supplement vouchers is prolonging homelessness and threatens the city’s ability to rehouse people rapidly.
Andrew Wysenich of Miriam’s Kitchen and other providers said data shared with ICH showed the average time between being matched to a PSH voucher and moving into an apartment was 380 days — more than a year. Providers, case managers and legal clinics described bureaucratic barriers at both DHS and the D.C. Housing Authority that slow key approvals and keep matched households waiting in shelters or on the streets.
“We applaud efforts and conversations currently happening between DHS and DCHA to shorten that voucher housing timeline. We and other provider agencies have proposed a plan to help as a system get the timeline down to 90 days by December 1,” Wysenich said, urging a two-day convening of DHS, DCHA and provider representatives to identify bottlenecks and commit to measurable benchmarks.
Pathways to Housing and other PSH providers described delays in LRSP (local rent supplement) application reviews, slow DHS income verifications, and inconsistent communication about application status. “We have five LRSP applications pending approval for more than six months and three pending for more than four months,” Will Doyle (Pathways) told the committee.
Providers asked the council to require DHS and DCHA to publish regular status metrics (pending application counts, days per step, racial/gender breakdown of applicants), to staff a sprint to clear the backlog, and to ensure timely payments for program claims that are already owed to agencies.
Ending
Witnesses urged immediate, measurable steps — staff reallocations and a cross-agency sprint — to reduce the match-to-lease-up time from roughly 380 days to a 90-day target by year-end, and for public reporting of monthly progress.
