Related UI Researchers

Publications on District of Columbia

Each month, the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) provides supplemental food packages to half a million women, children and seniors. This study looks at how CSFP operates, who participates, and how it fits into the overall food assistance landscape. It estimates that 2.9 million mothers, infants, and children meet eligibility requirements for CSFP but not for WIC. About 7.5 million seniors would be eligible if CSFP were available everywhere. In states where the program is widely available, more seniors participate in CSFP than in the Food Stamp Program. Use of volunteers, staff stability, and the small scale of operations contribute to CSFP’s simplicity and accessibility.

In this commentary for The Washington Post, researchers Martha Burt and Sam Hall recommend, among other things, that Washington, D.C., offer permanent supportive housing to those who have been homeless the longest or have the most severe forms of disability. Making major changes in its data system would help the city have real-time information regarding homeless people.

This report, commissioned by the D.C. Department of Insurance, Securities, and Banking, examines the extent of subprime lending in the District of Columbia and the resulting impacts on residents and neighborhoods. The study found that subprime lending was concentrated in predominantly African-American, moderate-income neighborhoods, areas that are now experiencing a sharp rise in home foreclosures. The report recommends a number of actions to protect the city's homeowners and neighborhoods, including stronger monitoring of mortgage lenders, better outreach and education for home owners and home buyers, and creation of a loan fund to help persons refinance out of bad loans.

This testimony discusses recent data, compiled by NeighborhoodInfo DC, on foreclosures in Washington, D.C. Foreclosures have almost doubled since 2005, and data for the first quarter of 2008 show that the problem continues to worsen. With additional adjustable-rate, subprime loans scheduled to reset over the next two years, the situation is especially serious for homeowners in wards and neighborhoods where foreclosures are concentrated.

This report, the first of three completed under contract to the D.C. Department of Human Services to assess the District of Columbia's homeless assistance system, examines seven functions that The Community Partnership manages for the District. These include contracting for emergency shelter; orchestrating the District's Continuum of Care; managing and monitoring contracts between homeless service providers and DHS, HUD, and DHCD; quality assurance and program monitoring; rule setting related to provider and client rights and obligations; data collection and analysis; and performance standards and client outcomes. Findings feed into and helped shape the final recommendations offered in the second and third reports.