David Schwartzman’s Responses
Budget Scenario: Assume the District of Columbia budget will have only a limited amount of funding for new initiatives in the coming years, given the slow economy. Highlight your top 5 budget priorities that you would promote: one being your highest priority and five being your lowest. (Examples of what could be accomplished are below each category.)
______1_ Workforce Development
* Eliminate the training waitlist for adults
* Provide adult literacy education
_____1__ Housing
* Provide Local Rent Supplement Voucher for homeless families & individual
* Fund the Housing Production Trust Fund, so that nonprofit & private
developers can build affordable housing
______4_ Public Safety
* Hire additional police
* Deploy more police to the “hot spots”
______5_ Economic Development
* Fund a DC Soccer stadium
_____1__ Health/Nutrition
* Provide mental health services as a DC Health Care Alliance benefit
* Increase home visitation to the some 9,000 eligible children at risk of abuse and neglect
______3_ Public Works
* Increase funding for roadway repavement
* Increase funding for litter and graffiti removal programs
______1 Homeless/Prevention Services
* Secure downtown homeless shelter space for men and women
* Increase funding for Emergency Rental Assistance Program
______1_ Education
* Expand the DC Public Library early literacy program
* Fund demonstration projects designed to improve teacher quality across all
grades in public schools
_____1 Low-income Tax Relief
* Update Schedule H to provide greater tax relief for low income residents
* Increase the standard deduction in DC’s income tax
_____5__ General Tax Relief
* Cut the commercial property tax rate
* Cut the property tax rate for all homeowners
BUDGET TRANSPARENCY
FACT: The District's FY 2009 budget included no narrative sections to describe the programs and activities funded under each agency's budget. Prior-year budgets had included such narratives (though they often were brief and incomplete.)
FACT: In the budgets for many DC agencies, numerous programs often are combined into a single line item, making it hard to track funding for individual programs. The Summer Youth Employment Program, for example, does not have its own line item but is instead part of a larger "youth programs" line in the Department of Employment Services budget
FACT: Performance measures for many DC agencies often fail to reflect the most important functions of the agency.
QUESTION: Will you commit to seeking public input, through a hearing, on the transparency of the budgets for the agencies where you have oversight (where you serve on a committee)?
x_Yes _____No
QUESTION: Will you commit to reviewing the agency performance measure of the agencies where you have oversight to ensure that they are meaningful and reflect the most important functions of the agency?
x__Yes _____No
QUESTION: What else will you do to improve the transparency of the DC budget? (100 words)
The FY 2009 budget is woefully inadequate to meet the challenges we face, in particular, the highest income inequality in the nation combined with the lowest life expectancy. Above all, budget transparency should be user friendly for not only advocates and activists but also any resident who is interested in the District’s budget, its impacts and possible deficiencies. DC’s budget should provide fully documented data on the challenges facing our community, specifically, historical expenditures for specific programs, the number of those in need and a profile of the outcomes, as well as the relative proportion of local and federal funding.
CHILDREN & YOUTH
FACT: Only about 53% of DC youth graduate from high school.
FACT: Each year, 1,400 youth receive shelter and transitional housing from homeless youth programs.
FACT: Between 1,000 and 1,500 HIV-infected young people live in the Washington, DC area, yet only 100 of them are receiving medical care.
QUESTION: Do you support increasing funding for homeless youth services?
x__Yes _____No
QUESTION: Will you work to ensure that all District schools develop and implement curricula in accordance with the 2007 Health Learning Standards, which requires that all DC schools teach health knowledge and self-management skills, in an age-appropriate manner at all levels of education—Elementary through Senior High?
__x___Yes _____No
QUESTION: How do you plan to ensure that District youth have access to HIV and reproductive health services both in school and in their communities? (100 words)
Free contraceptive services, including counseling, should be provided in all District high schools and health care facilities. Further, this service should be widely advertised in public places, such as Metro, and on radio and TV. Free condoms should be distributed in public high schools, with instruction on their proper use. Education in safe and responsible sex emphasizing gender equality and respect for the diversity of sexual preference should be mandatory in public schools and other facilities. Similarly, HIV infection prevention, testing and counseling must be provided, including needle exchange and easy entry into substance abuse treatment.
QUESTION: How do you plan to work with the Chancellor and the Board of Education to increase high school graduation rates in DC? (100 words)
The closure of neighborhood public schools, especially in working class wards, is unacceptable and should be reversed. The root cause of poor student performance is the high poverty rate, for example, in Wards 7 and 8 (see DCFPI, EPI studies, e.g., http://www.boldapproach.org/statement.html).). Implement a comprehensive poverty elimination program, with social work support in school facilities serving low income families. Real parent/teacher collaboration, not top down dictation, and budgetary transparency are imperative. So is the creation of apprenticeship programs in our high schools, partnerships with non-profits, businesses and unions to provide 21st century Green Collar employment for our youth upon graduation.
ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE
FACT: More than 12% of adult DC residents (approximately 59,000 individuals) have a problem with alcohol or drug abuse. Additionally, more than half of homeless individuals suffer from either serious mental illness or chronic substance abuse.
FACT: Approximately 20% of the adult population is believed to have some form of mental health disorder, and mental illness is the second leading cause of disease burden in the U.S. Mental illness and substance abuse are more prevalent among those experiencing homelessness and poverty, and they have significant long-term impacts on children and families.
FACT: Nearly 50,000 low-income DC residents are enrolled in the DC HealthCare Alliance, which serves people earning less than 200% of the Federal Poverty Line ($20,800 for an individual). The program has no benefits for either mental health or substance abuse treatment services.
QUESTION: Would you support adding substance abuse treatment and mental health benefits to the Alliance coverage, to create parity with physical health benefits?
x__ Yes _____No
QUESTION: What would you do to support those needing treatment for substance abuse and mental illness? (100 words)
First, fully fund these programs to serve all in need, by increasing local dollars with fair DC taxation, implementing fully competent in-house management of federal grants and proposals. Further, provide affordable housing for all in need, if necessary in residential facilities, with long term intervention, child care, comprehensive substance abuse and HIV/AIDS treatment programs, mental health counseling and job training. Hire more social workers to reduce the present caseload so that timely intervention is possible. Finally, The DC City Council should implement single-payer health coverage as soon as possible (Maryland Legislature Universal Health Care bills are models for this effort).
HEALTHY FOOD
FACT: DC has the highest childhood obesity rate in the country, with 39.5% of youth ages 10-17 overweight or obese.
FACT: DC has 24 major chain grocery stores, but only three east of the Anacostia River—the area with the highest poverty rate.
FACT: For many families, food stamps are their primary means of purchasing food: 87% have incomes below the poverty line ($17,170 for a family of three). Most people using food stamps run out of food stamps in the third week of the month.
QUESTION: Would you support the Fresh Food Opportunities Bank? The Fresh Food Opportunities Bank would give small capital grants for infrastructure-building to corner stores, farmers’ markets, and non-profit feeding programs to increase access to healthy food options. It would also support nutrition education and outreach to increase participation in the federal nutrition programs.
x__Yes _____No
QUESTION: How do you plan to ensure that all DC residents have access to healthy food choices? (100 words)
Yes, the District government should encourage, subsidize and support “Grow Food in DC Coops” in neighborhoods, especially those with high proportion of low income residents who suffer most from bad nutrition, high food prices and lack of exercise. Urban farming in the District should be a vital component of our local carbon-emissions reduction program, by replacing the commercial supply of food from fossil-fuel intensive industrial agriculture (see my testimony: http://www.dcstatehoodgreen.org/testimony/testimony.php?annc_id=266§ion_id=1). Create apprenticeship programs that include a focus on urban agriculture in our public schools, partnering with non-profits, businesses and unions. Finally, ban transfats from District restaurants, just as California.
HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS
FACT: DC has lost thousands of units of affordable housing in recent years, making it the least affordable state in which to live. In 2008, a worker earning the minimum wage must work approximately 120 hours per week in order to afford a two-bedroom unit at the area's Fair Market Rent. More than 30,000 low-income DC households spend at least half their income on housing, leaving them at risk of homelessness if they experience a disruption in their income.
FACT: Due in part to the loss of affordable housing, the number of homeless individuals and families is staggeringly high: at least 6,000 individuals and families are homeless on any given day in DC, over 8,000 households are on the DC Housing Authority waiting list with a homeless preference and over 200 families are on the waiting list for emergency shelter on any given day. The emergency shelter capacity has shrunk over the years even as homelessness has increased.
FACT: Emergency assistance calls are one of the main unmet needs reported by the DC Council constituent services staff, and organizations that administer the funding for the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) have had to turn applicants away. Additionally, under current agency regulations, single adults without disabilities, homeowners and working poor persons with income over 125% of the poverty rate are ineligible for the program.
QUESTION: Do you agree that the District should ensure sufficient emergency shelter capacity to serve any District family/individual facing homelessness, including shelter in the downtown area?
x__Yes _____No
QUESTION: Do you agree that ERAP funding and eligibility guidelines should be expanded to include coverage for all individuals and families who make up to 200% of the poverty level, including those residents undergoing foreclosures on their homes?
x___Yes _____No
QUESTION: If you support full implementation and funding of the recommendations of the Comprehensive Housing Strategy Task Force, including funding a Rent Supplement Program that will assist 15,000 households over the next 15 years, an emergency assistance program funded at $20 million annually, and the creation of 6,000 units net new affordable permanent housing units by 2014 for those DC residents who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, please explain your vision and plan for each of the following separately: homelessness prevention, homeless services, and affordable housing production and preservation.
a. Homelessness Prevention (100 words)
Homelessness is driven by the lack of income security and affordable housing for all in need. Hence, prevention must focus on these causes. Income self-sufficiency should be DC’s officially committed goal. The local RSP and emergency assistance programs must be fully funded, likewise temporary shelter housing for both families and individuals. The General Public Assistance program, eliminated by the Control Board, should be restored. Full funding of substance abuse programs is mandatory. Tax fairness is needed to generate necessary funding. The Mayor and City Council should get behind a campaign for PILOTs from the World Bank/IMF and Fannie Mae.
b. Homeless Services (100 words)
Housing is a human right, not a token trickledown from the prioritization of corporate development and the flow of wealth to the top 1% income bracket. Philanthropy alone will never eliminate homeliness and poverty. Corporations and wealthy individuals paying their fair share of taxes will, along with real government commitment. Existing homeless housing should be maintained and improved, not closed. Permanent affordable housing coupled with comprehensive support programs, including substance abuse treatment, should be a District priority, not economic development that generates luxury housing for the few and jobs for non-DC residents, while displacing out our low/moderate income families.
c. Affordable Housing Production and Preservation (100 words)
If the private sector fails to provide enough affordable housing then the District government should subsidize its creation with a comprehensive long term program, e.g., by renovating vacant property with low cost financing and support indexed to income status. The Housing Production Trust Fund and Rent Supplement Program should be fully funded, with vigorous enforcement of anti-discrimination policies based on race, gender and income status. Similarly, fully fund the required additional units of Department of Mental Health housing. State of the art green fully affordable public housing should be constructed on municipal land and financed by the District government.
INCOME SUPPORT
FACT: TANF is a basic assistance program for low-income families with children, of which 90% of families are female headed household, providing monthly cash assistance benefits and job preparation services. TANF benefits equal just $437 a month for a family of 3 with no other source of income: less than one-third of the poverty line. Many states with high costs of living — New York, California, Boston, Maryland — have monthly benefits that are close to $600 per month or more.
FACT: Low-income elderly residents and residents with disabilities can qualify for federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits. The maximum benefit is just $637 per month, however. Some 21 states offer state-funded supplements to federal benefits to support persons who have disabilities or are elderly to live independently in the community. The District offers a modest supplement, but the supplement only goes to group home providers, not DC residents.
FACT: Food stamp benefits are eligible only to very low-income families -- such as those below $22,300 for a family of 3. Yet many families at this income level struggle to provide families with adequate and healthy food.
QUESTION: Do you support an increase in DC's TANF benefits to a more reasonable level so that families can provide better for their children?
x__Yes _____No
QUESTION: Do you support a District supplement to federal SSI benefits for low-income elderly residents and persons with disabilities?
x__Yes _____No
QUESTION: More than one-third of DC children live in poverty. What specific steps would you take to help families with children escape poverty? Would you support setting a goal of reducing child poverty by 50% over the next 10 years? (100 words)
First, the stated goal is too modest, rather we should strive for complete elimination of child poverty in no more than 5 years at most. For example, raising TANF above poverty level is a simple step with far reaching impacts (approximately $150 million/year is needed; Ed Lazere, DCFPI). A fair DC tax structure can easily generate revenue necessary for this and other program funding increases. Fully fund early child care and the home visitation programs. Again, comprehensive support services should be provided, especially substance abuse treatment and adult literacy programs, and of course job training for 21st Century employment.
WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT QUESTIONS
FACT: According to a report released in 2007 by the Brookings Greater Washington Research Program, there are more than 50,000 adult “District residents likely to be appropriate candidates for workforce development.”
FACT: Even though community colleges are key building blocks in city and state workforce systems all across the country, educating, among others, more than 60% of the nation’s nurses, Washington, DC, is the only major city in the United States without a community college.
FACT: Since the District of Columbia’s First Source law, designed to ensure that District residents are the “first source” of potential employees for jobs in the District, was enacted in 1984, employers have frequently been able to sidestep its requirements because they can demonstrate that they cannot find appropriately prepared District residents for the jobs they offer.
QUESTION: Do you support the creation of a community college in the District of Columbia?
x_Yes _____No But not as a replacement for a fully funded University of the District of Columbia.
QUESTION: Assuming recently enacted laws will ensure the First Source law is appropriately enforced, is the law itself sufficient to help more District residents find and keep good jobs?
_____Yes ___x_No
QUESTION: What additional efforts are you willing to champion to ensure that District residents are prepared for and hired into District jobs? (100 words)
The District should create apprenticeship programs in our high schools with an option for college education, including partnerships with non-profits, businesses and unions to provide 21st century Green Collar employment for our youth upon graduation. Likewise, full funding for adult literacy programs, workforce development and readiness training is imperative. Job training should be increasingly linked to greening the District infrastructure (e.g., DC’s Green Collar Job Initiative and The Clean and Affordable Energy Act of 2008), including energy conservation, retrofitting solar energy technology, urban farming, water harvesting. I support immediate implementation of inclusionary zoning requiring fully enforced employment of DC residents.
QUESTION: What sources of revenue can be tapped to fund expanded workforce development efforts? (100 words)
Multiple revenue sources should be tapped, including that generated from a fair progressive individual tax structure, full and timely access to federal grants, and mandatory set asides for job training for all economic development projects. And of course, no more real estate sweetheart giveaways or handouts for billionaires, including taxpayer-funded subsidies for stadiums. Open up commercial property tax assessments to public review (Initiative 51 was passed by voters over a decade ago, but never implemented by the Council). Renovate if necessary and use public property instead of renting at much higher costs. Keep public property public! Implement Empower DC’s agenda.
TAXES
FACT: DC has a regressive tax system, meaning that low-income families pay a higher share of their income in taxes than do higher-income families. This largely reflects the District’s sales tax, which is a regressive tax.
FACT: DC has a low-income property tax credit (schedule H) which has not seen an increase in the credit amount ($750) or income eligibility level ($20,000) since it was created in the 1970s. Due to overly complex program rules, fewer than one-fifth of eligible families claim the credit.
FACT: A married couple with two children and income of just $40,000 pays over $1,100 in DC income taxes. This is one of the highest state-level income tax burdens on working families in the U.S.
QUESTION: Would you support policies to greatly reduce DC income taxes for working poor families?
x__Yes _____No
QUESTION: Do you support updating the Schedule H tax credit: adjusting the credit amount and income eligibility level to reflect inflation since the credit was created, and modifying rules that may hinder participation in the credit? (100 words)
x___Yes _____No
QUESTION: What would you do to make the DC tax system more progressive? (100 words)
I have long advocated changing DC’s regressive tax structure to one that is progressive and much more able to generate revenue to meet essential needs of our residents. Tax relief for our working class majority and a tax hike for the top 5% ($250,000 and above family income, especially for the top 1%, averaging $3 million/year, now with the lowest rate, even compared to families living in poverty. Make DC’s income tax a flat percentage of the federal payment. A modest hike in DC millionaire's taxes will generate $ hundreds of millions, Maryland has raised their taxes, why can't DC?
