As the DC Council prepares to finalize the FY27 budget, our city is at a moral crossroads. In its current form, the FY27 budget reveals deep concerns about the District’s priorities and commitments to communities across all eight Wards.
A budget is not merely a financial plan or a simple balance sheet. It is a moral document that shows whose future is valued and worth investing in. The extractive policies that have dominated our local politics have aided the infrastructure that allows the rich to get richer while working families struggle.
In Ward 7, where I serve, there is a housing complex with three buildings and 97 units. Almost all are households led by single mothers seeking to provide for their children or seniors who have long served as matriarchs of our community.
They are a community and dedicated residents of the District. Despite paying rent on time every time, they live with mold, leaks, and conditions that no human being should endure. It is a community left to deal with security failures and safety concerns. Exploitative fees and documentation requirements trap them in cycles of debt.
I know the names behind the statistics. I know the tear stains on the faces of mothers who cannot afford to fix the heater in winter. I know the seniors who ration their medication because the utility bill came due.
This is not abstract policy. This is flesh and blood. These are our neighbors.
It’s not just Ward 7. Across the District, 70,000 households are behind on their utility bills. Seniors are choosing between heat and food. Single mothers are deciding whether to pay rent or buy groceries. And the Council is considering sweeping funds from programs that help these families survive.
As a part of the Washington Interfaith Network (WIN), we have been advocating for an improved budget that reflects our values. While the current budget has improved, it still cuts key funding for the Healthy Homes program, which directly supports the services families need to lower their utility bills through energy efficiency and electrification. After the first vote, some of the main gaps in the DC Sustainable Energy Utility (DCSEU) funding helped avert some of the worst cuts to the agency and allowed programs like Healthy Homes to continue at a small scale.
However, this budget still has a $4 million gap to the DCSEU that, if filled, would help the DCSEU maintain staffing and operations. We need a strong DCSEU to ensure that Healthy Homes can be fully implemented.
We also want to ensure that Healthy Homes not only scrapes by but thrives and that more families can benefit from this program, so we urge the Council to restore $4 million to the DCSEU and $5 million specifically to the Affordable Housing Electrification Program, for a total of $9 million in additional funding.
At a time when many Washingtonians are fighting to stay in DC, we know the value and impact of this program in upgrading and helping homeowners remain in Ward 7.
We are living in a time that demands more than platitudes in the face of tyranny in the seat of empire. It requires commitment and care for all of our city’s residents, including those most impacted by violence, disconnection, and disrepair.
Our communities are not expendable. Rather than saying we can’t afford to invest in the needs of people across all 8 Wards, let’s ask, “What are the consequences if we do not?”
Those who serve in elected positions do so at the leisure of we, the people. Far too often, decisions made in this city reflect the cyclical manipulation of corporate interests that continue to price-gouge energy, expand development without regard to its impact on families and green space, and the food apartheid that exists in the poorest wards of this city.
Building a healthier, stronger community across the District will require shifting priorities and increasing revenue to fund a healthy future. We need the Council to take action and deliver a morally responsible budget for the entire District by doing the following:
Implement a 3% Tax on Wealth Proceeds from Passive Income
We need reliable new revenue for the city, or programs that sustain life and dignity will continue to be slashed. Those with the most must pay their fair share. This is not punishment. This is justice.
Include Viability Analysis of a Business Activity Tax and Land Value Tax
Put this in the Budget Support Act. Study it. Consider it. Have the courage to ask whether our current tax structure serves the common good or protects entrenched privilege.
Restore at least $10 million to the Sustainable Energy Trust Fund
Fund the Healthy Homes Act. Help low-income families lower their utility bills. Invest in energy efficiency, solar, and electrification programs. Protect DCSEU workforce development that puts DC residents to work. Every dollar invested returns 6:1 in energy cost savings.
Fund Violence Prevention That Works
Violence prevention is not simply about stopping crime. It is about creating conditions where hope can take root. Every dollar invested in mentoring, trauma-informed care, workforce development, conflict mediation, and youth programming is an investment in preventing grief before it arrives at a family’s doorstep. A morally responsible budget would connect public safety and economic mobility.
Communities know the names and faces behind the statistics. We know what the tear stains look like. We have been subject to environmental deficits that create an atmosphere of despair. Families under severe financial stress are less able to thrive, participate, and contribute fully to community life.
There’s a moral and civic duty to pursue the common good across all communities within our city. The biblical tradition teaches leaders to seek justice and defend those whose voices are often marginalized.
Equitable government does not necessarily mean identical investments in every ward. But it does require ensuring every ward has access to safety, quality education, affordable housing, health care, transportation, and economic opportunity.
A city’s health should be measured not by the prosperity of its strongest neighbors, but by the well-being of those facing the greatest challenges.
