The D.C. Council on Tuesday overrode a veto by Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) targeting relaxed eligibility rules for some of the city’s major housing voucher programs, another example of the power clashes between the lawmakers and executive that tend to surface in debates over housing.
Bowser had vetoed emergency legislation passed in April by the council that continued laxer pandemic-era rules allowing voucher applicants to self-certify their information if they had trouble obtaining the required supporting documents. The changes, lawmakers said, were intended to help homeless or undocumented applicants who could face significant hurdles gathering the documents. The legislation also prohibited the D.C. Housing Authority (DCHA), which administers D.C.’s local voucher programs, from inquiring about applicants’ criminal history or immigration status.
Bowser had argued that those changes posed a threat to public safety and the programs’ integrity, telling the council in a letter Tuesday morning that “background checks and identity verification practices are industry standard and serve a vital role in ensuring clients meet the legal standards applicable to the housing for which they are applying.”
But Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) pushed back. He argued that the self-certification rules remove barriers to accessing a voucher quickly for people who can’t readily obtain the documents, particularly people living on the streets, but that nothing prevents private housing providers from performing background checks or verifying identity when people apply to move in.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Meagan Flynn over at The Washington Post
