In 2026, the mayor and the DC Council passed budget cuts to health insurance programs, and is on track for more cuts in 2027. As part of the Keep DC Healthy Coalition, Legal Aid advocates for restored funding to Medicaid and the DC Health Care Alliance so that residents can access critical care.

The Access to Justice Initiative in DC funds legal services organizations, including Legal Aid DC, that provide free legal advice and representation to low-income residents. For the past several years, the mayor has proposed deep cuts to this program's budget, and the DC Council has worked to restore funding. Looking ahead to the 2027 fiscal year, we urge the Council to again protect funding that provides thousands of residents with legal help each year.

In the 2027 budget, DC is set to make serious cuts to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, which provides financial support to low-income families with children. If the Council doesn't take action to stop these changes from going into effect, it will directly harm 15,000 DC children. The changes include ending cost-of-living adjustments, reinstituting time limits, and increasing sanctions for not meeting work readiness requirements.

In the last year, funding for emergency rental assistance (ERAP) was cut by $20 million, even as evictions climbed. ERAP is a powerful tool to prevent homelessness in DC, but it is vastly underfunded. When applications for the program opened in fall 2025, hundreds of tenants stood in line for hours just for the chance to apply. The DC Council must fully fund ERAP at $100 million to meet the needs of tenants struggling with increasing rent and cost of living.

Legal Aid DC worked closely with the DC Office of the Attorney General on introducing new legislation that would reform DC's child support system. Right now, the DC government takes child support money away from parents who receive DC financial assistance (TANF) and uses it to fund government operations. This means low-income parents often only receive a portion of the support meant for their children — and sometimes none at all. Legal Aid fully supports the passage of the Child Support Improvement Amendment Act of 2026.