Why Should Delaware Care?
Although Delaware’s homeless population has grown in recent years, the availability of resources and affordable housing has not. Last week, lawmakers included in a state budget a new initiative that would pay for 50 families with school-age children to move out of motels or shelters, and into rental housing.
Lawmakers on Delaware’s powerful Joint Finance Committee included an $800,000 line item into the state’s supplemental budget last week that would pay for homeless Delaware families with school-aged children to move into stable housing.
The introduction of the item – pushed by Rep. Kim Williams (D-Stanton) – followed an announcement last month from Delaware budget forecasters that the state would collect nearly $200 million more in revenue during the next fiscal year than previously estimated.
It also follows news from earlier this spring that Williams could face a primary election challenge from progressive Will Imbrie-Moore, whose platform calls for increases in affordable housing spending. Imbrie-Moore launched his candidacy in March, but has not yet officially filed as a candidate.
Williams said she decided to push the initiative forward after the nonprofit Action for Delaware’s Children reached out to her.
“These children and families often do not have a strong voice in the legislature, and we need to help them be that voice,” Williams said last month.
The newly budgeted housing money would help 50 Delaware families move out of shelters and motels and into rental housing. Lawmakers will pass the state’s operating, capital and supplemental budgets later this month.
More than 4,400 children in Delaware experienced homelessness during the 2022-23 school year, according to data from the Delaware Department of Education.
For Karen Eller, who teaches at the Maurice Pritchett Academy in Wilmington, the money is much needed today. During a press conference announcing the funding last month, she said Delaware teachers have seen an increase in homeless students in their schools.
The funding proposal, which would focus on housing support rather than shelter access, “helps to ensure students have a bed of their own at night to sleep in, so they no longer have to come to school hungry and exhausted to our classrooms,” she said.
What existing resources are available?
Delaware’s State Rental Assistance Program currently provides housing vouchers for families who have been referred by state agencies, such as the state’s Department of Health and Social Services or the Delaware Department of Services for Children, Youth, and their Families.
The Delaware State Housing Authority (DSHA) also offers housing subsidies to eligible low-income families in Kent and Sussex counties. The New Castle County Housing Authority also administers a federally funded housing choice voucher program.
Still, advocates say those programs do not provide enough homes to meet the growing size of the state’s homeless population.
Eller – who advocates for homeless families, in addition to teaching – noted that motel stays often split up larger families because they have to stay in multiple rooms.
New Castle County Community Services’ General Manager Carrie Casey also works with the county’s voucher program. During the May press conference, she said the county’s voucher program waiting list has been closed for four years.
“We have 8,000 people on the waiting list, so we need these tools, we need these subsidies,” Casey said during the event.
Families will not need referrals from state agencies under the new program. Instead, school districts and individual schools can make referrals to the Delaware State Housing Authority.
The state’s housing authority will also establish a set of criteria for voucher eligibility, such as a requirement that the head of the family have a job, or be actively seeking work or actively training for work.
Ellers noted that the budget item will not solve “the whole problem” but called it a “big step forward” for Delaware families experiencing homelessness.
The vouchers will be good for one year.
