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Publications, Studies and Research
In 2006, after working with numerous domestic violence advocacy groups, the D.C. City Council and mayor approved cutting-edge legislation, the Protection From Discriminatory Eviction for Victims of Domestic Violence Amendment Act of 2006, prohibiting discrimination in housing against domestic violence victims. The legislation was designed to reduce discrimination in housing based on a person’s status as a domestic violence victim, and in doing so, prevent victims from being forced down a path toward homelessness.
This study demonstrates that one full year after implementation of the Act, much remains to be done to ensure that survivors of domestic violence are not illegally discriminated against when they seek housing merely because of the domestic abuse they have already suffered.
Click here for a PDF copy of the report
Click here for a PDF copy of the letter of support
Enacted in 2004, the D.C. Language Access Act requires certain D.C. government entities to provide translation services in any non-English language spoken by either 3 percent of the population served, or 500 individuals, whichever is less. The Act was passed to ensure that integral members of our community who speak little or no English would still be able to utilize essential government services. In January 2007, the ERC began a six-month long investigation, funded by the Public Welfare Foundation, evaluating the extent to which five D.C. government departments were in compliance with the Act. The ERC unfortunately found that the five departments were failing to provide appropriate translation services at horrendous rates.
In releasing this report, the ERC also collaborated with the D.C. Language Access Coalition, an alliance of 20 community-based organizations, to call upon the government to recognize these failure rates and to improve its compliance with the Language Access Act. The ERC and the Coalition brought forth a letter, signed by numerous leading advocacy groups, which presented ten recommendations for the government to adopt.
Click here for a PDF copy of the report.
Click here for a PDF copy of the letter of support.
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In Search of Decent Housing in the DC Metropolitan Area: The Affordable Housing Crisis for Section 8 Housing Vouchers, April 2005
The Housing Choice Voucher Program is a low-income housing program, which was designed to allow eligible, low-income families to use a rental voucher to move from high poverty to lower poverty neighborhoods. Under the program, the local public housing agency subsidizes rent for low-income households, allowing them to live in private housing units with a total monthly rent equal to or less than a federally established rate. Unfortunately, discrimination against housing voucher holders in the private market is all too common, and it illegally closes the doors to greater housing options for many families in DC. In response to numerous complaints, the ERC conducted an investigation of DC landlords to determine the extent of discrimination against voucher holders and to asses the kinds of responses a voucher holder might receive.
Click here for a PDF copy of the report.
In 2003, the Equal Rights Center conducted a study analyzing the access that Spanish-speaking residents had to health care in Washington, D.C. The study found that those residents did not enjoy full access to government-subsidized health care insurance programs because of language barriers. The study was part of an effort to focus attention on the language barriers facing immigrants, as well as to raise awareness of the obligations that government agencies had to provide language access to many communities. At the time, Presidential Executive Order 13166 existed as the only law requiring government entities to provide services for customers with limited English skills, and it applied only to federal agencies. Since then, DC has enacted its own legislation, the Language Access Act, which applies to 25 local and federal government agencies in the District.
Click here for a PDF copy of the report.
The District is plagued by blatant and widespread race discrimination by taxicab companies and their drivers. Each year, thousands of minority residents and visitors are unable to hail a taxicab in the District of Columbia because of the color of their skin or because they want to go to a predominantly African American neighborhood. In October 2003, the ERC conducted a report evaluating the scope of taxicab discrimination and found the results to be staggering. Among its recommendations, the report urges that expanded legal protections, more vigorous enforcement, and civil rights education need to be implemented to address this serious civil rights violation.
Click here for a PDF copy of the report.