D.C. residents testify against backlog in benefits appeals

Local groups, pro-bono lawyers, and area residents were among those present at public oversight hearings held February 28, 2019 at the Wilson Building in Washington, D.C. A Public Oversight Hearing was scheduled for the Office of Administrative Hearings, and immediately afterward a Performance Oversight Hearing of the D.C. Office Of Human Rights.

According to advocate Nikki Peele, an entrepreneur from Congress Heights, the timeline for her sexual harassment complaint was so slow that she resorted to using Twitter---and finally got the attention of her Ward Councilman. Later, Michael, a Caucasian veteran who could barely walk, testified that as a pro-se complainant on housing discrimination, he was outright discouraged or told to "not consult with staff."

Public hearings for oversight on the Office of Administrative Hearings, and Office of Human Rights are held approximately every month-and-a-half. Today's participants included disabled people and their lawyers, as well as grassroots housing, homelessness, and gender-rights activists. The meeting is moderated by Council staffpersons.

In response to public testimony on long delays, Chief Administrative Law Judge Adams stated that the Office of Administrative Hearings was overloaded with cases, and understaffed.

"Last year we uploaded 14,000 decisions to the website in 2018, but the workload also increased by 38% last year."

Curiously enough, Adams studiously avoided mentioning the root causes for such a huge increase in the number of appeals, instead, focusing almost exclusively on the complexities of administration, from improving information technology to increasing the number of partnerships with law schools. Given that most of the audience might have felt some cognitive dissonance, it was disconcerting no connections to unemployment, homelessness, or a record number of evictions stemming from gentrification were ascribed.

According to the D.C. Legal Aid Society, appeals to or terminations from social safety net programs are hampered by slow case processing and access to justice issues. Nina Wu testified:

"Our clients are seeking to remedy a deprivation of critical safety net benefits, such as food stamps, Medicaid, TANF, or home health aide services. Without such benefits, they are often unable to provide meals for themselves or their children, pay their rent or utility bills, obtain needed medical care or medications, or perform critical activities of daily living."

The timeliness of administrative law judges is limited due in part to limited staff, and staff on leave, with Adams asserting that, for instance, they are reliant on a part-time file clerk which they are now considering filling as a full-time position. Furthermore, a computer management system is being test-piloted as well as new databases in the hopes of eventually transitioning to fully paperless.

Lori Leibowitz of the Neighborhood Legal Services Program described the frustration her staff and clients undergo from lengthy review times and being subject to case rewrites. Maggie Donahue of the Washington Legal Aid Society, as well as Ms. Silva also described the frustration of being forced to rewrite legally written complaints and of staff rewrites which resulted in omissions or inaccuracies. At times, they expressed, the pushback resembles a resistance or even refusal to accept new complaints or charges.

According to Neighborhood Legal Services:

"Often, the OHR process is so slow that we do not even get to mediation in time for settlement money to be applied to security deposits and moving expenses when our clients eventually do find housing."

In other words, the time delay, as wheel-chair witness Gail Raven described later, is such that if the landlord chooses to frame a low-income renter for eviction, that renter may very well end up on the streets. Reginald Black, a homeless advocate, also spoke on the need to reconsider passage of the Stoops Act (named for Michael Stoops, founder of the National Coalition for the Homeless), which would name the "homeless as a protected class" of citizens, thereby offering them protection from discrimination.

The Director of the Office of Human Rights, Ms. Palacios, defended her Office stating that last year they began to improve streamlining the review process by separating the intake unit from the investigative unit. Also, that mediation often happens within 45 days, and the number of mediation cases last year rose to 509, saving in the full cost of appeals. Ms. Palacios pointed out that the mission of the Office of Human Rights, although founded in 1977, is also to spearhead Mayor Bowser's goals in advancing the D.C. Human Rights Act. This includes cross-agency language access training, new campaigns such as Trans-Respect, and a variety of city-wide outreach programs, such as implementing the Street Harassment Prevention Act of 2018.