Wilson Building Bulletin: Comings and goings

We get it. The legislative winds at 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue were not top of mind for many this week. Still, there are a few nuggets of news worth calling out. 

Two figures bid farewell to the Bowser administration this week: Director of the Department of Human Services Laura Zeilinger and “night mayor” Salah Czapary. 

Zeilinger, who will step down at the end of this year, led the city’s homeless services agency for a decade; she oversaw the shuttering of D.C. General, shepherded its replacement plan by opening smaller shelters in each ward, and managed the agency’s pandemic response. 

According to point-in-time count data, homelessness in D.C. has reduced by approximately 32% under Zeilinger’s tenure — which is not to say she exits the role with a spotless record. After several years of downward trends, homelessness increased in 2022 and 2023 among both individuals and families, per PIT data, and the number of people experiencing homelessness for the first time also increased — trends coinciding with the sunsetting of pandemic-era housing protections and the reduction in budget funds for city-funded housing vouchers. Most recently, Zeilinger and Bowser were engaged in a back-and-forth finger-pointing match with the D.C. Council over a housing voucher budget discrepancy, and in late October, the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless filed a class action lawsuit against the city for allegedly wrongfully terminating residents from the rapid rehousing program, a short-term subsidy that is supposed to be a bridge from homelessness to affordable permanent housing. 

As for Czapary, the former D.C. cop and erstwhile candidate for the Ward 1 D.C. Council seat – he’s raising a toast to his two-year stint as D.C.’s “night mayor,” or officially, the Deputy Mayor of Nightlife and Culture. The office is a somewhat new addition to Bowser’s Castle (can we start calling her administration that?), and while the mayor dislikes the “night mayor” moniker (because it suggests she is only the mayor during the day), the role essentially acts a liaison between nightlife and city agencies. 

The first two night mayors, Solana Vander Nat and Shawn Townsend (now the president of RAMW), both departed after only a year, making Czapary the longest-running night mayor in D.C. history. In a lengthy tweet, Czapary, whose initial appointment waxed poetic about his departure. 

“The role deepened my understanding and love for D.C. in ways I couldn’t have imagined two years ago,” he wrote.”It’s also given me a newfound appreciation for a solid pair of earplugs.” He seems like he had a good time. 

And over at the D.C. Council, the Committee of the Whole is currently hosting a public hearing on a bill that would require the Office of the State Superintendent to create a task force to improve D.C.’s math education. Per recent standardized testing scores, only 22% of all D.C. students met or exceeded expectations for the mathematics standards for their grade level. The Committee on Facilities and Family Services is also holding a public hearing today on “Lisa’s Law,” a bill from Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George that would provide children in D.C.’s foster care system with new luggage. 

Next Tuesday, the CMs will return to the dais for another legislative hearing, so stay tuned.