Research
Research staff conduct policy and economic research for the D.C. Council by producing briefs and reports on substantial policy and legislative matters of ongoing concern.
Featured Reports
D.C.’s Commitment to Affordable Housing
Every year, the District’s budget makes substantial investments in creating and maintaining affordable housing. The FY 2025 approved budget invests $1.1 billion of local funding in affordable housing, with $536.8 million allocated for homeless services, $187.4 million budgeted for housing finance and development, $141.5 million in rental assistance for residents, and $213.8 in tax expenditures.
Published October 2024
Metro for DC & Fare Free Buses
Research staff reviewed policy options, best practices, and economic benefits related to providing public transit subsidies under the Metro for D.C. Amendment Act of 2022 (Bill 24-429) and fare-free buses under Fare-Free Bus Funding Emergency Amendment Act (Bill 24-1129).
Published December 2022
Automated Traffic Enforcement
This report reviews how the District and 27 other states use ATE systems to issue moving violation penalties. The report also contains a summary of the research on the safety and equity impacts of ATE systems, and provides an analysis of the District’s ATE system. The report also analyses point systems, including those used around the world, and reviews the research on point systems, which have generally been found to reduce traffic violations and accidents.
Published January 2024
The State of Older Adults in the District of Columbia
The State of Older Adults in the District of Columbia is a multi-part series that explores the demographic and economic characteristics of the District’s senior population, considers the range of publicly provided benefits available to senior adults in the District and examines how these programs help close the gap between seniors’ living expenses and their earnings and savings.
Published 2020
Additional Research
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Research staff is collaborating with the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Health Impact Project to produce a series of health notes on legislation before the Council.
Health notes help lawmakers learn the potential health implications of proposed legislation and policies. They are brief, objective, and nonpartisan summaries of how proposed legislation could affect health.
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The Memorandum on Programs that Support Access to Reproductive Health Care outlines programs provided by the District government that help residents meet their reproductive health care needs. These programs include both those that directly address physical and mental health needs and those that offer services to make it easier for patients to obtain such care.
Issued January 2022
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This brief takes a closer look at how D.C. and the 50 states process and tabulate absentee ballots and when elections are considered certified.
Issued October 2020
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The research brief examines nine potential strategies to reduce the financial strain that the CRIAC has placed on DC Water ratepayers, while ensuring that the Clean Rivers Project’s stormwater management priorities are adequately funded.
Issued March 2019
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This award-winning analysis considers the policy, budgetary, and economic implications of providing a minimum income (also known as a basic income or a guaranteed income) to District residents.
Issued February 2018
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The study offers the Council an evidence-based resource for weighing the policy implications and economic costs and benefits of paid family and medical leave proposed by the “Universal Paid Leave Amendment Act of 2016” (Bill 21-415).
Issued December 2016
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Two-page infographic on the District’s investment in affordable housing
Issued December 2019
Submit a Research Request
D.C. Council staff can submit a request for research to our research staff. After your initial request, staff will reach out and consult on the report’s scope and timeline.