Fox 5: Despite DC named 4th-best place to live, quality of life gap remains in city

Children’s Law Center Executive Director Judith Sandalow was recently featured on Fox 5 to discuss the disparities between DC’s poorest and most affluent residents. While in many Northwest Wards quality of living is high, those in DC’s 7th and 8th wards, families often pay more than half their income in rent. 

A report by the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute published in December called “A Broken Foundation: Affordable Housing Crisis Threatens DC’s Lowest-Income Residents” stated that 26,000 extremely low income D.C. households spend more than half of their income on rent. This number also includes one-fifth of all children in the District.

“We see families together – maybe 12 people in three different families sharing a two-bedroom apartment,” said Judith Sandalow, executive director of the Children’s Law Center, a non-profit that provides free legal service to children, families and foster caregivers in D.C.

And those people are also forced with making impossible choices about things like health care.

“Parents have a hard time getting their kids to the doctor,” said Sandalow. “They can’t afford the Metro for example. They can’t afford the bus. And lots of medication is over the counter that we take for granted. If your child has a fever and you want to give her Tylenol, you have to pay for that yourself.”

To read the full article and watch the broadcast, follow the link below.