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Homeless shelters to be spread across capital under plan by Mayor Bowser Homeless shelters to be spread across capital under plan by Mayor Bowser
(about 4 hours later)
D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser announced the addresses of seven proposed family homeless shelters on Tuesday, setting up a final test of city leaders’ resolve to close the troubled family homeless shelter at D.C. General Hospital.D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser announced the addresses of seven proposed family homeless shelters on Tuesday, setting up a final test of city leaders’ resolve to close the troubled family homeless shelter at D.C. General Hospital.
The mayor’s plan comes almost two years after Relisha Rudd, then 8, disappeared from the shelter, leading to widespread calls to close the facility. And it is one year after the mayor and the city council agreed to spend $40 million to construct a network of neighborhood shelters as a replacement. The mayor’s plan comes almost two years after Relisha Rudd, then 8, disappeared from the shelter with a city employee and was presumed killed, intensifying scrutiny of D.C. services for the homeless. And it is one year since the mayor and the city council agreed to spend $40 million to construct a network of smaller and more manageable neighborhood shelters as a replacement.
[A lost mother and daughter: Shamika Young and Relisha Rudd]
But D.C. residents — including Bowser — have previously fought city efforts to relocate homeless families into their neighborhoods, and on Tuesday Bowser launched a political offensive, saying she was prepared to take head-on any backlash from those who would be asked to be neighbors.
Bowser believes she may need the momentum. Under a plan first devised by former Mayor Vincent C. Gray and now being carried out by her office, almost every ward in the city will be asked to take on a shelter, each designed to be a revolving, temporary home for up to 50 families.
[See details of Bowser’s plan]
Some of the shelters, which could add strain to nearby schools and police resources, would be in rapidly gentrifying areas, such as one planned near the U Street corridor and another beside condominiums rising close to Nationals Park. Others would go into affluent neighborhoods such as across the street from the Russian Embassy on Wisconsin Avenue. Poorer areas of Northeast and Southeast, where residents already face widespread under-employment, also would be asked to take on more homeless.
The plan would solve only a fraction of the city’s homeless crisis, sheltering about a quarter of all families now under city care. The District has over 700 families in overflow motel rooms across the District and in Maryland, and scores — if not hundreds — would likely need to remain in such temporary shelter space long after the new shelters open, which Bowser said would happen in late 2018.
[A hidden world: Homeless families living in motels at city expense][A hidden world: Homeless families living in motels at city expense]
But D.C. residents — including Bowser — have previously fought efforts to relocate homeless families into their neighborhoods, and Bowser has been preparing in case the release of specific sites for the shelters causes a backlash from those who would be asked to be neighbors. For nearly a year, she kept the location details a secret. She carefully scripted the release of the information this week, after seeking support from lawmakers. Laura Green Zeilinger, who heads Bowser’s agency overseeing homeless services, has launched a multi-year overhaul that she believes will eventually lower the number of families who need shelter and allow the city to transition them more quickly.
That’s because almost every ward in the city will be asked to take on a shelter, each designed to be a revolving, temporary home for up to 50 families that could strain neighborhoods, schools and police. But on Tuesday, Bowser acknowledged she could put no timetable on when the city might reach that equilibrium. Instead, she cast the costly neighborhood-based shelter system as a necessary first step in delivering on a major campaign promise to close D.C. General. “People believe that in a city as prosperous as ours, that we need to do better by our homeless families,” Bowser said. “I hear it everywhere I go.”
Some shelters would be in rapidly gentrifying areas, such as one planned near the U Street corridor and another beside condominiums rising around Nationals Park. Others would go into established neighborhoods such as across the street from the Russian Embassy on Wisconsin Avenue. Poorer areas of Northeast and Southeast, where residents already are grappling with effects of widespread under-employment, also would be asked to take on homeless families. The mayor has been girding for a bruising battle over the plan almost since taking office. For her entire first year, she refused to publicly discuss possible locations for the shelters, apparently trying to keep opposition from taking root around any one possibility.
In an advance briefing for reporters on Monday, Bowser said she is open to some changes to the plan based on community feedback. But she is urging the council to approve all of the sites together as a package, saying that too many alterations could mean the plan won’t include the more than 250 units needed to close D.C. General. Instead, at nearly every public appearance, her staff has asked residents to sign a pledge to do their part to support neighborhood shelters and closing D.C. General. This week, Bowser carefully scripted the plan’s release, first to council members, then influential community members, and finally publicly, saying 12,000 petitioners were already behind the effort.
“D.C. General is not an appropriate place for short-term family housing,” Bowser said, “so we have worked hard to make sure that we have smaller, dignified facilities all over Washington, D.C., where families can have a safe place to work toward more permanent housing.” “Do we know that there is going to be pushback, block, by block? Yes,” said Bowser, who herself opposed plans to put a large shelter in Ward 4 when she represented that part of the city on the D.C. Council.
[A lost mother and daugther: Shamika Young and Relisha Rudd] On Tuesday, her office released prepared remarks from an Obama administration official lauding the plan.
Bowser, who as a council member once opposed a large homeless shelter moving into Ward 4, said the experience informed her plan. [Bowser’s blueprint to address backlog of homeless families]
“I’m a ward council member, an ANC commissioner at heart,” she said. “We have paid special attention to how each of these units will be developed so they can fit into any neighborhood.” But there were signs that the fight may not be as bad as Bowser has anticipated.
The mayor’s plan for a one-for-one replacement of units at the dilapidated former hospital will house about a quarter of the more than 1,000 families now in the care of the city. An overwhelming majority of council members publicly praised the mayor’s plan. Council member Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3) said she met with residents Monday night about the shelter proposed along Wisconsin Avenue, not far from the Naval Observatory. Those neighbors, who live in million-dollar homes, expressed a desire to help solve the city’s homeless crisis, she said. “Ward 3 will embrace this.”
Under the proposal for neighborhood shelters, it is likely that scores — if not hundreds — of families would remain housed in motel rooms across the city even after the new shelters open, which is supposed to happen in 2018. In a Washington Post poll in November, nearly 8 in 10 D.C. residents said they would be comfortable if a shelter for 50 homeless families was built in their neighborhood, including majorities across all eight wards. However, fewer than half in each ward said they would be “very comfortable” having a shelter nearby.
Laura Green Zeilinger, who heads Bowser’s agency overseeing homeless services, said she remains confident that the city eventually can lower the number of people who need shelter to match the capacity of the new system. Advocates for homeless families have criticized previously released aspects of Bowser’s plan, including her proposal to build most of the shelters as dormitory-style, rather than apartments. They said the communal bathrooms and other shared facilities would perpetuate some of the same unhealthy living conditions that children now face at D.C. General.
Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) said that he supports Bowser’s plan and that he will hold hearings on it as quickly as possible. On Tuesday, advocates took to social media to praise the proposed U Street site, which would have apartment-style housing.
Cost is likely to be among the issues the council will scrutinize. The new shelters would cost an estimated $22 million annually to operate, about $5 million more than what the city spends now to keep D.C. General open. [Does housing to replace a decrepit shelter need to have private bathrooms?]
It also is not clear whom the city would pay to lease many of the buildings, or how those agreements would be structured. Bowser plans to hold simultaneous community meetings on each of the shelter sites Thursday night. The city also will hold a meeting on a planned women’s shelter that is being built downtown in Ward 2, the only ward that will not house a family shelter. Council member Elissa Silverman (I-At large) said she has visited all but one of the sites in recent days and found that they had uneven access to public transportation and nearby jobs, groceries and other amenities. Zeilinger said the city plans to offer services on location at each of the sites.
Council member Charles Allen (D-Ward 6) said he is confident that city residents will embrace the neighborhood-shelter plan. “I don’t think the public considers either D.C. General or motels as acceptable,” he said. Ward 5 council member Kenyan R. McDuffie (D-Ward 5) asked Bowser to reconsider a plan for a shelter along Bladensburg Road in his ward, saying the industrial area — beside a WMATA bus depot and a nightclub — would be a poor fit for homeless residents and for the area, which has been neglected.
Here are the community meetings planned for 6:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m. Thursday night: Bowser said she remains open to some changes to the plan based on community feedback. In response to McDuffie, who has emerged as a political nemesis in recent months, Bower told reporters, “I didn’t hear him proposal an alternative.”
Cost is likely to be among the issues the council will also scrutinize. The new shelters would cost an estimated $22 million annually to operate, about $5 million more than what the city spends now to keep D.C. General open.
It also is not clear how the city would structure the lease agreements for each shelter.
Bowser officials plan to hold simultaneous community meetings on each of the shelter sites Thursday night. The city also will hold a meeting on a planned women’s shelter that is being built downtown in Ward 2, the only ward that will not house a family shelter.
The community meetings will take place from 6:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m. Thursday night at the following locations:
Ward 1Ward 1
Anthony Bowen YMCA (conference room), 1325 W St. NWAnthony Bowen YMCA (conference room), 1325 W St. NW
Ward 2Ward 2
One Judiciary Square (old council chambers), 441 4th St. NWOne Judiciary Square (old council chambers), 441 4th St. NW
Ward 3Ward 3
Metropolitan Church (Great Wall and Best Street), 3401 Nebraska Avenue NWMetropolitan Church (Great Wall and Best Street), 3401 Nebraska Avenue NW
Ward 4Ward 4
Paul Public Charter School (auditorium), 5800 8th Street NWPaul Public Charter School (auditorium), 5800 8th Street NW
Ward 5Ward 5
New Canaan Baptist Church, 2826 Bladensburg Rd. NENew Canaan Baptist Church, 2826 Bladensburg Rd. NE
Ward 6Ward 6
Friendship Baptist Church, 900 Delaware St. SWFriendship Baptist Church, 900 Delaware St. SW
Ward 7Ward 7
Capitol View Public Library, 5001 Central Ave. SECapitol View Public Library, 5001 Central Ave. SE
Ward 8Ward 8
Matthews Memorial Baptist Church (fellowship hall), 2616 MLK Ave. SEMatthews Memorial Baptist Church (fellowship hall), 2616 MLK Ave. SE