Mayor Fenty Announces New Homeless Strategy

I’m sure the NoMa BID is thrilled with the shelter re-opening at 65 Mass Ave.

Bet those companies paying those huge rents on those fancy new buildings right on that block are psyched.

For DC as a whole, this is clearly some good news. According to the WaPo article, housing each person costs $22,000, while letting them “drift” can cost in excess of $50,000. So this is a cost-saving and humane way to approach homelessness.

For our neighborhood, it the opening of the 65 Mass Ave site is basically status quo IMO. There are plenty of shelters already in that neighborhood between New Jersey and 395. What is one more.

The Franklin School needs to be closed down, there shouldn’t be anyone unhappy about that.

This program will be tough to manage. What about the lawsuits from the homeless (and/or the non-profits working with them) over perceived inequities of the program. This will draw more homeless people to DC. The homeless problem needs solved, and in a humane manner. I think it needs to be a national issue so that the “forward” thinking communities are not punished by being overwhelmed – remember “no good deed goes unpunished.” I see disaster looming…….

Walking along that part of Mass Ave to get to get to Union Station and Capitol Hill was finally a delight. I actually felt safe. So much for progress. The city could get so much money for that land that they could build a massive facility somewhere else.

Thank goodness they are finally closing the Franklin School shelter. There is a need to shelter the homeless, but that does not mean just any building is up to the task. Not only does the interior need to be drastically renovated to match the renovations made to the exterior, but a historic building like the Franklin school can be better utilized in so many other ways. Another travesty of using the school as a shelter was the fact that those sheltered there, forced to leave the building during the day, spent their days in Franklin Park across the street. The park is in a prominent location and has the potential to be a beautiful green space in the midst of the city. It was a shame that it became a de facto homeless camp that detered many from using it on a break for lunch or in the evenings.

joe martin is an excellent advocate for his ward and ANC of which he chairs. congratulations mr martin on sticking it to downtown. no wonder jack evans wanted you out of here. thanks for nothing jack, you sure messed this one up too.

As a left-leaning health care professional I applaud Fenty’s approach to the homeless problem. Moving these lost souls from neighborhood to neighborhod is not a solution. Neither are shelters. The root cause of much of homelessness is psychiatic, with self-medication using street drugs and alcohol complicating the picture. In the old days, prior to the mid 70′s movement to allow communities to care for their own ‘crazy people’, we housed them in hospitals far away from our eyes and experience. That was not an ideal situation either. “One Flew Over the Cukoo’s Nest” was an accurate portrait of some facilities. However, the streeting of unstable psychiatrically ill humans in the name of preserving their civil rights was not particularly benign, either.
I speak from painful personal experience. My brother was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in his early twenties. Our local psychiatric hospital thought that my home would be the ideal post-hospital situation. That I lived in a one-bedroom apartment with my fiance and three cats my brother threatented to hang, gut and eat was not an impediment to their planning. That he refused to take his anti-psychotic meds unless held down by two orderlies was not an impediment, either. It was suggested that I find a larger place to live, give my pets away and manage.
Our community had no safety net for him. Yes, I got him an apartment with our housing agency. This took 18 months on a waiting list. Yes, I got him SSI disability. This took the intervention of our congressional representative and 18 months of paper pushing. Those 18 months were full of awful visits by him as he threatened my pets, my husband, my sanity. Every time the phone rang, I was sure it would be bad news. It finally was. He was killed by a drunk driver riding home from a day of drinking and boating.
Hospitals make people patients. Assisted living situations in the community allow people to regain their humanity. The families of the majority of homeless wish the best for their mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, sons, daughters. But they cannot provide shelter, medication, 24 hour support. No one should think that the homeless deliberately chose the street as a living situation.
This is a bold move by DC city government. I hope it suceeds. For the sake of the homeless, for the sake of the families, for humanity’s sake, I pray that it does.

#8: “as he threatened my pets, my husband, my sanity.” . . . and as these folks will continue to threaten us!

This is an ongoing disaster for the neigborhood, and an end to any hope to be able to walk to Union Station without facing threats, haranguing, human excrement on the sidewalks, and stench. Build it and they will come . . . As says #3, “There are plenty of shelters already in that neighborhood,” and, as says #4, “This will draw more homeless; . . . [we are being] punished by being overwhelmed; . . . I see disaster looming.”

I think everybody agrees that the DC government has an obligation to help those who are least able to help themselves. It takes a village (err, city). But it’s really a question of having all neighborhoods/parts of the city chipping in. And that’s simply not happening. As currently configured, parts of downtown and just north of it (think of SOME on the unit block of O Streetm, NW; or the Methadone clinic on NY Avenue) have high concentrations of services for the homeless/transient population and bear a (hugely) disproportionate burden of the accompanying social dysfuncation like threats from mentally unstable homeless, public drunkenness/urination/defecation, petty crime (theft from cars, break-ins) to support drug/alcohol addications, a general perception of disorder/lack of safety, etc.

That’s why I object strongly to the previous comment of “what’s one more shelter?” One more shelter means an exponential increase in all of the above problems as neighborhoods are overwhelmed by the influx of homeless.

There needs to be an urgent moratorium on adding homeless services in the downtown area. Let’s get creative in finding ways that other neighborhoods can chip in, especially those in upper NW.