Let's join forces to scrap the current homeless shelter plan and start over

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:My favorite was the hearings on the bill where homeless testified how they would prefer to be in ward 3 bc of the amenities and safety. They stopped just short of asking for the granite counters, stainless steel appliances and open kitchen concept.

Please. You sound vile. Poor people are entitled to safety, transit, and a placet O buy groceries and toiletries just like rich people. Surely you can distinguish between those needs and granite counters.

So the poor and the rich are entitled to safety and amenities but those of us in between are shit out of luck...

You have the same entitlements. And if you are not receiving them where you live, you have the freedom to vote out your elected officials or move.

Alternatively, if you think poor people have it so great, I'm sure there is a family in DC General that will trade places with you.

There - you just said it. I "have to move" but the poor and the rich don't. There's the problem. That's the entitlement we don't all have. I can't afford to live wherever I want. So why should the poor be given the right and the ability to live in a city or neighborhood that the rest of us can't afford?

If you impoverish yourself and your family or commit a violent felony, then you may get an apartment in ward 3.

"violent felony"? You know these are homeless families with children, right? That many of them have jobs, right? That they are being given temporary housing while they work towards a permanent place to live?

Being homeless doesn't mean someone is a violent felon. It doesn't mean they are lazy. It sure as hell does not mean they are any less of a human being then me, or you, or any of the people around us. For pete's sake, have this many of you lost this much control over your humanity and your sense of decency towards your common man?

Not the PP. Stop hand-wringing. PP knows that the shelters will not be properly policed. She knows it means that a lot of homeless folk are homeless due to bad decision-making and that doesn't stop once those folk are moved to Ward 3. There is nothing in this provision that helps change the behavior of those moving in - where are the provisions for the counselors of all kinds that should be intensively helping these folk? Where is the extra policing that will keep away undesirables that some of these women might have chosen for a partner, or the drug dealers that will inevitably start trolling? What investment in labor will these people in the shelter have to make, in order to keep the place looking nice?

I remember when I worked with an affordable housing / renovation organization clearing out a section 8 apartment. Not a hoarder, just a mom and her kids. The mounds and mounds and mounds of trash.

Structure is better. These questions are good ones. Who will the city be contracting the running of these dream shelters out to? Para professionals, highly trained teams or $15 an hour babysitter and clock punchers? Sorry, but that's how lots of group homes in DC have the day to day part 'managed'. I've seen it firsthand.

Exactly. And that's precisely how DC General ended up such a disaster as well. And now we are creating 8 mini DC Generals without addressing any of those issues. It's ultimately not DC General that's the problem, it's the system running DC General that's the problem, and the proposals don't change one single thing about that. All they are doing is re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC residents say the city is diverse, but in many of these NW neighborhoods, eg, Cleveland, woodley, FH, it's basically all white people. These homeless shelters in traditionally all-white neighborhoods will be beneficial to the city as a whole.

How, exactly? What specific benefit will a homeless shelter bring to those neighborhoods?

By providing much needed diversity to ward 3 in particular.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The people who are largely responsible for people having to go into homeless shelters in the first place reside in wards 7 and 8. Indolence, lack of parenting, unemployed and unemployable, poor decision making. Haven't wards 7 and 8 already imposed enough costs on the rest of the city? How is rewarding failure with a nice apartment in ward 3 fair? Fair would be having the people that created the problem "live" with the consequences.

There are very real cultural reasons why poverty is multigenerational. Many homeless people grew up in broken, dysfunctional homes. They don't know what "normal" is. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs - the things we consider essential for independence and self-sufficiency aren't even on their radar. Many of them need serious interventions and life coaching to break the cycles and to get the kick in the ass to get their lives together.

And now liberals are telling everyone that babies out of wedlock are fine, etc. What kind of coaching is someone with liberal views going to give them? That hard work pays off?

Everyone who lives in CP has liberal views. They seem to have done ok. LOL

[Anonymous]

Only in DC do people think they have the right to live in a major metropolitan are and never see the homeless, or poor people in general. In New York, or Chicago, or any proper city where people have an urban mentality, you can't avoid the homeless.

But our nation's capital, where everyone has moved here from Idaho or some such, can't handle a tiny bit of economic diversity. Shame on you. If you want to live in a world where you pretend poverty doesn't exist, move to Potomac. As long as you stay in the city, you can deal with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My favorite was the hearings on the bill where homeless testified how they would prefer to be in ward 3 bc of the amenities and safety. They stopped just short of asking for the granite counters, stainless steel appliances and open kitchen concept.

Please. You sound vile. Poor people are entitled to safety, transit, and a placet O buy groceries and toiletries just like rich people. Surely you can distinguish between those needs and granite counters.

So the poor and the rich are entitled to safety and amenities but those of us in between are shit out of luck...

You have the same entitlements. And if you are not receiving them where you live, you have the freedom to vote out your elected officials or move.

Alternatively, if you think poor people have it so great, I'm sure there is a family in DC General that will trade places with you.

There - you just said it. I "have to move" but the poor and the rich don't. There's the problem. That's the entitlement we don't all have. I can't afford to live wherever I want. So why should the poor be given the right and the ability to live in a city or neighborhood that the rest of us can't afford?

If you impoverish yourself and your family or commit a violent felony, then you may get an apartment in ward 3.

"violent felony"? You know these are homeless families with children, right? That many of them have jobs, right? That they are being given temporary housing while they work towards a permanent place to live?

Being homeless doesn't mean someone is a violent felon. It doesn't mean they are lazy. It sure as hell does not mean they are any less of a human being then me, or you, or any of the people around us. For pete's sake, have this many of you lost this much control over your humanity and your sense of decency towards your common man?

Not the PP. Stop hand-wringing. PP knows that the shelters will not be properly policed. She knows it means that a lot of homeless folk are homeless due to bad decision-making and that doesn't stop once those folk are moved to Ward 3. There is nothing in this provision that helps change the behavior of those moving in - where are the provisions for the counselors of all kinds that should be intensively helping these folk? Where is the extra policing that will keep away undesirables that some of these women might have chosen for a partner, or the drug dealers that will inevitably start trolling? What investment in labor will these people in the shelter have to make, in order to keep the place looking nice?

You can't live in your ward 3 bubble all your life. This will expose people there to what happens in the real world- beyond NCS and congressional cc.

[Anonymous]

Can't wait for the cookouts and music in Rosedale Park??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My favorite was the hearings on the bill where homeless testified how they would prefer to be in ward 3 bc of the amenities and safety. They stopped just short of asking for the granite counters, stainless steel appliances and open kitchen concept.

Please. You sound vile. Poor people are entitled to safety, transit, and a placet O buy groceries and toiletries just like rich people. Surely you can distinguish between those needs and granite counters.

So the poor and the rich are entitled to safety and amenities but those of us in between are shit out of luck...

You have the same entitlements. And if you are not receiving them where you live, you have the freedom to vote out your elected officials or move.

Alternatively, if you think poor people have it so great, I'm sure there is a family in DC General that will trade places with you.

There - you just said it. I "have to move" but the poor and the rich don't. There's the problem. That's the entitlement we don't all have. I can't afford to live wherever I want. So why should the poor be given the right and the ability to live in a city or neighborhood that the rest of us can't afford?

If you impoverish yourself and your family or commit a violent felony, then you may get an apartment in ward 3.

"violent felony"? You know these are homeless families with children, right? That many of them have jobs, right? That they are being given temporary housing while they work towards a permanent place to live?

Being homeless doesn't mean someone is a violent felon. It doesn't mean they are lazy. It sure as hell does not mean they are any less of a human being then me, or you, or any of the people around us. For pete's sake, have this many of you lost this much control over your humanity and your sense of decency towards your common man?

Not the PP. Stop hand-wringing. PP knows that the shelters will not be properly policed. She knows it means that a lot of homeless folk are homeless due to bad decision-making and that doesn't stop once those folk are moved to Ward 3. There is nothing in this provision that helps change the behavior of those moving in - where are the provisions for the counselors of all kinds that should be intensively helping these folk? Where is the extra policing that will keep away undesirables that some of these women might have chosen for a partner, or the drug dealers that will inevitably start trolling? What investment in labor will these people in the shelter have to make, in order to keep the place looking nice?

I remember when I worked with an affordable housing / renovation organization clearing out a section 8 apartment. Not a hoarder, just a mom and her kids. The mounds and mounds and mounds of trash.

Structure is better. These questions are good ones. Who will the city be contracting the running of these dream shelters out to? Para professionals, highly trained teams or $15 an hour babysitter and clock punchers? Sorry, but that's how lots of group homes in DC have the day to day part 'managed'. I've seen it firsthand.

Exactly. And that's precisely how DC General ended up such a disaster as well. And now we are creating 8 mini DC Generals without addressing any of those issues. It's ultimately not DC General that's the problem, it's the system running DC General that's the problem, and the proposals don't change one single thing about that. All they are doing is re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

So, until we have a magic answer for all of the issues of homelessness, don't build the shelter near you. Sounds like a convenient dodge there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC residents say the city is diverse, but in many of these NW neighborhoods, eg, Cleveland, woodley, FH, it's basically all white people. These homeless shelters in traditionally all-white neighborhoods will be beneficial to the city as a whole.

How, exactly? What specific benefit will a homeless shelter bring to those neighborhoods?

By providing much needed diversity to ward 3 in particular.

That's not an answer. What specific benefit does diversity bring?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My favorite was the hearings on the bill where homeless testified how they would prefer to be in ward 3 bc of the amenities and safety. They stopped just short of asking for the granite counters, stainless steel appliances and open kitchen concept.

Please. You sound vile. Poor people are entitled to safety, transit, and a placet O buy groceries and toiletries just like rich people. Surely you can distinguish between those needs and granite counters.

So the poor and the rich are entitled to safety and amenities but those of us in between are shit out of luck...

You have the same entitlements. And if you are not receiving them where you live, you have the freedom to vote out your elected officials or move.

Alternatively, if you think poor people have it so great, I'm sure there is a family in DC General that will trade places with you.

There - you just said it. I "have to move" but the poor and the rich don't. There's the problem. That's the entitlement we don't all have. I can't afford to live wherever I want. So why should the poor be given the right and the ability to live in a city or neighborhood that the rest of us can't afford?

If you impoverish yourself and your family or commit a violent felony, then you may get an apartment in ward 3.

"violent felony"? You know these are homeless families with children, right? That many of them have jobs, right? That they are being given temporary housing while they work towards a permanent place to live?

Being homeless doesn't mean someone is a violent felon. It doesn't mean they are lazy. It sure as hell does not mean they are any less of a human being then me, or you, or any of the people around us. For pete's sake, have this many of you lost this much control over your humanity and your sense of decency towards your common man?

Not the PP. Stop hand-wringing. PP knows that the shelters will not be properly policed. She knows it means that a lot of homeless folk are homeless due to bad decision-making and that doesn't stop once those folk are moved to Ward 3. There is nothing in this provision that helps change the behavior of those moving in - where are the provisions for the counselors of all kinds that should be intensively helping these folk? Where is the extra policing that will keep away undesirables that some of these women might have chosen for a partner, or the drug dealers that will inevitably start trolling? What investment in labor will these people in the shelter have to make, in order to keep the place looking nice?

I remember when I worked with an affordable housing / renovation organization clearing out a section 8 apartment. Not a hoarder, just a mom and her kids. The mounds and mounds and mounds of trash.

Structure is better. These questions are good ones. Who will the city be contracting the running of these dream shelters out to? Para professionals, highly trained teams or $15 an hour babysitter and clock punchers? Sorry, but that's how lots of group homes in DC have the day to day part 'managed'. I've seen it firsthand.

Exactly. And that's precisely how DC General ended up such a disaster as well. And now we are creating 8 mini DC Generals without addressing any of those issues. It's ultimately not DC General that's the problem, it's the system running DC General that's the problem, and the proposals don't change one single thing about that. All they are doing is re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

So, until we have a magic answer for all of the issues of homelessness, don't build the shelter near you. Sounds like a convenient dodge there.

No, it's not a dodge at all. It's a specific and direct call to fix the fatally flawed social services system that allowed DC General to degenerate in the first place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Only in DC do people think they have the right to live in a major metropolitan are and never see the homeless, or poor people in general. In New York, or Chicago, or any proper city where people have an urban mentality, you can't avoid the homeless.

But our nation's capital, where everyone has moved here from Idaho or some such, can't handle a tiny bit of economic diversity. Shame on you. If you want to live in a world where you pretend poverty doesn't exist, move to Potomac. As long as you stay in the city, you can deal with it.

In DC people think they have the right to live in a major metropolitan area and not have to work, to be sheltered, fed and provided for by others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My favorite was the hearings on the bill where homeless testified how they would prefer to be in ward 3 bc of the amenities and safety. They stopped just short of asking for the granite counters, stainless steel appliances and open kitchen concept.

Please. You sound vile. Poor people are entitled to safety, transit, and a placet O buy groceries and toiletries just like rich people. Surely you can distinguish between those needs and granite counters.

So the poor and the rich are entitled to safety and amenities but those of us in between are shit out of luck...

You have the same entitlements. And if you are not receiving them where you live, you have the freedom to vote out your elected officials or move.

Alternatively, if you think poor people have it so great, I'm sure there is a family in DC General that will trade places with you.

There - you just said it. I "have to move" but the poor and the rich don't. There's the problem. That's the entitlement we don't all have. I can't afford to live wherever I want. So why should the poor be given the right and the ability to live in a city or neighborhood that the rest of us can't afford?

If you impoverish yourself and your family or commit a violent felony, then you may get an apartment in ward 3.

"violent felony"? You know these are homeless families with children, right? That many of them have jobs, right? That they are being given temporary housing while they work towards a permanent place to live?

Being homeless doesn't mean someone is a violent felon. It doesn't mean they are lazy. It sure as hell does not mean they are any less of a human being then me, or you, or any of the people around us. For pete's sake, have this many of you lost this much control over your humanity and your sense of decency towards your common man?

Not the PP. Stop hand-wringing. PP knows that the shelters will not be properly policed. She knows it means that a lot of homeless folk are homeless due to bad decision-making and that doesn't stop once those folk are moved to Ward 3. There is nothing in this provision that helps change the behavior of those moving in - where are the provisions for the counselors of all kinds that should be intensively helping these folk? Where is the extra policing that will keep away undesirables that some of these women might have chosen for a partner, or the drug dealers that will inevitably start trolling? What investment in labor will these people in the shelter have to make, in order to keep the place looking nice?

You can't live in your ward 3 bubble all your life. This will expose people there to what happens in the real world- beyond NCS and congressional cc.

Go tell that to all the condo owners and renters living in McLean Gardens. Also, please explain to me why you have any moral right to explain to me, based on where I live, whether society needs for me to be out of what you presume is a "bubble." My kids aren't at the cathedral schools and I don't belong to congressional or Chevy, but I'm not sure how that differentiates me from my neighbors who do. In your vindictive attempt to stick it to people about whom you make unfounded assumptions.., all you're doing is reminding us that MD and VA might be much better options.

It was long ago a point of pride to remain in DC, but not really any longer. I used to scoff inwardly at friends moving to MD and VA, but now see it as a perfectly viable option. And many of us with the very high dollar incomes, and resulting DC tax dollars, are together in this. Yes, it would be disappointing to leave our neighborhood, but it's doable, and becoming much more attractive. And does DC really think that the newcomers will be better for the city? That they will generate more taxes? That they will for some reason support believe the crap about their needing to get out of their "bubbles." Do people in DC have any sense of how much the city operations rely on the finances/taxes of relatively few neighborhoods, or that crapping on these taxpayers based on unfounded assumptions is not in the city's best interests?

And as for NY and Chicago being different, it sounds like you never spent much fun in those cities if you think there aren't suburb-ish communities close in that people say over pay for (and are way overtaxed for) to be less urban in feel, whether for single family homes, less dense residences, restrictive architectural review boards, etc.

[Anonymous]

We're a diverse CP family. Dont think the shelter is a good idea or that your reasoning makes any sense. Who defines diversity? This shelter is going to waste money. Giving it a pennant for diversity is lipstick on a pig.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're a diverse CP family. Dont think the shelter is a good idea or that your reasoning makes any sense. Who defines diversity? This shelter is going to waste money. Giving it a pennant for diversity is lipstick on a pig.

Btw, we are from DC not Iowa.

[Anonymous]

There are myriad reasons a family with children might become homeless other than bad decisionmaking. The fact is that there is a severe affordable housing crisis in DC and until solutions to this are found, and a significant number of transitional housing units constructed, the City will need to find solutions other than DC General and remotely-located hotels. The fact a few privileged families living in NW are pissed off and irrationally fearful isn't a reason to derail an otherwise rational approach. It is fair to question whether the size of the facility is in accordance with best practices and hold feet to the fire in terms of accountability when it comes to.maintaining and operating the shelter but let's not pretend this motivated is anything other than good old fashioned NIMBYism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're a diverse CP family. Dont think the shelter is a good idea or that your reasoning makes any sense. Who defines diversity? This shelter is going to waste money. Giving it a pennant for diversity is lipstick on a pig.

Btw, we are from DC not Iowa.

Several folks here smell like Iowa pigs.

Great for diversity, to be sure.