Bowser Spreads the Wealth opens homeless shelters in each DC ward

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:http://ich.dc.gov

Start your journey here. Read about the homeless situation in DC as well as the game plan to address it.

Recognize that you have well over 1,000 homeless families in DC (and that's likely a lower estimate than reality since it's based on the point in time count). Recognize that there are well over 2,000 homeless kids in DC. These families must live somewhere. These children must go to school somewhere.

I realize that some of you feel like you worked hard to afford your nice home and good school. That's fine. But you live in DC, and DC has a homeless family housing crisis. Fortunately, the mayor is doing her best to address the problem (whereas many communities simply ignore the problem and waste so much money on emergency responses and services like shelters, ambulances, ER visits, etc.).

Data proves that the best practice is to disperse families in need of assistance throughout the community as opposed to segregating them in the poorest neighborhoods.

The bottom line is this: if you don't like it, then you can leave. Move WOTP. Move into a gated community in the burbs. Nobody will make you stay. It just seems so odd to me that city folk are getting hysterical over this. I mean, you live in DC...a city with a homeless family housing crisis...what do you expect? If you want a homogenous neighborhood, then look elsewhere.

I'm sure someone will say, "Why should we leave? We bought our home and want to stay!" That's fine. You can stay. Nobody will make you leave. But please realize that these families are lifetime DC residents. They aren't transplants. Their DC roots run deep...generations. They can't leave because they have nowhere to go. These are people suffering the effects of generational poverty. They've been failed by the education system. They've been failed by the child welfare system. Their communities have been over-policed, they've been criminalized (and so have their parents, brothers and sisters), and they are saddled with court imposed fines and debt that propel them into a never ending cycle of crisis. They live in a world that you can't even begin to comprehend. It's beyond sad. It's a rather hopeless existence.

Having worked in this arena for two decades, I count my blessings everyday because I realize that my life has a great deal to do with the fact that the deck wasn't stacked against me when I was born into a two-parent home with loving, well-educated, healthy, mentally stable, employed parents who themselves had a well-resourced family network. And I focus my career and pro bono work on doing whatever I can to try to improve the system for those who unfortunately entered the world with the cards stacked against them.

I honestly think that you'll be pleasantly surprised when you realize these plans ultimately have zero impact on your lives. I truly believe that.

I am living 4 blocks from one of these shelters, and have no issue with it - as I feel the homeless crisis is one we all must deal with together. But your post annoys me. Why say "you" and not "we" do you work in DC and not live here? Or are you one of those transplants who just are seperate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:http://ich.dc.gov

Start your journey here. Read about the homeless situation in DC as well as the game plan to address it.

Recognize that you have well over 1,000 homeless families in DC (and that's likely a lower estimate than reality since it's based on the point in time count). Recognize that there are well over 2,000 homeless kids in DC. These families must live somewhere. These children must go to school somewhere.

I realize that some of you feel like you worked hard to afford your nice home and good school. That's fine. But you live in DC, and DC has a homeless family housing crisis. Fortunately, the mayor is doing her best to address the problem (whereas many communities simply ignore the problem and waste so much money on emergency responses and services like shelters, ambulances, ER visits, etc.).

Data proves that the best practice is to disperse families in need of assistance throughout the community as opposed to segregating them in the poorest neighborhoods.

The bottom line is this: if you don't like it, then you can leave. Move WOTP. Move into a gated community in the burbs. Nobody will make you stay. It just seems so odd to me that city folk are getting hysterical over this. I mean, you live in DC...a city with a homeless family housing crisis...what do you expect? If you want a homogenous neighborhood, then look elsewhere.

I'm sure someone will say, "Why should we leave? We bought our home and want to stay!" That's fine. You can stay. Nobody will make you leave. But please realize that these families are lifetime DC residents. They aren't transplants. Their DC roots run deep...generations. They can't leave because they have nowhere to go. These are people suffering the effects of generational poverty. They've been failed by the education system. They've been failed by the child welfare system. Their communities have been over-policed, they've been criminalized (and so have their parents, brothers and sisters), and they are saddled with court imposed fines and debt that propel them into a never ending cycle of crisis. They live in a world that you can't even begin to comprehend. It's beyond sad. It's a rather hopeless existence.

Having worked in this arena for two decades, I count my blessings everyday because I realize that my life has a great deal to do with the fact that the deck wasn't stacked against me when I was born into a two-parent home with loving, well-educated, healthy, mentally stable, employed parents who themselves had a well-resourced family network. And I focus my career and pro bono work on doing whatever I can to try to improve the system for those who unfortunately entered the world with the cards stacked against them.

I honestly think that you'll be pleasantly surprised when you realize these plans ultimately have zero impact on your lives. I truly believe that.

I truly believe you have no idea what you are talking about. I truly believe that DC has many problems, for example cronyism, corruption and just plain massive incompetence (did you read that recent resignation letter?) And that, when you choose to ignore the anti-democratic and opaque process Mayor Bowser has followed here, you are not acting as a responsible citizen, but as a party hack.

The awards on my wall lead me to believe that I do know what I'm talking about.

So you're mad that the mayor didn't leave it up to the great citizens of DC to decide where to house homeless families? Umkay. Why don't we leave all the decisions up to residents? We can all quit our jobs and attend hearings and meetings and then vote on EVERYTHING. That sounds like a great plan!

Listen: your elected officials and their team are steering the ship. The democratic part happened when you voted. Period. After that, you don't get a vote until the next election. You can certainly ask questions and express your opinion. Send Bowser a letter.

Question: has any elected official ever crowd sourced prior to making a normal governance decision like this? What exactly are you comparing this to? Did the last mayor consult you prior to making decisions?

Has any elected official ever crowd sourced prior to making governance decisions? YES, ALL THE TIME. Normally whenever there is a substantive development proposal (which this certainly is) there are public meetings and comment periods PRIOR to finalizing decisionmaking. You must be new to city planning.

[Anonymous]

...not when it comes to siting shelters.

[Anonymous]

There was a 40 bed hypothermia center on Calvert St [St Lukes where the homicide was last summer]. That is closed. Any plans to relocate that ? http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2016/01/18/ward-3-without-cold-weather-shelter-for-men/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:http://ich.dc.gov

Start your journey here. Read about the homeless situation in DC as well as the game plan to address it.

Recognize that you have well over 1,000 homeless families in DC (and that's likely a lower estimate than reality since it's based on the point in time count). Recognize that there are well over 2,000 homeless kids in DC. These families must live somewhere. These children must go to school somewhere.

I realize that some of you feel like you worked hard to afford your nice home and good school. That's fine. But you live in DC, and DC has a homeless family housing crisis. Fortunately, the mayor is doing her best to address the problem (whereas many communities simply ignore the problem and waste so much money on emergency responses and services like shelters, ambulances, ER visits, etc.).

Data proves that the best practice is to disperse families in need of assistance throughout the community as opposed to segregating them in the poorest neighborhoods.

The bottom line is this: if you don't like it, then you can leave. Move WOTP. Move into a gated community in the burbs. Nobody will make you stay. It just seems so odd to me that city folk are getting hysterical over this. I mean, you live in DC...a city with a homeless family housing crisis...what do you expect? If you want a homogenous neighborhood, then look elsewhere.

I'm sure someone will say, "Why should we leave? We bought our home and want to stay!" That's fine. You can stay. Nobody will make you leave. But please realize that these families are lifetime DC residents. They aren't transplants. Their DC roots run deep...generations. They can't leave because they have nowhere to go. These are people suffering the effects of generational poverty. They've been failed by the education system. They've been failed by the child welfare system. Their communities have been over-policed, they've been criminalized (and so have their parents, brothers and sisters), and they are saddled with court imposed fines and debt that propel them into a never ending cycle of crisis. They live in a world that you can't even begin to comprehend. It's beyond sad. It's a rather hopeless existence.

Having worked in this arena for two decades, I count my blessings everyday because I realize that my life has a great deal to do with the fact that the deck wasn't stacked against me when I was born into a two-parent home with loving, well-educated, healthy, mentally stable, employed parents who themselves had a well-resourced family network. And I focus my career and pro bono work on doing whatever I can to try to improve the system for those who unfortunately entered the world with the cards stacked against them.

I honestly think that you'll be pleasantly surprised when you realize these plans ultimately have zero impact on your lives. I truly believe that.

Bowser plans to put a homeless shelter WOTP, in Observatory Circle. However, there are questions about whether the scheme is an inside deal in favor of a politically-connected property developer who sees a chance to get difficult-to-obtain upzoning for the parcel now and then convert the shelter to upscale condos when the lease to the DC government expires in 5-10 years.

I live about two blocks from this site, and if this allegation is true, I see it as a win-win: shelter for homeless families now; development (and tax $$) later from what is now a vacant and underutilized piece of land in a great part of town.

Thanks for the Greater Greater Washington viewpoint.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:http://ich.dc.gov

Start your journey here. Read about the homeless situation in DC as well as the game plan to address it.

Recognize that you have well over 1,000 homeless families in DC (and that's likely a lower estimate than reality since it's based on the point in time count). Recognize that there are well over 2,000 homeless kids in DC. These families must live somewhere. These children must go to school somewhere.

I realize that some of you feel like you worked hard to afford your nice home and good school. That's fine. But you live in DC, and DC has a homeless family housing crisis. Fortunately, the mayor is doing her best to address the problem (whereas many communities simply ignore the problem and waste so much money on emergency responses and services like shelters, ambulances, ER visits, etc.).

Data proves that the best practice is to disperse families in need of assistance throughout the community as opposed to segregating them in the poorest neighborhoods.

The bottom line is this: if you don't like it, then you can leave. Move WOTP. Move into a gated community in the burbs. Nobody will make you stay. It just seems so odd to me that city folk are getting hysterical over this. I mean, you live in DC...a city with a homeless family housing crisis...what do you expect? If you want a homogenous neighborhood, then look elsewhere.

I'm sure someone will say, "Why should we leave? We bought our home and want to stay!" That's fine. You can stay. Nobody will make you leave. But please realize that these families are lifetime DC residents. They aren't transplants. Their DC roots run deep...generations. They can't leave because they have nowhere to go. These are people suffering the effects of generational poverty. They've been failed by the education system. They've been failed by the child welfare system. Their communities have been over-policed, they've been criminalized (and so have their parents, brothers and sisters), and they are saddled with court imposed fines and debt that propel them into a never ending cycle of crisis. They live in a world that you can't even begin to comprehend. It's beyond sad. It's a rather hopeless existence.

Having worked in this arena for two decades, I count my blessings everyday because I realize that my life has a great deal to do with the fact that the deck wasn't stacked against me when I was born into a two-parent home with loving, well-educated, healthy, mentally stable, employed parents who themselves had a well-resourced family network. And I focus my career and pro bono work on doing whatever I can to try to improve the system for those who unfortunately entered the world with the cards stacked against them.

I honestly think that you'll be pleasantly surprised when you realize these plans ultimately have zero impact on your lives. I truly believe that.

Bowser plans to put a homeless shelter WOTP, in Observatory Circle. However, there are questions about whether the scheme is an inside deal in favor of a politically-connected property developer who sees a chance to get difficult-to-obtain upzoning for the parcel now and then convert the shelter to upscale condos when the lease to the DC government expires in 5-10 years.

I live about two blocks from this site, and if this allegation is true, I see it as a win-win: shelter for homeless families now; development (and tax $$) later from what is now a vacant and underutilized piece of land in a great part of town.

I think the intention is to turn it into low income/public permanent housing eventually and they are trying to ease the neighborhood into it by saying it is a temporary shelter.

[Anonymous]

Why should someone who quite likely did not make the investment of time and energy into education, career, self improvement and everything else be entitled to a free ticket to the same neighborhoods and amenities as those who could only get there through considerable hard work, sacrifice and struggle?

[Anonymous]

Does Bowser want DC to be the Marxist utopia?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:http://ich.dc.gov

Start your journey here. Read about the homeless situation in DC as well as the game plan to address it.

Recognize that you have well over 1,000 homeless families in DC (and that's likely a lower estimate than reality since it's based on the point in time count). Recognize that there are well over 2,000 homeless kids in DC. These families must live somewhere. These children must go to school somewhere.

I realize that some of you feel like you worked hard to afford your nice home and good school. That's fine. But you live in DC, and DC has a homeless family housing crisis. Fortunately, the mayor is doing her best to address the problem (whereas many communities simply ignore the problem and waste so much money on emergency responses and services like shelters, ambulances, ER visits, etc.).

Data proves that the best practice is to disperse families in need of assistance throughout the community as opposed to segregating them in the poorest neighborhoods.

The bottom line is this: if you don't like it, then you can leave. Move WOTP. Move into a gated community in the burbs. Nobody will make you stay. It just seems so odd to me that city folk are getting hysterical over this. I mean, you live in DC...a city with a homeless family housing crisis...what do you expect? If you want a homogenous neighborhood, then look elsewhere.

I'm sure someone will say, "Why should we leave? We bought our home and want to stay!" That's fine. You can stay. Nobody will make you leave. But please realize that these families are lifetime DC residents. They aren't transplants. Their DC roots run deep...generations. They can't leave because they have nowhere to go. These are people suffering the effects of generational poverty. They've been failed by the education system. They've been failed by the child welfare system. Their communities have been over-policed, they've been criminalized (and so have their parents, brothers and sisters), and they are saddled with court imposed fines and debt that propel them into a never ending cycle of crisis. They live in a world that you can't even begin to comprehend. It's beyond sad. It's a rather hopeless existence.

Having worked in this arena for two decades, I count my blessings everyday because I realize that my life has a great deal to do with the fact that the deck wasn't stacked against me when I was born into a two-parent home with loving, well-educated, healthy, mentally stable, employed parents who themselves had a well-resourced family network. And I focus my career and pro bono work on doing whatever I can to try to improve the system for those who unfortunately entered the world with the cards stacked against them.

I honestly think that you'll be pleasantly surprised when you realize these plans ultimately have zero impact on your lives. I truly believe that.

I truly believe you have no idea what you are talking about. I truly believe that DC has many problems, for example cronyism, corruption and just plain massive incompetence (did you read that recent resignation letter?) And that, when you choose to ignore the anti-democratic and opaque process Mayor Bowser has followed here, you are not acting as a responsible citizen, but as a party hack.

The awards on my wall lead me to believe that I do know what I'm talking about.

So you're mad that the mayor didn't leave it up to the great citizens of DC to decide where to house homeless families? Umkay. Why don't we leave all the decisions up to residents? We can all quit our jobs and attend hearings and meetings and then vote on EVERYTHING. That sounds like a great plan!

Listen: your elected officials and their team are steering the ship. The democratic part happened when you voted. Period. After that, you don't get a vote until the next election. You can certainly ask questions and express your opinion. Send Bowser a letter.

Question: has any elected official ever crowd sourced prior to making a normal governance decision like this? What exactly are you comparing this to? Did the last mayor consult you prior to making decisions?

Has any elected official ever crowd sourced prior to making governance decisions? YES, ALL THE TIME. Normally whenever there is a substantive development proposal (which this certainly is) there are public meetings and comment periods PRIOR to finalizing decisionmaking. You must be new to city planning.

+1. Last time, for example, for DCPS new boundaries, just a year ago.

The "awards" in previous PP's wall must be for his participation in high school debates.

Perhaps he won some spelling bee too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why should someone who quite likely did not make the investment of time and energy into education, career, self improvement and everything else be entitled to a free ticket to the same neighborhoods and amenities as those who could only get there through considerable hard work, sacrifice and struggle?

This is something that I think the entire country is divided about right now. There are two trains of thought in this country and it appears that people are very divided on these issues. We will see what happens in the election.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does Bowser want DC to be the Marxist utopia?

Not a Marxist utopia, just a semi-socialist city. A true Marxist utopia wouldn't allow her political supporters and crony developers to siphon off DC funds and feed at the contracts trough.

[Anonymous]

Normally I would be the among the first to cry for public comments on issues and plans that affect neighborhoods. However, given the mean-spirited comments made during the DCPS boundary revision process about at-risk set asides and low income students on this board, I'm glad that the mayor didn't open this up for people to weigh in.

It's a crisis, and I strongly suspect that many of the people in upper NW who are up in arms about this shelter are having their first experience with the crisis. I live in a part of the city with multiple shelters, public housing, and social services, plus I work in social services, so none of this is news to me. It's insulting when people like the PP who described the problem in pretty accurate detail is told by other posters that he/she doesn't know what he/she is talking about. I also think it's ridiculous that the criticism of that poster is basically "You must not know what you're talking about vis-a-vis the homeless crisis because you did not also mention corruption, cronyism, etc., and therefore you must be a party hack."

I don't know about the PP, but personally, I think that the human rights crisis facing thousands of DC citizens of all ages is more important. I choose to focus on that. If you'd like to focus on political corruption and a lack of democratic process, that's up to you, but when I see children living in unsafe and unhealthy living conditions, I'm more interested in getting those children and their parents into a safe environment and getting them started down the road to self-sufficiency. The other stuff is important, but those are process discussions, not immediate crisis discussions.

If I was her, I wouldn't hold public hearings on this subject either, since the 38 pages of this thread and however many protracted arguments about at-risk set asides have demonstrated that the segment of the population who comes to this website were not going to be supportive of the Ward 3 shelter no matter where it is. You can say whatever you want about zoning, but I have no doubt that the goal posts will move if the shelter plan gets revised.

Note: I didn't vote for Bowser or work for her. I don't work for any part of the DC government. So any accusations of being a party hack or in the tank are patently incorrect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does Bowser want DC to be the Marxist utopia?

Not a Marxist utopia, just a semi-socialist city. A true Marxist utopia wouldn't allow her political supporters and crony developers to siphon off DC funds and feed at the contracts trough.

The problem is that it's unfeasible to approach on an individual city level as all anyone has to do is move a few miles and leave the city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why should someone who quite likely did not make the investment of time and energy into education, career, self improvement and everything else be entitled to a free ticket to the same neighborhoods and amenities as those who could only get there through considerable hard work, sacrifice and struggle?

The elitism is strong with this one. "Free ticket" to "amenities"? You need to cut back on the Grey Goose and Valium.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does Bowser want DC to be the Marxist utopia?

Not a Marxist utopia, just a semi-socialist city. A true Marxist utopia wouldn't allow her political supporters and crony developers to siphon off DC funds and feed at the contracts trough.

"Banana republic" may be closer to what both of you have in mind. With touches of autocratic socialism (let's do 8 new shelters with zero community engagement- fun!) and anarchism (why collect all those non-shoveling fines?)