Bowser Spreads the Wealth opens homeless shelters in each DC ward

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, say good bye to that nice Guy Mason playground. It's going to be fun to see litter and people sleeping all over it at 3pm. I am a firm believer in NIMBY. What next, a methadone clinic?

Oh, and whatever schools these shelters will be inbounds for, prepare for those schools to go downhill fast.

I live in Glover Park, very close to Guy Mason, and I suspect that you don't.

This is a shelter for homeless families. Providing temporary safe housing for 40 homeless families won't destroy our neighborhood, our schools, or our parks and playgrounds.

Can Stoddert handle this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone looked at the current distribution of homeless shelters, homeless families and schools with homeless kids? Charles Allen said Ward 6 already has more homeless shelters than the other Wards. http://www.nbcwashington.com/blogs/first-read-dmv/Homeless-Shelters-to-Open-in-Each-Ward-of-DC-353215441.html

And, they already have several new housing projects in planning and already under construction which will have significant accomodations for low income. There's far more of that kind of housing coming online in Ward 6 than anywhere else in the city.

It sounds like the proposal just figures on distributing DC General's homeless more or less evenly across all Wards without consideration of what's already going on in many Wards.

It seems to me that the other Wards should be stepping up to the plate. Ward 6 has already absorbed a huge brunt where it comes to accommodating the homeless and low income.

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

The crickets chirping here despite having posters who claim to be in the know on issues affecting the homeless in DC tells me that no, there isn't a more robust, equitable or well thought out plan. Sigh. Not surprised.

I'll bite. I live in Ward 6 and I seriously doubt we have more concentrated public housing and shelters than Ward 7 or Ward 8, or even Ward 1.

Why do you doubt the information from your own councilmember on this? Ward 6, followed closely by/matched by Ward 5 have the highest concentrations. This isn't disputed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, say good bye to that nice Guy Mason playground. It's going to be fun to see litter and people sleeping all over it at 3pm. I am a firm believer in NIMBY. What next, a methadone clinic?

Oh, and whatever schools these shelters will be inbounds for, prepare for those schools to go downhill fast.

So you are saying that homeless shelters should not be spread throughout the city and should be concentrated in less affluent neighborhoods? Well, the people in Ward 5 and Ward 6, who have shouldered the majority of the burden thus far, want to know what makes your ward so special? This is everyone's burden to bear. Sorry.

What I have not seen in this whole discussion is where those folks are coming from. From outside DC? Mostly from DC itself? If so, from which Ward? Sorry, but if (imagine) all homeless people were raised in Ward 5, and that's what they know best, it makes no particular sense to spread them across all Wards. If they all come from (say) Virginia, why should DC wear the burden?

If Bowser trying to help existing homeless people or to disrupt a number of neighborhoods and potentially bring even more homeless into the city? Those are different objectives

Bowser is trying to close DC General, the existing family shelter that houses ~230 families. These new shelters are for families who are living there, or in the NY Ave motels. I understand that there is the perception that homeless people are flocking to DC for our amazing homeless services, and while there is some truth to that, these families are overwhelmingly DC residents. I met with a man yesterday who is homeless and mentally ill from Ward 3 (born, raised, lived there when he had an address). He's not the target population of these shelters because he is a single adult male, but he is not a poor black man from Ward 8. Many of these young women are from SE, from Brookland, from Trinidad. There is an argument that if you house people in a community with better examples - working people, good schools, easily accessible grocery stores (vs. high unemployment, failing schools, and an overabundance of stripmall 7-Elevens) - they will be better situated to get out of poverty.

These are not shelters to "bring more homeless into the city." They are shelters to rehouse the people living in the toxic human rights violation that is DC General into humane living conditions and help them break the cycle of homelessness.

I wish I wrote for the Washington Post so that I could write that into the first line of every single story, since so many of you seem to think that these are shelters for individual adults from other jurisdictions.

Thank you for the thoughtful response. That argument may be a good one, but would require the buy-in from those communities asked to serve as "better examples," since they are working hard precisely to create safe and nurturing environments for the people actually living there. Did Bowser lead a process to engage relevant neighbors, or was this more of a Stalinist top-down decision?

[Anonymous]

Public housing and homeless shelters are not the same. There's no shortage of public housing in Ward 6. Off the top of my head, there's Potomac Gardens, Kentucky Courts, Greenleaf Gardens, Sursum Corda, Hopkins, James Creek, Syphax, and Sibley Plaza. Then there's mixed-income developments like the Eliot-Hine development, Townhomes on Capitol Hill (Ellen Wilson) and Capitol Quarter and Bixby (Capper-Carrolllsburg) and the other DCHA projects slated to be near Canal Park. Plus the low-income senior buildings adjacent to the Marine Barracks and the Navy Yard. As to shelters, DC General speaks for itself as does the nearby methadone clinic and the facility that offers drug and mental counseling adjacent to the Eastern Market Metro Plaza.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, say good bye to that nice Guy Mason playground. It's going to be fun to see litter and people sleeping all over it at 3pm. I am a firm believer in NIMBY. What next, a methadone clinic?

Oh, and whatever schools these shelters will be inbounds for, prepare for those schools to go downhill fast.

I live in Glover Park, very close to Guy Mason, and I suspect that you don't.

This is a shelter for homeless families. Providing temporary safe housing for 40 homeless families won't destroy our neighborhood, our schools, or our parks and playgrounds.

Can Stoddert handle this?

Panties bunching and pearls clutching. Too funny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, say good bye to that nice Guy Mason playground. It's going to be fun to see litter and people sleeping all over it at 3pm. I am a firm believer in NIMBY. What next, a methadone clinic?

Oh, and whatever schools these shelters will be inbounds for, prepare for those schools to go downhill fast.

So you are saying that homeless shelters should not be spread throughout the city and should be concentrated in less affluent neighborhoods? Well, the people in Ward 5 and Ward 6, who have shouldered the majority of the burden thus far, want to know what makes your ward so special? This is everyone's burden to bear. Sorry.

What I have not seen in this whole discussion is where those folks are coming from. From outside DC? Mostly from DC itself? If so, from which Ward? Sorry, but if (imagine) all homeless people were raised in Ward 5, and that's what they know best, it makes no particular sense to spread them across all Wards. If they all come from (say) Virginia, why should DC wear the burden?

If Bowser trying to help existing homeless people or to disrupt a number of neighborhoods and potentially bring even more homeless into the city? Those are different objectives

Bowser is trying to close DC General, the existing family shelter that houses ~230 families. These new shelters are for families who are living there, or in the NY Ave motels. I understand that there is the perception that homeless people are flocking to DC for our amazing homeless services, and while there is some truth to that, these families are overwhelmingly DC residents. I met with a man yesterday who is homeless and mentally ill from Ward 3 (born, raised, lived there when he had an address). He's not the target population of these shelters because he is a single adult male, but he is not a poor black man from Ward 8. Many of these young women are from SE, from Brookland, from Trinidad. There is an argument that if you house people in a community with better examples - working people, good schools, easily accessible grocery stores (vs. high unemployment, failing schools, and an overabundance of stripmall 7-Elevens) - they will be better situated to get out of poverty.

These are not shelters to "bring more homeless into the city." They are shelters to rehouse the people living in the toxic human rights violation that is DC General into humane living conditions and help them break the cycle of homelessness.

I wish I wrote for the Washington Post so that I could write that into the first line of every single story, since so many of you seem to think that these are shelters for individual adults from other jurisdictions.

Thank you for the thoughtful response. That argument may be a good one, but would require the buy-in from those communities asked to serve as "better examples," since they are working hard precisely to create safe and nurturing environments for the people actually living there. Did Bowser lead a process to engage relevant neighbors, or was this more of a Stalinist top-down decision?

I actually don't think that it does "require" buy-in from neighbors.

Let me put it to you this way. Up in Ward 3, you guys have amazing schools filled with children who are motivated to learn and families who support that learning. You have libraries with storytelling for young children. You have new playgrounds that are safe and nice to look at. You have multiple grocery stores with fresh produce. You have extensive public transit that (despite the previous remarks about the 30 buses) is reliable. I'm sure many of us read the article about the woman living in the motel on NY Ave with her kids, how long it takes to get her daughter to school, her concerns about safety for her kids, etc.? Those are the families that these shelters are being designed for. That woman, if she moved into the Wisconsin Avenue shelter, could send her daughter to Stoddert, perhaps get a job at one of the retail establishments in the area. There are options available to get high quality food because you have several actual grocery stores, rather than several bodegas with the week's shipment of bananas browning next to the bullet proof glass.

It would be great if the neighbors did buy in and welcome these families into the community. As a parent, I want my children hanging out with friends who set good examples so that everyone motivates everyone else to do better. The likelihood of that happening at a failing school is very low compared with a school like Stoddert where there are many opportunities and examples to excel. Please, please, please, Ward 3, welcome these women and give this a chance to work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You all get one !

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2016/02/09/d-c-general-closure-mayor-announces-locations-of-proposed-shelters/

The Wisconsin Avenue location won't get approved. Terrible location for a homeless shelter. Expensive area - expensive stores etc... I think they will feel very out of place here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You all get one !

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2016/02/09/d-c-general-closure-mayor-announces-locations-of-proposed-shelters/

The Wisconsin Avenue location won't get approved. Terrible location for a homeless shelter. Expensive area - expensive stores etc... I think they will feel very out of place here.

"They"? Shame on you. And who do you think won't "approve" the facility? Ridiculous. Do you think DC General is a good location or is it simply a matter of NIMBYism. Homeless students comprise about one-third of Payne and Ketcham. Are you allay with that?

http://m.wamu.org/#/programs/metro_connection/14/08/08/growing_up_at_dc_general_how_kids_cope_with_shelter_life

[Anonymous]

Community meetings will be hosted in each Ward on Thursday, February 11, 2016 at 6:30 pm to answer questions and hear ideas from residents about how to make this plan succeed.
http://www.eventbrite.com/o/executive-office-of-the-mayor-eom-7897460941

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You all get one !

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2016/02/09/d-c-general-closure-mayor-announces-locations-of-proposed-shelters/

The Wisconsin Avenue location won't get approved. Terrible location for a homeless shelter. Expensive area - expensive stores etc... I think they will feel very out of place here.

"They"? Shame on you. And who do you think won't "approve" the facility? Ridiculous. Do you think DC General is a good location or is it simply a matter of NIMBYism. Homeless students comprise about one-third of Payne and Ketcham. Are you allay with that?

http://m.wamu.org/#/programs/metro_connection/14/08/08/growing_up_at_dc_general_how_kids_cope_with_shelter_life

Wow angry much? "They" are the homeless families living there. I have never heard of Payne or Ketcham so have no idea about that. That is an expensive place and the stores etc are expensive and for homeless famines living there, I could see it not feeling right. They can't afford to go shopping or lunch in Georgetown and all of the stores are pricey there. They may be able to live there but they won't be able to afford to do anything in their neighborhood that doesn't seem to make sense to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You all get one !

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2016/02/09/d-c-general-closure-mayor-announces-locations-of-proposed-shelters/

The Wisconsin Avenue location won't get approved. Terrible location for a homeless shelter. Expensive area - expensive stores etc... I think they will feel very out of place here.

"They"? Shame on you. And who do you think won't "approve" the facility? Ridiculous. Do you think DC General is a good location or is it simply a matter of NIMBYism. Homeless students comprise about one-third of Payne and Ketcham. Are you allay with that?

http://m.wamu.org/#/programs/metro_connection/14/08/08/growing_up_at_dc_general_how_kids_cope_with_shelter_life

Wow angry much? "They" are the homeless families living there. I have never heard of Payne or Ketcham so have no idea about that. That is an expensive place and the stores etc are expensive and for homeless famines living there, I could see it not feeling right. They can't afford to go shopping or lunch in Georgetown and all of the stores are pricey there. They may be able to live there but they won't be able to afford to do anything in their neighborhood that doesn't seem to make sense to me.

I will follow up by interjecting before you reply with another angry post, I have given a lot of money to help the homeless in DC. Can you say the same?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Which is absolutely how it should be.

Signed,
Ward 3 resident

+1! Ward 6

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, say good bye to that nice Guy Mason playground. It's going to be fun to see litter and people sleeping all over it at 3pm. I am a firm believer in NIMBY. What next, a methadone clinic?

Oh, and whatever schools these shelters will be inbounds for, prepare for those schools to go downhill fast.

So you are saying that homeless shelters should not be spread throughout the city and should be concentrated in less affluent neighborhoods? Well, the people in Ward 5 and Ward 6, who have shouldered the majority of the burden thus far, want to know what makes your ward so special? This is everyone's burden to bear. Sorry.

What I have not seen in this whole discussion is where those folks are coming from. From outside DC? Mostly from DC itself? If so, from which Ward? Sorry, but if (imagine) all homeless people were raised in Ward 5, and that's what they know best, it makes no particular sense to spread them across all Wards. If they all come from (say) Virginia, why should DC wear the burden?

If Bowser trying to help existing homeless people or to disrupt a number of neighborhoods and potentially bring even more homeless into the city? Those are different objectives

Bowser is trying to close DC General, the existing family shelter that houses ~230 families. These new shelters are for families who are living there, or in the NY Ave motels. I understand that there is the perception that homeless people are flocking to DC for our amazing homeless services, and while there is some truth to that, these families are overwhelmingly DC residents. I met with a man yesterday who is homeless and mentally ill from Ward 3 (born, raised, lived there when he had an address). He's not the target population of these shelters because he is a single adult male, but he is not a poor black man from Ward 8. Many of these young women are from SE, from Brookland, from Trinidad. There is an argument that if you house people in a community with better examples - working people, good schools, easily accessible grocery stores (vs. high unemployment, failing schools, and an overabundance of stripmall 7-Elevens) - they will be better situated to get out of poverty.

These are not shelters to "bring more homeless into the city." They are shelters to rehouse the people living in the toxic human rights violation that is DC General into humane living conditions and help them break the cycle of homelessness.

I wish I wrote for the Washington Post so that I could write that into the first line of every single story, since so many of you seem to think that these are shelters for individual adults from other jurisdictions.

Thank you for the thoughtful response. That argument may be a good one, but would require the buy-in from those communities asked to serve as "better examples," since they are working hard precisely to create safe and nurturing environments for the people actually living there. Did Bowser lead a process to engage relevant neighbors, or was this more of a Stalinist top-down decision?

I actually don't think that it does "require" buy-in from neighbors.

Let me put it to you this way. Up in Ward 3, you guys have amazing schools filled with children who are motivated to learn and families who support that learning. You have libraries with storytelling for young children. You have new playgrounds that are safe and nice to look at. You have multiple grocery stores with fresh produce. You have extensive public transit that (despite the previous remarks about the 30 buses) is reliable. I'm sure many of us read the article about the woman living in the motel on NY Ave with her kids, how long it takes to get her daughter to school, her concerns about safety for her kids, etc.? Those are the families that these shelters are being designed for. That woman, if she moved into the Wisconsin Avenue shelter, could send her daughter to Stoddert, perhaps get a job at one of the retail establishments in the area. There are options available to get high quality food because you have several actual grocery stores, rather than several bodegas with the week's shipment of bananas browning next to the bullet proof glass.

It would be great if the neighbors did buy in and welcome these families into the community. As a parent, I want my children hanging out with friends who set good examples so that everyone motivates everyone else to do better. The likelihood of that happening at a failing school is very low compared with a school like Stoddert where there are many opportunities and examples to excel. Please, please, please, Ward 3, welcome these women and give this a chance to work.

Well, thank you for that clarification. So, this was a Stalinist top-down decision. Don't be surprised then if the neighbors push back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You all get one !

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2016/02/09/d-c-general-closure-mayor-announces-locations-of-proposed-shelters/

The Wisconsin Avenue location won't get approved. Terrible location for a homeless shelter. Expensive area - expensive stores etc... I think they will feel very out of place here.

This isn't mazza galerie. There's cvs, Safeway, rite aid, etc. the stores there are pretty normal stores. And I would think offer some good job opportunities. Someone living there could have their home, work and kids school all within close walking distance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Community meetings will be hosted in each Ward on Thursday, February 11, 2016 at 6:30 pm to answer questions and hear ideas from residents about how to make this plan succeed.
http://www.eventbrite.com/o/executive-office-of-the-mayor-eom-7897460941

No one knows about these meetings. Why haven't they done a better job of getting the word out about them?