MLK closing--DC General needed more than ever to serve homeless!

[Anonymous]

As Muriel Bowser and the Council prepare this valuable city property giveaway, they are not accounting for the surge of chronic homeless who bus to and fill MLK library daily and now will have few alternatives with the coming 3 year renovation. The city is suggesting other library sites for their 'customers without homes'. So the city wants to close the large capacity shelter it owns (rather than renovate it and rethink services) but would encourage satellite libraries as the space for now displaced homeless to gather?
Have they considered renovating DC General and providing, as part of it, a cozy central space with table, computer monitors, newspapers, libraries, tables...not to mention beds and services...so that libraries are libraries and shelters are shelters?
The proposal below costs additional money to the 8 shelter program or uses an existing facility in a way it was not intended for.

"The city would like to create a downtown day center for the homeless, like the one it operates on Adams Place in Northeast Washington, she said. Until then, it will add shuttle stops to its buses to give the homeless other options....
The library system itself is also trying to help the homeless adjust. It is one of the few library systems in the nation to employ a full-time homeless coordinator, Jean Badalamenti, a licensed social worker who assists homeless people and trains staff to recognize and work sensitively with “customers without homes.”
Badalamenti said the library has been encouraging the homeless to use other branches."


https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/where-will-they-go-mlk-library-a-refuge-for-the-citys-homeless-closes-for-renovation/2017/03/03/4f9b6218-fc7e-11e6-8f41-ea6ed597e4ca_story.html?utm_term=.b14778662c58

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As Muriel Bowser and the Council prepare this valuable city property giveaway, they are not accounting for the surge of chronic homeless who bus to and fill MLK library daily and now will have few alternatives with the coming 3 year renovation. The city is suggesting other library sites for their 'customers without homes'. So the city wants to close the large capacity shelter it owns (rather than renovate it and rethink services) but would encourage satellite libraries as the space for now displaced homeless to gather?
Have they considered renovating DC General and providing, as part of it, a cozy central space with table, computer monitors, newspapers, libraries, tables...not to mention beds and services...so that libraries are libraries and shelters are shelters?
The proposal below costs additional money to the 8 shelter program or uses an existing facility in a way it was not intended for.

"The city would like to create a downtown day center for the homeless, like the one it operates on Adams Place in Northeast Washington, she said. Until then, it will add shuttle stops to its buses to give the homeless other options....
The library system itself is also trying to help the homeless adjust. It is one of the few library systems in the nation to employ a full-time homeless coordinator, Jean Badalamenti, a licensed social worker who assists homeless people and trains staff to recognize and work sensitively with “customers without homes.”
Badalamenti said the library has been encouraging the homeless to use other branches."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/where-will-they-go-mlk-library-a-refuge-for-the-citys-homeless-closes-for-renovation/2017/03/03/4f9b6218-fc7e-11e6-8f41-ea6ed597e4ca_story.html?utm_term=.b14778662c58

DC General is a family shelter. Homeless adults without children cannot stay there and other than the women's shelter planned for Ward 2, none of the new shelters would be responsive to your concern. The suggestions I've seen to renovate DC General all involve keeping it as a family shelter and simply improving facilities/adding services - not changing the population served by it.

[Anonymous]

It wont be a shelter for anyone if they close it. And now they will have this surge of homeless (mostly men) basically during the day they plan to bus to neighborhood libraries. And they plan to buy a costly parcel downtown to open a new daytime service center. Yet they own dc general.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As Muriel Bowser and the Council prepare this valuable city property giveaway, they are not accounting for the surge of chronic homeless who bus to and fill MLK library daily and now will have few alternatives with the coming 3 year renovation. The city is suggesting other library sites for their 'customers without homes'. So the city wants to close the large capacity shelter it owns (rather than renovate it and rethink services) but would encourage satellite libraries as the space for now displaced homeless to gather?
Have they considered renovating DC General and providing, as part of it, a cozy central space with table, computer monitors, newspapers, libraries, tables...not to mention beds and services...so that libraries are libraries and shelters are shelters?
The proposal below costs additional money to the 8 shelter program or uses an existing facility in a way it was not intended for.

"The city would like to create a downtown day center for the homeless, like the one it operates on Adams Place in Northeast Washington, she said. Until then, it will add shuttle stops to its buses to give the homeless other options....
The library system itself is also trying to help the homeless adjust. It is one of the few library systems in the nation to employ a full-time homeless coordinator, Jean Badalamenti, a licensed social worker who assists homeless people and trains staff to recognize and work sensitively with “customers without homes.”
Badalamenti said the library has been encouraging the homeless to use other branches."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/where-will-they-go-mlk-library-a-refuge-for-the-citys-homeless-closes-for-renovation/2017/03/03/4f9b6218-fc7e-11e6-8f41-ea6ed597e4ca_story.html?utm_term=.b14778662c58

DC General is a family shelter. Homeless adults without children cannot stay there and other than the women's shelter planned for Ward 2, none of the new shelters would be responsive to your concern. The suggestions I've seen to renovate DC General all involve keeping it as a family shelter and simply improving facilities/adding services - not changing the population served by it.

D.C. General is also nowhere near most of the jobs that homeless adults without children might want to apply for so they can afford to get housing, which makes it sort of a less than ideal place to try to push them to spend their time at. Except, of course, for those D.C. residents who would prefer that all homeless people be confined in neighborhoods we rarely set foot in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As Muriel Bowser and the Council prepare this valuable city property giveaway, they are not accounting for the surge of chronic homeless who bus to and fill MLK library daily and now will have few alternatives with the coming 3 year renovation. The city is suggesting other library sites for their 'customers without homes'. So the city wants to close the large capacity shelter it owns (rather than renovate it and rethink services) but would encourage satellite libraries as the space for now displaced homeless to gather?
Have they considered renovating DC General and providing, as part of it, a cozy central space with table, computer monitors, newspapers, libraries, tables...not to mention beds and services...so that libraries are libraries and shelters are shelters?
The proposal below costs additional money to the 8 shelter program or uses an existing facility in a way it was not intended for.

"The city would like to create a downtown day center for the homeless, like the one it operates on Adams Place in Northeast Washington, she said. Until then, it will add shuttle stops to its buses to give the homeless other options....
The library system itself is also trying to help the homeless adjust. It is one of the few library systems in the nation to employ a full-time homeless coordinator, Jean Badalamenti, a licensed social worker who assists homeless people and trains staff to recognize and work sensitively with “customers without homes.”
Badalamenti said the library has been encouraging the homeless to use other branches."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/where-will-they-go-mlk-library-a-refuge-for-the-citys-homeless-closes-for-renovation/2017/03/03/4f9b6218-fc7e-11e6-8f41-ea6ed597e4ca_story.html?utm_term=.b14778662c58

DC General is a family shelter. Homeless adults without children cannot stay there and other than the women's shelter planned for Ward 2, none of the new shelters would be responsive to your concern. The suggestions I've seen to renovate DC General all involve keeping it as a family shelter and simply improving facilities/adding services - not changing the population served by it.

D.C. General is also nowhere near most of the jobs that homeless adults without children might want to apply for so they can afford to get housing, which makes it sort of a less than ideal place to try to push them to spend their time at. Except, of course, for those D.C. residents who would prefer that all homeless people be confined in neighborhoods we rarely set foot in.

The 300 plus homeless who are quoted in the article as spending decades camped out in MLK during the day are clearly not job seeking. They want a warm place to read the paper, surf the web and sit in a favorite chair. Donuts and coffee would be a plus. This could be arranged at a refurbished dc general and some services to get them in a state to work could be thrown in. The current plan, if you read the article, is to drop them off by shuttle at neighborhood libraries. And of course we know, to sell DC General to developers, probably at a long term loss to the city coffers.

[Anonymous]

Every time one of these threads comes up, I want to ask the following questions, so I will just do it:

People commenting on the thread,

1) Have you ever been to DC General? Do you know the area around the shelter? Are you familiar with the grounds, the other stuff that's on them, the condition of all the buildings (not just the old hospital building itself)?

2) Have you ever spent time working in homeless services? Do you understand the complexities of the challenges that many of these individuals are facing? Do you understand how those challenges multiply when you are talking about family homelessness rather than individual homelessness?

I have worked in homeless services in this area for several years. I spend a fair amount of time at DC General, as well as other area shelters and organizations that provide services to homeless people. DC General itself should definitely be renovated and turned into something useful. I would personally support it being turned back into a hospital, as there is a huge gap in hospital emergency coverage in that area, which sits between areas where you can get to WHC easily and areas where you can get to United Medical Center in far southeast easily. That basically means that even if an ambulance gets to your medical emergency off Benning Road, you've still got a 20-40 minute ride to the nearest hospital. Having a hospital where DC General is/was would alleviate this issue.

That said, it's not gonna happen. The redevelopment I've seen has been geared toward revitalizing (or vitalizing, period) the Hill East neighborhood. Bringing back a hospital or creating a complex of homeless services is not going to do that.

[Anonymous]

The SE library on the Hill is already a hangout for homeless men who spend the day on the corner loitering, smoking weed and arguing. Not sure if they're associated with the nearby mental health and social services agencies but I no longer feel comfortable taking my children there. A public library is not a substitute day center for the homeless.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure why tax payers and voters have to work with the homeless to expect/demand sophisticated, thoughtful and fiscally responsible solutions to complex problems. A problem that the great liberal poohbah De Blasio himself said yesterday is basically unsolvable, all the more reason to do the best with the resources we currently have in terms of prioritzing, oversight and efficiency. Have generous cities such as San Francisco solved homelessness? Should they be our model?
The mayor and council are ramming through a lot of new initiatives for the homeless, while selling off existing properties we have. The closing of DC General and MLK (I understand they are not currently linked in terms of homeless service, but they certainly could be) at the same time without a plan b for the chronic homeless to spend their days beyond shuttling them to neighborhood libraries to hang out with kids trying to do hw is bizarre.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure why tax payers and voters have to work with the homeless to expect/demand sophisticated, thoughtful and fiscally responsible solutions to complex problems. A problem that the great liberal poohbah De Blasio himself said yesterday is basically unsolvable, all the more reason to do the best with the resources we currently have in terms of prioritzing, oversight and efficiency. Have generous cities such as San Francisco solved homelessness? Should they be our model?
The mayor and council are ramming through a lot of new initiatives for the homeless, while selling off existing properties we have. The closing of DC General and MLK (I understand they are not currently linked in terms of homeless service, but they certainly could be) at the same time without a plan b for the chronic homeless to spend their days beyond shuttling them to neighborhood libraries to hang out with kids trying to do hw is bizarre.

I think having direct experience working with these individuals makes people more likely to expect/demand solutions that are responsive to the challenges that the people in question face. MLK is being renovated, not closed. The renovation is supposed to take 3 years, which is at least how long it would take to renovate DC General into any kind of functionality.

I asked if people had ever been there and know the area because I think that it's really easy for policymakers and the vaunted tax payers of DC (I'm one of them) to make suggestions about things that could or should be done, without those suggestions being responsive to the need either.

And like I said earlier, closing DC General will have zero effect on the homeless adults who spend time at MLK. DC General is a family shelter.

[Anonymous]

So the answer is for them to go back to MLK once its renovated? Or could they hang on to dc general and renovate it in parts. The current solution is for current homeless, over 300, to be dropped off by shuttles at neighborhood libraries and then head back to MLK when its renovated. How bizarre. We have people who have been on our council for a decade. Did they not see this coming?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The SE library on the Hill is already a hangout for homeless men who spend the day on the corner loitering, smoking weed and arguing. Not sure if they're associated with the nearby mental health and social services agencies but I no longer feel comfortable taking my children there. A public library is not a substitute day center for the homeless.

This. I was shocked after reading that article in the fact that DC actually buses and encourages the homeless to go to the libraries as a daytime hangout. So the libraries are only for the homeless??? I remember going to MLK the first time with my kid and was shocked at all of the homeless people hanging out and at the fact that they had library police. Even though MLK had a children's section, I really felt uncomfortable being there.

The city needs daycare centers for the homeless or to at least transform current shelters into safer places that are open and serve the homeless all day long. I think it is heartless to throw the homeless onto to the street when daytime comes. Also, why not have shelters with 5 by 10 rooms enough for a bed and some belongings for each person so that they feel safe in the shelters. Then bring all of the library police to the improved shelters!

[Anonymous]

I went to MLK as a kid. Stopped going years ago for this. Yes the city , meaning our council mayor and homeless services, consider public libraries daytime shelters and will soon be redistributing about 300 chronic homeless, many chemically dependent or mentally ill, across them.

[Anonymous]

Here's an idea. I notice increasingly all the trash along DC street and parks. Why not pay the homeless a base wage to pick up trash and bottles and incentive pay for the more trash they pick up. This would give them money, allow them to do useful work and clean up our city at the same time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So the answer is for them to go back to MLK once its renovated? Or could they hang on to dc general and renovate it in parts. The current solution is for current homeless, over 300, to be dropped off by shuttles at neighborhood libraries and then head back to MLK when its renovated. How bizarre. We have people who have been on our council for a decade. Did they not see this coming?

DC public libraries should prohibit patrons from bringing roller bags, large duffels, etc. into libraries. That would discourage people from using the libraries as day shelters.

[Anonymous]

Does the New York Public Library on Bryant Park operate as a daytime homeless shelter?