Reply to New Ward 3 Homeless Families Shelter Site

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What makes you think these will be families who use Eaton? What about mentally ill (who I see wandering Tenlrytown) or drug addicts? Spice, meth, crack? Has anyone specified to you who will be served there? [/quote]

It's specifically a shelter for families, which by definition means kids. They might not go to Eaton: they might not be elementary-school aged or they might choose to continue to go to wherever they went before (homeless students have certain rights, which include being allowed to stay in a previous school). Their parents might, indeed, be mentally ill, but I do not think they will be active drug users.[/quote]

Can you cite where there is guarantee that it will only be families? Or no active drug users?

BTW. I'm fine with the location, but lets not be naive.[/quote]

For starters, here is the original press release: http://mayor.dc.gov/release/mayor-bowser-details-plan-close-dc-general The word "family" or "families" appears 16x. These shelters are intended to replace DC General, which is... wait for it... A FAMILY SHELTER. It's not a shelter for single adults, period. There are other shelters that serve those populations, but DC General is not one of them and neither are 7/8 of the new proposed shelters (the one in Ward 2 is supposed to be a women's shelter, which has never made sense to me but whatever).

Secondly, being a mom with children is not a guarantee that there will not be some drug users among the shelter population. It is also not a guarantee that there will not be mentally ill adults. They will just be mentally ill or drug addicted PARENTS with small children. Not sure that will make PP feel any better, but there it is.[/quote]

A woman's shelter doesn't make sense to you?  Doesn't make sense keeping homeless women seperate from men?

I won't bother, you are just too stupid for this planet. [/quote]

Hi. I actually work in homeless services. It makes all the sense in the world to have a women's shelter - we have several in DC including one on the campus of DC General. I meant that in the context of replacing DC General and targeting FAMILY homelessness, using one site for women who DON'T have children does not make sense. I think it's a great idea to have another shelter for women downtown. I just don't understand why it's included in THIS plan, particularly in light of the reality that there are many more homeless families than can be accommodated by the 8 replacement shelters even without the women's shelter.[/quote]

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