Reply to Bowser Spreads the Wealth opens homeless shelters in each DC ward

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]While the plan is firm to house the homeless in each ward, the final locations are not set.  In Ward 3 Tenelytown is still under active consideration, particularly because of good transportation access and the fact that many homeless in the Ward seem to be concentrated there already.  DC owns the Tenley library site of course, which was built with reinforced supports to accommodate several additional floors for housing.  The old St Ann's school is another possible locatition.  Given that the intention is to house homeless families, locations adjacent to Janney make the most sense.[/quote]

This may be a more cost-effective alternative to Glover Pk and the Tenley location makes more sense for people who depend on public transportation.[/quote]

A) It would be great if libraries served readers and homeless service centers served homeless.  Two often the two become one in DC. A coffee/newspaper/computer station next to a library specifically for homeless to warm up would be great.
B) Tenley has masses of homeless and some current homeless services for them.  Can we get them off the streets and into these apartments you propose, or is this in addition? It looks / feels in Tenley like I imagine SF some days walking down the street. And it is the type of homeless who seem to pretty much refuse to be indoors. Pretty hardcore group. Can they head down to Glover?
C) I'm pretty sure the kids can walk a few blocks to Stoddert with equal ease as being right above Janney. 
D) Your transport makes sense if the parents are required to work or be in a training program. Are they?  Otherwise, Glover Park is on the bus line, nearer downtown offices, and close to schools (elementary and middle) and supermarkets.[/quote]

You're talking about homeless MEN hanging around in Tenleytown. This proposal is for 8 shelters to house homeless FAMILIES (women and children; there will be very few men, and those will be dads with children). No, the homeless men in Tenleytown will not be moving into the shelter in Glover Park. It should go without saying that their reasons for being on the street are often very different than the forces that drive homeless women and their children into shelters.[/quote]

Its men and women who are obviously long term unstable street dwellers, who see to be supported by the local service center and handouts from well meaning naive college kids. Tenley has a lot of homeless in the streets, plus our (well documented on other threads) raft of teen ill behavior when Wilson gets out. I think Tenley has enough on our plates that is not being addressed. Before we embark on a major building project above the library and launch a new service center, lets see the mayor and council work on some of what's already going on in the neighborhood.[/quote]

I understand your concern about the adult homeless people in Tenleytown, though I would argue that there are similar numbers of homeless people in most areas where there is a lot of retail. There are more potential donations and plenty of places to duck inside and get warm. I work in Farragut Square and live in Columbia Heights and the same holds true for both of those locations as well.

However, we're still talking about 2 different things. Family shelters are different than  the services you're concerned about. As I mentioned yesterday, the family shelters that are already in my neighborhood look like apartment buildings. What we are talking about is building an apartment community that has wraparound services for them and their kids - it's just that they don't have to pay for it because they are homeless. If the mayor just built it and didn't tell you, you probably wouldn't even notice any difference in neighborhood experience as a result of the shelter itself.

I also don't think it's fair to suggest that the behavior of high school students is relevant to this issue. You are conflating 3 different issues which are more or less unrelated: the behavior of homeless adults, the housing of homeless families, and the behavior of high school students.[/quote]

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