Reply to New Ward 3 Homeless Families Shelter Site

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Again the shelter proposed for your neighborhood that you are paranoid about is to serve as transitional short term housing for families recently made homeless.

You keep talking about the mentally ill long term homeless who often also have substance abuse issues and are difficult to employ.

This shelter will be serving people who for whatever reason have hit a stretch of bad luck and need housing to get back on their feet - many of these folks are even employed.

One of the reasons to immediately house these people and get them back on their feet is so that they and their children don't become part of the long term homeless population - get them sheltered and protected and keep them employed or employable and keep their kids in school rather than allowing their situation to deteriorate which is bad for everyone including taxpayers.[/quote]

I'm not the PP you've been bickering with, but another PP from a few pages back.  A few thoughts:

1. I've read all of the Mayor's materials about these 8 new ward shelters, and I understand that she's claiming they will be short-term transitional facilities for families only.  But I also know (and I hope you'd admit) that it's not unreasonable to be wary of a bait-and-switch, where these supposed short-term transitional facilities for families only get converted into long-term housing for high-risk singles.  Indeed, I've even seen some of the later DC materials that start to water down their promises about how the facilities will be used, for example adding wiggle-room language about how the shelters are [i]primarily [/i]designed and [i]intended initially [/i]to house [i]mostly [/i]families.  When I see ambiguous words like those, I get suspicious of the Mayor's true intentions.  That suspicion is increased by how the Mayor announced these shelter locations and tried to force them without any public input.

2. I suspect most of the people posting about this topic genuinely do want to help the needy population.  You are being unfair to them, and quite frankly discouraging them from wanting to help, when you take a condescending attitude and accuse anyone who raises concerns of parroting right-wing talking points.  I know your approach turns me off.  [b]Consider whether you might achieve more good by seeking a compromise that works for both (1) the homeless population, (2) the neighborhoods that are expected to absorb the shelters.[/quote][/b]

Exactly. Why is it so frowned upon to consider the needs of a neighborhood full of hardworking families just like those you seek to house? For it to be win win, everything should be crystal clear and transparent. And the supports for these needy families should be in place. As well as the conditions and requirements for being provided the service of free shelter. I would like to know, if we are transitioning families to independence, if there are kitchens in the living units. How are they eating? Are the bathrooms communal? If so, how is this different from DC General? [b]What are residents doing during the day[/b]? What are they doing at night? I think it's fair to stipulate conditions in exchange for free housing and the chance to get on ones feet. When I was a single parent you'd better believe my family (whom I was fortunate to have) stipulated a LOT of conditions as I struggled to get on my feet. They also provided supports and I would very clearly like to know how the city aims to support these worthy families spread in 8 shelters city wide in an efficient, effective, caring and professional manner.[/quote]

Likely they will be hangin out in front of the Giant and the CVS during the day.[/quote]

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