Reply to New Ward 3 Homeless Families Shelter Site

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What are the families expected to do to get out of homelessness while they have the support of the shelter? Where will the support they need be located? I am trying to see how these scattered shelters will operate efficiently. Specifics please.[/quote]

I'm the PP who's catching grief from Jeff and others.  I'm no expert, but I've read a number of recent research papers about homelessness.  The current trend thinking in the area seems to be that large mass shelters are bad, and small shelters or even individual dwellings are good.  Sort of a "spread it out" rather than "pack it together" approach.  I haven't seen much hard data supporting that conclusion, but I think it's a pretty logical one because the smaller sites will be much more akin to actual homes and will have fewer problems, so they're better for the people living there.  But the cost of smaller shelters is always higher, so you're either spending more money or helping fewer people.

Some of the research papers I saw were estimating total costs by comparing the overall value of smaller shelters (higher cost per person, but shorter stays on average) against the overall value of larger shelters (lower cost per person, but longer stays on average).  In short, the results were mixed, with some studies finding smaller shelters were slightly more efficient, and others finding the larger shelters more efficient.  I suspect that all the results are really situation specific, and depend on each city's relative cost of shelters, size of homeless population, and turnover rates, so no broad conclusions are easily drawn.

Along these lines, I saw at least one homeless advocacy group in DC that was arguing against Bowser's small-shelter plan by pointing out that her 8 shelters of 50 residents (or fewer) really only helps 400 people max, which is a drop in the bucket of the larger problem.  This organization was saying it would help more people if DC would re-open and renovate some of the larger shelters it closed years ago, because they could hold more people and provide support services more efficiently (with less duplication of cost).  I'm sure that's something people who are much more knowledgeable than any of us could discuss at length.

But for me, all this leads back to my central criticisms of Bowser's plan: It seems rushed and secretive and leaves no room for any thoughtful consideration.  There does not seem to have been much actual investigation by professionals into developing the most efficient and effective plan.  Instead, the plan seems to be a creature of politics, where Bowser gets to claim victory by closing DC General, pad the pockets of her campaign supporters, and claim she made each Ward carry the burden equally.  I recognize that getting any plan through will require some political wrangling, but I feel like her plan was created with political gains controlling approach rather than with the goal of actually addressing homelessness in a logical way.  Bowser's plan seems like it's just a fiction meant to suggest she's taking positive steps, but we won't be any closer to a solution.

Reasonable mind can disagree, but that's how I see it.[/quote]

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