Reply to New Ward 3 Homeless Families Shelter Site

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]... DC owns plenty of unused buildings and lots that could be converted to shelter space more cheaply than this one is to build.  But we're jamming a brand new building into an expensive area because Bowser wants to put a shelter into every ward for purely political reasons ... practicality be damned.  ... [/quote]
I work for the city, please tell me where all these cheap DC owned buildings are located that aren’t being used for other things.  And for the folks arguing that the homeless should live elsewhere since they will never be able to afford ward 4... well you just made the argument for why we need more subsidized housing in ward 3![/quote]
Really?  What part of the City do you work for?  It's clearly not anything to do with the City's real estate holdings, or else you'd realize how many vacant properties DC owns.

Here's the DC Government's own list of many dozen vacant properties in DC, https://dcra.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dcra/publication/attachments/vacant-building-fiscal-Y17-v2_0.pdf . This article from on of DC's own ANC reps estimates there are about [u]1200 vacant properties[/u] in DC, https://ggwash.org/view/41741/dc-has-way-more-vacant-properties-than-it-thinks . And here's a nice map of many of those vacant properties, https://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/news/housing-complex/blog/20976516/dc-auditor-slams-city-agency-responsible-for-vacant-property-enforcement and here too http://dcist.com/2013/05/map_shows_every_vacant_and_blighted.php .

But you're probably going to complain: [i]"Ha ha! Some vacant properties aren't owned by DC Government, so there's absolutely no way they can be used as homeless shelters!"[/i]  Well, you're wrong again.  DC has several programs in place that are designed specifically to seize vacant properties and convert them into affordable housing!  Here are just a few examples of websites describing those programs -  
[quote]In January 2002, Mayor Anthony A. Williams introduced his Home Again Initiative to transform vacant and abandoned residential properties into single-family homeownership opportunities for residents. By increasing homeownership and eliminating blight, Home Again helps to stabilize neighborhoods and contribute to local economic sustainability. Currently, Home Again focuses on neighborhoods with high concentrations of vacant and abandoned residential property: Columbia Heights, Ivy City/Trinidad, Near Northeast, Shaw/Ledroit Park, and Rosedale. The residents in these communities also identified rehabilitating vacant and abandoned properties as a high priority in their Strategic Neighborhood Action Plans (SNAPs).  http://opendata.dc.gov/datasets/home-again-initiative

Through its Property Acquisition and Disposition Division (PADD), the DC Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) stabilizes neighborhoods by decreasing the number of vacant and abandoned residential properties in the District, and transforming vacant and/or abandoned residential properties into homeownership opportunities or District residents at all income levels.  https://dhcd.dc.gov/service/transforming-vacant-and-blighted-properties[/quote]
And even if we limit the discussion to properties DC Govt actually currently owns and could use, there are many of those too, https://dcgis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=31cb84a467df4fa4a1515cd2134a0eb3 , https://dgs.dc.gov/node/197972 .  Here is a data set that shows [u]at least 1201 vacant properties actually owned by the District of Columbia[/u], http://opendata.dc.gov/datasets/integrated-tax-system-public-extract-vacant-property?where=UPPER(OWNER_NAME_PRIMARY)%20like%20%27%25DISTRICT%25%27 . Indeed, here is a discussion from as recently as January 2018 of 35 city-owned properties being auctioned off.  It even notes that many of them have affordable housing covenants, so they can surely be renovated as homeless shelters. http://dcvacantproperties.blogspot.com/ . Here too - https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/dhcd-to-auction-35-vacant-properties-for-workforce-housing/13414 .

One obvious place to consider might be the Walter Reed site, which is huge and vacant and owned/managed by the City.  It's also in Mayor Bowser's old ward and not far from her house, so I'm sure she and her constituents would be happy to help out by putting a homeless shelter there.  Some people posting here even like to claim that homeless shelters [i]increase property values[/i], so it's a great opportunity to boost property values in Shepherd Park. Since you work for the City, can you tell us why the Walter Reed site wasn't considered?!!

[b]Given all these options for developing homeless shelters and other housing options in existing building that DC already owns, especially since DC already has programs in place to do exactly that, why on earth are we spending tens of millions of dollars to cram a brand new shelter into the police department's yard in Ward 3 ?!?!?!? [/b]  It's a poorly planned project that's more about political optics ("a shelter in every ward!") than about actually helping people.  Instead of wasting untold millions of dollars, and years of construction time, why wouldn't the City just use that same amount of money to put existing vacant properties to better use?  The City could help more people for less money, and do it far faster.  But I don't think Bowser's real goal is even helping house the homeless population; it's more about politics and commercial development of the DC General site.[/quote]

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