The DC Interagency Council on Homelessness is holding a special meeting on Tuesday, October 26th at 9:30am, to vote on the Winter Plan for the upcoming hypothermia season. The meeting will be held at MPD Regional Operations Command (ROC) 801 Shepherd St NW. With regard to meeting the needs of families this winter, the current version of the Plan relies upon outplacing families into housing at a quick enough pace to free up capacity in the shelters. Already the District has been unable to keep up the anticipated pace, and there is no back-up plan identified. We urge concerned community members to attend the ICH meeting.
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Here is a copy of the permanent legislation that Mr. Wells introduced on Tuesday. To listen to the statement that he made when he withdrew the emergency version of the bill, click here. There will be a hearing on November 8, 2010 at 11:30a.m. We are currently reviewing the language and will update the blog with a more substantive post soon. In the meantime check out Kathryn Baer’s blog post on this issue.
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By Nassim Moshiree, Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless Staff Attorney
Responding to the community’s concerns, Councilmember Wells pulled the emergency bill at yesterday’s legislative meeting. In its stead, he has introduced a permanent version of the legislation that he said he will move quickly through the Council process. Co-sponsors of his new bill (B18-1059) include Councilmembers Catania, Bowser, and Michael Brown. Mr. Wells’ stated reasons for pulling the emergency bill are to ensure greater discussion on this issue and to prevent unintended consequences. From the dais yesterday, Mr. Wells correctly raised the concern that the city is facing a crisis and is unprepared to serve District residents in need of shelter this winter. The reasons for this are plenty and varied: repeated funding cuts to homeless services; the disparate impact of the recession on the District, where more than 1 in 4 children lives in poverty; a growing shortage of affordable housing; a lack of funding for emergency rental assistance to prevent people from losing their homes…and the list goes on.
Rather than proposing to address these causes of the current shelter crisis, Mr. Wells instead proposed — now on a permanent basis — to weaken the District’s commitment to life-saving hypothermia shelter. Eliminating the requirement for apartment-style shelter for families and imposing onerous verification requirements in order for DC residents to access life-saving shelter and services will likely have grave consequences this winter. Though we haven’t yet seen the language of the permanent bill, as we’ve heard it described the legislation still puts District residents in harm’s way…based on assumptions that are rooted in tenuous and conflicting numbers about who seeks – and who is served in – DC’s shelters.
Because the proposal is now to be considered as permanent legislation, the Committee on Human Services must hold a hearing or public roundtable during which these issues can be fleshed out. We haven’t heard a firm date, but there’s an indication the hearing may be on November 8th. We need you to continue to express your concerns to Mr. Wells and others. Make sure he hears again – and again and again and again – that you don’t want the District of Columbia to be a community that literally shuts your neighbors out in the cold. As the mercury drops, tragedy lurks around the corner. District residents deserve better than that.
See Tommy Wells’ complete statement from pulling the emergency bill, and WLCH Executive Director, Patty Mullahy Fugere’s comment.
Additional information will be posted on this blog as soon as we have specifics about the legislative language and hearing date/time. In the meantime, if you would like to get more direct updates about this legislation and opportunities for advocacy, please contact Nassim Moshiree at nassim@legalclinic.org.
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By Nassim Moshiree, Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless Staff Attorney
Contact your Councilmember NOW and Ask Them to Vote “NO” on the “Homeless Services Reform Amendment Act of 2010.”
Background: Councilmember Wells plans to introduce as emergency a bill that will significantly change the District’s obligation to provide life saving emergency shelter. The vote on this bill is scheduled to take place tomorrow morning, October 19, 2010 at 10:00am. There has been no community input. At the very least, this should not be emergency legislation.
The Proposed Bill:
Requires verification of DC residency during emergency conditions that many DC residents will be unable to provide, thus risking the lives of DC residents Many homeless District residents cannot document residency on the day they apply for shelter, and getting documents can take days or even weeks. Some applicants, such as domestic violence survivors or victims of a fire may not have access to the types of documents required in this bill. Requiring documents from people who would otherwise sleep on the street and suffer from hypothermia is a barrier that could result in the deaths of DC residents this winter
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- The bill imposes a far stricter DC residency requirement on applicants seeking emergency life-saving severe weather shelter than any other public benefits program
Takes away health and safety protections for families in winter shelter by removing the requirement that families have “apartment-style” placements
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- Last year, 200 families were crammed into DC General, causing severe health and safety consequences to many families, including outbreaks of serious illnesses and sexual assaults. The only thing that stopped the further expansion of DC General and major tragedies from occurring was the threat of a lawsuit against DC to enforce the current law’s requirement that family shelters meet these minimum health and safety requirements. This bill would legalize those unsafe communal environments that caused harm to so many families last winter.
This bill will have a fiscal impact in a time of major budget shortfalls but will have only a negative impact on DC residents in crisis
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- These new requirements will completely change shelter admissions procedures for individuals seeking shelter in hypothermia. Training for shelter staff is already scheduled for this week—but if this bill passes, shelter and outreach workers will have to be completely retrained and new procedures will have to be implemented. Since this process is more cumbersome, new staff will have to be hired to process intake—and the staff will have to be available 24 hours a day because people apply at all times of day.
- This bill may so seriously impair the health and safety of DC residents this winter that legal challenges are inevitable, costing DC significant resources that could be better spent on providing actual lifesaving services to its residents
Please do your part today to help save DC Residents this winter and tell your Councilmember to vote no on this harmful measure:
Chair Vincent C. Gray, vgray@dccouncil.us, 724-8032 At-large David Catania, dcatania@dccouncil.us, 724-7772 At-large Michael Brown, mbrown@dccouncil.us, 724-8105 At-large Phil Mendelson, pmendelson@dccouncil.us, 724-8064 At-large Kwame R. Brown, kbrown@dccouncil.us, 724-8174 Ward 1 Jim Graham, jgraham@dccouncil.us, 724-8181 Ward 2 Jack Evans, jackevans@dccouncil.us, 724-8058 Ward 3 Mary Cheh, mcheh@dccouncil.us, 724-8062 Ward 4 Muriel Bowser, mbowser@dccouncil.us, 724-8052 Ward 5 Harry "Tommy" Thomas Jr., hthomas@dccouncil.us, 724-8028 Ward 6 Tommy Wells, twells@dccouncil.us, 724-8072 Ward 7 Yvette Alexander, yalexander@dccouncil.us, 724-8068 Ward 8 Marion Barry, mbarry@dccouncil.us, 724-8045 Councilmember listserv membersonly@dccouncil.us
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By Ann Marie Staudenmaier, Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless Staff Attorney
NOTE: The Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs, has scheduled a hearing entitled “Crimes Against America’s Homeless: Is the Violence Growing?” for Wednesday, September 29, 2010 at 10:00 a.m. in Room 226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.
It’s open season these days in Georgetown, and I’m not talking about the federal health plans. Instead, the specter of anti-homeless police activity is rearing its ugly head in one of D.C.’s top tourist destinations once again, just as it did more than 10 years ago when WLCH first started monitoring police-homeless relations. If you look like a homeless person (fill in stereotype here), keep your head up, because the police may be looking for you.
This recent activity, which involves Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Officers who are targeting people panhandling in the heart of Georgetown’s business district, is just a symptom of a larger problem, what is known as “criminalization of homelessness.” This issue isn’t confined to Georgetown, or even to Washington, DC. In fact, in the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty’s semi-annual report documenting anti-homeless efforts by cities across the country, D.C. has never made the list of the Top 10 “meanest” cities. However, our city and its police force does have a long and troubled history with regard to treatment of its most vulnerable citizens, those who are homeless. Because of their circumstances and their visibility, our homeless neighbors are far more likely than the average resident to come into contact with the police, and not necessarily for breaking the law.
When MPD officers in Georgetown created a unit known as the “HOT (Homeless Outreach Team) Squad” more than a decade ago, its goal was supposedly to do outreach to homeless individuals in the area. The squad’s operating manual, however, told a different story. In it, officers were instructed to ticket or arrest homeless persons for activity which allegedly violated various public space regulations, including such amorphous violations as “storage on public space” and “temporary abode.” Our research revealed that such laws dated back to the 1800s, and were clearly intended to regulate commercial activity, not personal behavior. Our subsequent meetings with MPD lead to the creation of a mandatory training program for all MPD Recruit classes, called “Homelessness 101”, which is still in place to this day. When I first began conducting those trainings 10 years ago, I was pleasantly surprised at the level of interest and compassion shown by the majority of trainees. Just like the police sometimes stereotype people who are homeless, I held my own stereotypes about the police, which have largely been dispelled by my positive training experiences over the past decade.
So why do criminalization efforts persist, and what else can be done to make the all too frequent interactions between the police and those who are homeless more positive? There are several reasons why the police tend to target persons who are or appear to be homeless. As the economy has continued to spiral downward, the numbers of homeless people pouring onto our city’s increasingly gentrified streets has overwhelmed the homeless services system. The result is more people literally living on the streets, or forced outdoors when their overnight emergency shelter closes each day. With nowhere to go but the District’s public spaces, they are far more likely to attract police attention, whether it be for panhandling, sleeping, or simply having too many large bundles in their possession. The mere presence of this sometimes unsightly population often causes heartburn for business owners and neighborhood activists alike, and the typical response is to call the police, whether or not the law has been broken. In response to this pressure, the police will sometimes do whatever it takes to “encourage” a homeless person to leave the area, through such tactics as demanding to see ID or search bags, or ordering the person to “move on” or face arrest, even if no laws have been broken.
But “move on” to where? Most homeless individuals in the District, just like the rest of its residents, tend to hang out in particular neighborhoods, whether or not they have a permanent residence there. They often don’t have anywhere else to go, and the obvious alternatives, such as fast food restaurants and libraries, have in recent years gone to great lengths to prevent homeless people from hanging out there. Legally, a homeless person has just as much right to stand or sit in public space as the next person, as long as they aren’t engaging in illegal activity. However, these rights are often disregarded by those in positions of authority, whose goal is to “clean up the streets”, while acquiescing to the demands of businesses and “concerned citizens” who didn’t count on homeless neighbors when they moved into a revitalized Washington, DC.
Change can and must begin with the police. The pressure from tourist groups, Business Improvement Districts, and neighborhood activists is formidable, to be sure. But the law is often on the side of the homeless persons who are the source of such antipathy. D.C.’s anti-loitering law was declared unconstitutional in the 1960s, yet police officers often accuse homeless individuals of “loitering” when they have no other infraction to rely on. The outdated public space laws which were intended to regulate commercial activity are once again being used to improperly ticket or arrest people who are sitting or sleeping in public. And the police frequently threaten to arrest panhandlers, despite the fact that, as long as it’s not aggressive, panhandling is constitutionally protected speech.
In a 2008 survey, 25% of a group of homeless singles in D.C. reported being the victim of a hate crime based solely on their homelessness. With the rise in popularity of internet trash such as “Bum Fights,” this statistic is alarming, but unfortunately not that surprising. In the same survey, 34% said that they had been a victim of a violent crime while homeless. These statistics paint a troubling picture of what it’s like to be homeless in Washington, DC, and undermine the perception that homeless persons are far more likely to commit crimes than to be crime victims. If the police joined with social services, businesses and neighborhoods to focus on connecting homeless persons to resources to help get them off the streets, instead of dragging them into the criminal justice system, we might have a better chance of addressing the real crime that continues to plague our city. Until this happens, however, true “Justice for All” in the Nation’s Capital will be nothing more than a pipe dream.
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By Nick Cassalbore, Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless Volunteer Coordinator
In 2009, volunteers with the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless assisted clients with over 740 legal issues. It is our pleasure to share some of their recent victories.
The problem: A single mother and her four children are threatened with a termination notice by their transitional housing program.
How we helped: WLCH volunteer secures housing and a lease for the client and her family.The problem: An elderly man is told by the Social Security Administration that he has been overpaid by $54,000.
How we helped: WLCH volunteer discovers an error in the overpayment calculation and finds that the client is owed approximately $34,000 by SSA.The problem: A woman who lives in the basement of an abandoned house is about to be removed from the wait-list for public housing.
How we helped: WLCH volunteer contacts the DC Housing Authority and obtains housing for the client.Without a doubt, our volunteers assist their clients in substantial and life-changing ways.
What is it, then, that inspires our volunteers to do such good? Well, this is a difficult question is to answer. While we suspect that there are a number of motivations at work here, we also suspect that some motivations are shared by Legal Clinic volunteers and staff members alike.
The need is apparent.
Despite whether you’re a resident of the District or simply a visitor, it becomes quickly obvious that our community has failed to address properly the problem of homelessness. Approximately 16,000 people are homeless in Washington, DC over the course of a year, one of the highest rates in the country. And in recent times the problem is getting worse: on a single night in 2010, 6,539 persons in the city were homeless, a 5% increase over 2009. So, we should all agree that there is an obvious problem of homelessness in our community: thousands of people are homeless and thousands of others are dangerously close to homelessness.
The right thing to do is apparent.
As a community, our basic and initial response to the problem of homeless should be obvious: If people are without homes and so forced to sleep on the streets, then we must provide them safe shelter or housing. To put this point another way, we are obligated – in a clear and evident way – to assist the members of our community who are most in need.
While the problem of homelessness persists, we must remain positive and hopeful in our struggle to build a most just and inclusive D.C. This is precisely the optimism and hope that our volunteers embody. Alive in our volunteers is a burning recognition of both the problems that we face and the work that we must do to correct for them.
To our volunteers: we are humbled by you, and we thank you for standing beside us as we work to bring about an end to homelessness and assist those who are most in need.
[i] Phone interview with Tom Fredericksen, The Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness (Feb. 5, 2009) (between Oct. 2007 and Oct. 2008, 15,779 individuals used the homelessness systems in Washington, DC).
[ii] Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG), A Regional Portrait of Homelessness: The 2010 Count of Homeless Persons in Metropolitan Washington at 33 (May 2010).
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By Patty Mullahy Fugere, Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless Executive Director
As we trudge through these dog days of summer, it’s hard to imagine the mercury dropping below 80 for more than a twelve hour stretch at a time. Yet the calendar tells us that’s just around the corner…and so, too, do the preparations of DC’s Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH) for hypothermia season 2010-2011.
This past winter will forever be memorable on a number of accounts: record snowfall; record school and government closures; record sales of Bengay for muscles aching from endless shoveling. Yet some of the most vivid memories for us are more akin to Haiti after the earthquake or New Orleans after Katrina: family after family stuffed into common areas, bunking down in hallways, doubled up with strangers. Last winter, the official shelter census, day-in and day-out, showed a system at, and often stretched well beyond, capacity. The worst offenses were at DC General Hospital Hypothermia Shelter for Families, where at one point 200 families were sheltered in space meant to accommodate only 135.
This is a situation no one cares to repeat in the months ahead. Under threat of litigation, DC’s Department of Human Services (DHS) eased the overcrowding at the end of last winter by moving families into transitional or permanent housing on an expedited basis. It has housed some additional families since that time, and plans to provide a stable home for even more parents and kids with new funding that should be available soon. It has been deeply involved in the ICH’s preparation of a Winter Plan for 2010 – 2011, (Read Winter Plan Draft Here!) which by law must set forth the steps the local government will take and the resources it will make available to meet its obligation to shelter any homeless family or individual who seeks it during severe weather.
What does the draft Plan propose for the upcoming frigid weather? The draft presently being circulated provides for a ten percent increase in the number of beds available for individual men and women and a thirty percent increase in the number of units available for families. At this point, though, it lacks specificity with regard to some of its most important elements.
The ICH Operations and Logistics Committee will hold a public vetting of the plan on Thursday, August 19th (9:30 a.m. at N Street Village, 1333 N Street, NW), to get community input before finalizing the draft Winter Plan for presentation to the full ICH for approval in mid-September. All interested persons are welcome to attend.
Does the draft Plan go far enough to avoid a repeat of the pain and hardship endured by far too many families and individuals last year? According to the Metropolitan Washington Council of Government’s annual point-in-time survey, the number of homeless families in DC has increased by nearly one-third over the past two years. On August 16, (the most recent data we have), there were 129 families at DC General. On that date a year ago, there were only 34. As of August 8, there were 610 families on the waiting or pending list for emergency shelter. With a system already at capacity and need on the rise, can the District ensure that enough resources will be brought to bear to provide, in accordance with the law, safe and decent hypothermia shelter this coming winter for all who need it?
DHS is responding with an emphatic “yes,” and our every hope is that its prediction is accurate. We at the Legal Clinic will do all that we can to ensure that the District meets its legal and moral mandates to provide a decent place to take shelter from the elements this winter for any District resident who needs it.
There are 75 days until the November 1st start of hypothermia season. We will periodically report back to you on progress with the Winter Plan, funding for its programs and services, and the overall effort to protect the lives and well-being of District residents at a most difficult time.
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By Andy Silver, Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless Staff Attorney
Imagine that you have lived in the same apartment for 12 years. One day you go to the rental office to ask if you can pay your rent a few days late because you get one check at the beginning of the month and one check in the middle. You have asked for this favor several times before and it has always been granted, but this time the new property manager says she just needs to check to see if you are current in rent before she can say yes. You have no reason to think this would be a problem, because in the 12 years you have lived there you have always paid your rent and the property management has never mentioned anything to you about owing money. Today, however, is not your day. The property manager tells you the computer system shows that you owe almost five thousand dollars in back rent, the property has initiated a lawsuit in Landlord and Tenant Court asking a judge to evict you, and you should be expecting a court summons any day.
Although this would be a potentially devastating situation for anyone to have to deal with, for the Legal Clinic’s client, Ms. A, devastation escalated to life-threatening. You see, Ms. A, suffers from bi-polar disorder. The normal anxiety one might experience going to court and facing the possibility of losing one’s home was magnified for Ms. A because of her illness. She could barely function whenever her thoughts turned to her housing situation; on more than one occasion, she contemplated ending her life rather than dealing with her landlord and tenant case.
But despite the toll this was having on her, Ms. A found the courage to fight, and she sought representation from the Legal Clinic in the eviction suit she was forced to defend.
Ms. A explained that she’d heard rumors that the former property manager had been fired for stealing money and wondered whether that might be why the landlord thought she owed all that back rent. She was able to find money order receipts for three of the months that property management claimed she didn’t pay, which became part of her defense to the allegation of non-payment. She reported that property management hadn’t always made repairs to her apartment in a timely manner, which allowed her to counter-sue for housing code violations and seek a rent abatement for those months when the landlord failed to respond to her repair requests. But Ms. A’s ultimate goal was to end the litigation as quickly as possible, even if it meant she didn’t achieve the best legal result possible. For her, eliminating the stress of the lawsuit would itself be a great victory. We told her not to worry, that between the money order receipts and her counterclaim, it shouldn’t be hard to meet that goal and make this case go away.
Unfortunately, despite tracking the money order receipts and receiving proof that at least three of the “missing” rental payments were embezzled by a former employee of the property management, the landlord was unwilling to settle and the lawsuit dragged on. After five months of litigation and great emotional hardship for our client, the case finally settled. Ms. A didn’t have to pay any money and she received badly needed repairs to her apartment.
As challenging as this process was for Ms. A, if she had chosen not to fight the eviction or had failed to secure representation, she most likely would have lost her home. Unfortunately, the vast majority of defendants in landlord and tenant court are unrepresented. On top of that, a significant portion of these tenants have a serious mental illness, which makes an already difficult court process virtually impossible to navigate. The Legal Clinic is proud of the work we can accomplish for people like Ms. A, especially with limited resources! The reality of the matter though, is that despite our hard work and dedication the Legal Clinic is meeting only a fraction of the need for counsel in such cases. At a time when most of the shelter system is at capacity and affordable housing is nearly impossible to secure, it is vital that we work to prevent homelessness by helping those clients who are housed to protect their homes. That’s why we need help from community members like you!
If you are a lawyer, get involved by becoming a volunteer! You can use your passion and skills to help more clients like Ms. A. Contact our volunteer coordinator Nick Casalbore at nick@legalclinic.org for more information.
You can also donate to the Legal Clinic at: https://www.networkforgood.org/donation/ExpressDonation.aspx?ORGID2=521545522&vlrStratCode=paLRZsHhrut5DPg9NRGxE7qwg5Lf9ts%2fW01EqcEBt5S5wdZzRFpADFhAyF9EG0Wm
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By Greg Zlotnick, Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless Intern
Ten weeks later, I’m just getting started.
Not on everything, mind you. My internship this summer at the Legal Clinic has provided me with an invaluable education on many fronts. The staff attorneys have mentored me as I have developed and added to my legal skills. With their guidance, my writing has become more incisive and persuasive. Orally, my confidence and clarity have grown, both speaking with, or for, clients. Perhaps most importantly, I have practiced and improved my listening: focusing on the concerns and desires of our clients, understanding the positions of collaborators.
As much as the wonderful Legal Clinic staff has guided me during my internship, the clients have helped even more. Our clients’ effort to improve the lives and opportunities of themselves and others motivates me to listen carefully, to advocate clearly, and write persuasively. No academic exercise can compare to the significance of challenging a shelter termination; no classroom simulation could prepare me for staffing intake and listening to the various challenges facing my neighbors in the Washington community. My work with the Legal Clinic’s clients has led to immense professional and personal development this summer.
It has been a meaningful and humbling education, one that’s only getting started. As I head back to school this semester, I will apply and expand my legal skills in my clinical program, the new Community Justice Project. After immersing myself in the details of federal and District programs like the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP) and the Emergency Rent Assistance Program (ERAP), I will study more carefully state and local responses to affordable housing and homelessness this upcoming year, applying my own and our clients’ experiences with these policies to think critically about our challenges.
But beyond enhancing my practical legal skills and expanding my substantive knowledge of housing and homelessness issues, I look forward to deepening my commitment to building, to borrow from the Legal Clinic’s mission, a more just and inclusive society. The kind of commitment the Legal Clinic staff demonstrates, working with clients to find a safe place to stay, no matter the hour. The kind of commitment our clients show when they maintain their dignity and intensity in the face of unsettling obstacles. The kind of commitment advocates for low-income Washingtonians exhibit during difficult economic times, when the numbers seeking help grow.
My time here at the Legal Clinic is drawing to a close, and I will miss it dearly. But my work that I started here, my commitment to social justice—well, I’m just getting started.
Greg Zlotnick was a law clerk at the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless this summer. He is entering his third year at Georgetown University Law Center.
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By Amber Harding, Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless Staff Attorney
A mother walks the city in 100 degree heat with her 10 year old son and 2 year old daughter, desperately searching for help to get her family off the streets. They have spent the last five weeks repeating this pattern since losing their housing; told daily that there is no room for them in shelter. This mother lives in fear that she will lose custody of her children because she cannot provide a safe place for them to rest their heads.
After being evicted from their home in mid-July, a single father and his two sons, ages 2 and 4, knock on the doors of former neighbors and strangers, desperate to stay out of the heat and off the streets. The family spends each day calling the central intake site for families only to be told the same thing– the shelters are full and they will have to wait their turn on the list.
For the first time in at least ten years, the District is not providing emergency shelter or housing to even the most vulnerable, highest priority families—those who are sleeping with their children on the street, in abusive settings, in cars, at bus stops, or in other dangerous settings. We have been inundated with calls from families in truly desperate situations, and we have been unable to help most of them—there are more than two dozen families with no safe place to sleep on any given day. Because there is no legal right to shelter in DC unless it is below 32 degrees outside, all WLCH has been able to do is plead for help for each individual family, and plead with the District government to come up with additional resources quickly to serve the families in greatest need.
Since 2008, when the recession first hit, family homelessness has skyrocketed by 36.3% in the District. Housing and shelter resources have not kept up with this increase. Family emergency shelters were horribly overcrowded last winter, there was a brief respite from March to May due to some new housing resources, and then the shelters have been almost or completely full since May. The city’s centralized intake center has been overwhelmed with applications for shelter, and families are turned away daily. As of July 18, there were 543 families on the waiting list for emergency shelter.
From what we’ve heard from officials at the Department of Human Services (DHS), they are trying their hardest to come up with a plan to meet this pressing need. Currently, their plan (while not yet final or public) is to provide affordable housing to some families in the shelter system over the next few months, which would then open up the front door of the emergency shelters to new families. While we fully support the Administration increasing permanent housing and are heartened that DHS has been able to find any resources for housing in this tight economy, the reality remains that the Administration’s plan will not help families who will be living in cars and on the street this August because housing won’t be ready for at least a month. The Administration has not developed, much less implemented, any plan for emergency relief.
Luckily for the two families described above, community members answered their calls for help. A local church let the mother and her two daughters sleep on the church’s floor at night for over a month, a dinner program provided the family with meals and alerted the community to their plight, and a local nonprofit connected the family to services and asked their local councilmember to help find temporary solutions. After we sent out an email over the broad community listserv for the Fair Budget Coalition, several individuals and local non-profits responded with offers to help the father and his sons find a roof over their heads temporarily.
We disagree with the Administration’s lack of a plan to provide emergency relief to the dozens of families who have no safe place to sleep tonight. But as a community it is our responsibility to respond when our neighbors are in crisis even as we voice our disapproval of the Administration’s failure to meet the needs of DC families. We have been truly amazed by the outpouring of support for our clients in need this summer, and we know that if we ask, community members will continue to join us in supporting the families. To help our neighbors, join us as we:
- call or email the Mayor at 727-2980 or mayor@dc.gov and ask him to put all families in crisis in hotels tonight so no child is at risk from the heat or a dangerous sleeping situation;
- ask our houses of worship to open their doors to a few families each night;
- sponsor a family’s hotel stay; and/or
- spread the word, including linking to this blog on Facebook or our blogs, to raise awareness and urge others to take action as well.
If you would like more information or to help a family with a place to sleep, please call or email us at (202) 328-5500 or info@legalclinic.org.