Last Tuesday, the DC Council made changes to the Mayor’s proposed legislation to close the DC General family shelter and voted unanimously in favor of the bill. (It requires two votes to become law). We strongly support the changes to the bill and urge the Mayor and Council to work out any remaining kinks and expeditiously finalize and pass this important legislation. The new version of the bill maintains the overall approach proposed by Mayor...

Last Wednesday, November 13, the Interagency Council on Homelessness convened a special meeting to discuss and vote on the addendum to the District’s Winter Plan that would guide how homeless youth should be served this winter. The Legal Clinic, along with many others in the community, had expressed concern that the prior draft did not adequately plan to meet the need of unaccompanied youth, and that no District agency was embracing...

The following is testimony delivered by Scott McNeilly at today’s Winter Plan Roundtable. In addition to being a Legal Clinic staff attorney, Scott is also a member of the Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH) and a member of the ICH’s Operations and Logistics Committee and Capacity Subcommittee, both of which were involved in developing the Winter Plan.   Our Winter Plan process has continued to evolve and this year’s Plan contains some...

From February to May of 2013, one local youth service provider turned away at least 150 unaccompanied minor children due to lack of emergency shelter space, many of whom also had children of their own. When made aware of this unmet need in September, the Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH) responded by making the adoption of the Winter Plan contingent on the development of a plan to serve this population. But the draft plan that will be...

Today, December 21st, is the Winter Solstice, when darkness lasts longer than any other day. Since 1990, December 21st has been marked as National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day, a day to mourn the loss and celebrate the lives of our brothers and sisters who have died while homeless. It has been far too dark, for far too many people, for far too long. At the DC Memorial Vigil this afternoon, 43 names were read of men and women who died in and...

Last Tuesday, members of the Interagency Council on Homelessness (“ICH”) gathered at a public meeting, as they do each year, to approve or reject the city’s Winter Plan for shelter. Legal Clinic attorney and ICH member Scott McNeilly highlighted some issues with the Winter Plan on this blog last week, and he raised some of these same issues at the vote on Tuesday. In the end, the plan was approved with three members, Scott McNeilly, Donald...