DC still has a problem with homelessness, specifically homeless families

Annie Gowen has a piece in the Washington Post this morning on the unhappy DC homeless advocates because DC’s left 900 families in a shelter in overcrowded rooms. Prepare yourselves, but DC has a homeless and a housing problem and the two are not disconnected nor do they stem entirely from the Great Recession, though that certainly made things worse.

The District has a shelter for homeless families at DC General Hospital, and it is full of 372 adults and nearly 600 children. They are living in small converted rooms. The children have no place to play, meals are all microwave based, and the showers are dangerous for small children.

DC says the hard times and lack of affordable housing in poor neighborhoods are to blame for the continued crisis of family homelessness. The number of homeless families increased 18% last year, and 74% since the recession. The city claims they are making strides citing the $4 million in rental vouchers for low-cost apartments and $10 million in increased spending on homeless services.

However, the advocates say DC is not doing enough to help these residents find permanent housing, but also that some families have been hindered in finding temporary relief and overflow shelters. They also note DC is running with a surplus.

Marta Beresin, a staff attorney for the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless said, “It’s like paperwork on top of paperwork—they have to prove they absolutely don’t have a safe place to stay.” This is how the social safety net works in the US; you have to have nothing before you can receive just enough help to keep you from being destitute. Any scholar that studies welfare will tell you the same.

Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) announced that he is slating $100 million for affordable housing to build or preserve 10,000 units for seniors and low-income residents, but these units may not be sufficiently subsidized to help the poorest residents according to the DC Fiscal Policy Institute. Gray is hoping to combat his perception the city is “increasingly in danger of becoming a city of only ‘haves.’” Becoming? A friend told me she got off at Rhode Island the other night and didn’t know where she was. It is all developed. Another friend told me that she’s selling a house in Tacoma and places in Tacoma and Brookland are going for millions “sight unseen” within hours of being listed.

DC Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward I) things some of the $417 million budget surplus should be aid to the needy residents. Gray’s administration says the money can’t because it is legally mandated to go into the general fund or reserves. So it can’t provide more housing.

The article speaks to the issues of being homeless with children including the threat of a child welfare investigation if the children have no safe place to sleep, but then you have to be nearly destitute and completed all the paperwork. DC is legally required to provide shelter to all the homeless when the temperature drops below freezing.

The article never really touches on aspects of gentrification, low-wage labor, and the gendered and raced nature of a lot of these social justice issues; for example, all the people quoted in the article except the politicians were women, even the advocates. Let’s review: gentrification displaces poor people, people are poor because of low-wages, and women of color are the most likely to be poor. Questions? Simple enough. Pushing homeless families into an overcrowded building on the far east side of the city isn’t going to fix the problem.

DC should encourage all developments to have a portion solely as low-income housing. I’m not really sure why the surplus being legally required to go to general funds is a problem. After all, laws can be changed especially in emergency situations. So we’re using the Mayor and the council to change the law on where the budget surplus goes and to raise the minimum wage in DC to a living wage. And done. You’re welcome world, I fixed poverty. 

Fun fact, I’m pretty sure Mayor Gray has the authority to overturn DC law. I’m also not so naïve as to believe this would actually work because people are awful.