DC's homeless families problem

The greater DC area still has a homeless problem, shocking I know. However, the types of homeless people has shifted in the last few years, really since the Great Recession (which we’re capitalizing now) from individuals to families. I may have written about this earlier, maybe last year when the numbers were first coming out.

The Washington Post did a write up about the plight of one woman and her children as they interacted with Janice Coe, a homeless advocate in Loudoun County. This might sound a little tongue and cheek or even snarky, but that isn’t how I mean it. Well not entirely. I do find it frustrating that media rarely cares about the homeless, even the homeless families, unless they are involved in some way with conventionally functioning people, but that is not to diminish Coe’s work. Just my overall frustration we let anyone live homeless.

Anyway, Annie Gowen’s article detailed the living situation of the young mother, her 2-year old son, and 2-month old. Coe came across them sleeping in the New Carrollton Metro station (you know where that is); Coe arranged for the family to stay at a Comfort Suites hotel in Virginia. Coe called shelters.

Coe came up blank. No one could take the family. The DC area is one of the most affluent areas in the nation, yet homeless families are on the rise leaving no only adults without a place to sleep, but also young children (before mentioned 2-month old). The fallout from the Great Recession continues and the lack of affordable housing there has been an increase of 18% in family homelessness this year and 23% since the recession began. With the onsite of winter, the situation becomes more dangerous. People will freeze to death if this winter is like last years. 

DC has recently come under fire for turning away families seeking help as 118 overflow beds which were added last winter to DC main family homeless shelter sit empty. A few places have opened up, but more than 500 families are waiting for housing. The director of DC’s Department of Human Services David A Burns said, “We’re hoping we can keep pace with those in the more dire situations.”

Berns is trying to keep the beds open for hypothermia season, which begins November 1^st. DC is mandated by law to shelter its residents if the temperature falls below freezing. Berns also asserts the agency doesn’t have the money to operate he extra beds.  DC Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) is not buying it. He wonders why the beds are vacant when DC has a $140 million budget surplus; saying, “Never did I imagine that beds would be kept vacant. It’s very upsetting.”

The estimate of homeless people has stayed steady around 11,800 according to the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, which included some 3,388 children.

Nassim Moshiree, a lawyer for the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless said, “These families are the most desperate because they have young children and have nowhere to go.”

Antonia Fasanelli, executive director for the Homeless Persons Representation Project, a Maryland legal services and advocacy group based in Baltimore said, “It’s a complete abomination. There is just not enough space.” She is referring to the closure of three shelters in Baltimore, which resulted in the loss of 100 beds. Fasaneli noted that 38% of homeless families are living on the streets and that’s the 7^th highest rate of unsheltered families in the county according to the Department of Urban Development study. 

I have no solutions here, which is unfortunate. Well, except service. We could serve the homeless, but attempting to find a group to work with has left me unimpressed in DC.