Guest Post by ANC 6B09 Commissioner Brian Flahaven.
photo courtesy of Payton Chung
On Thursday, June 27, ANC 6B’s Hill East Task Force is holding a meeting to discuss the future of the homeless family shelter at DC General. The former hospital campus is located on Reservation 13, the 67-acre waterfront site on the southeastern end of Capitol Hill that has been slated for mixed-use development for more than a decade. During the meeting, which will be from 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm at St. Coletta of Greater Washington (1901 Independence Avenue SE), the task force and residents will hear from BB Otero, Deputy Mayor for Health & Human Services, and David Berns, Director of the DC Department of Human Services.
When the city started housing homeless families at DC General in 2007, it was announced as a temporary measure. Soon after the shelter opened, the city began housing more and more families at the old hospital, particularly as shelters were closed in other parts of the city. Instead of working to find suitable housing and shelter options within existing neighborhoods, city leaders chose the politically convenient approach of housing more and more families and individuals in a deteriorating, depressing building totally separated from the surrounding neighborhood and city.
Earlier this year, the DC Council’s Committee on Human Services, chaired by Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham, held a hearing at DC General on conditions at the shelter. At the hearing, which I attended, current shelter residents talked about numerous difficulties with the building and with finding the support they need to obtain housing. Shelter management and staff talked about problems associated with over-concentrating so many people and services at one site. Representatives of the Department of Human Services testified that it costs the city $50,000 per family per year to house people at DC General and that the goal is to move families and individuals out of the shelter, not to invest additional dollars in a deteriorating building. However, the city does not have a concrete plan for moving families out of DC General and into alternative housing options.
The city’s expansion and now indecision on DC General is stalling mixed-use development at Reservation 13, with real consequences to the city and neighborhood. The city’s most recent Request for Expressions of Interest to develop the two Reservation 13 parcels closest to the Stadium Armory Metro, yielded only one response. And with no plan in place for the eventual closure of DC General, the development community will remain skeptical that the city is truly committed to mixed-use development on the entire site.
The June 27 meeting will be an opportunity for Hill residents to get some answers about the city’s plans for DC General and how those plans (or lack thereof) will affect development of the Hill East Waterfront. I hope to see you there!