solution

D.C. Council weighs tougher eligibility rules for

homeless shelters

Jamison, Peter . The Washington Post (Online) , Washington, D.C.: WP Company LLC d/b/a The

Washington Post. Dec 2, 2017.

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On cold winter nights, homeless people in the nation's capital are supposed to have a legal right to a roof over their

heads.

But D.C. officials say guaranteeing shelter for the needy is no longer a straightforward task. As homelessness has

swelled, an increase driven in part by the District's soaring housing costs, the city's outdated shelter system has

overflowed.

The city is spending tens of thousands every night to rent hotel rooms for families who sometimes have other

housing options or have traveled to the city to take advantage of its shelter guarantee, officials say. Such costs

have depleted funding for other programs that reduce and prevent homelessness, they say.

Those arguments are behind a landmark rewriting of the law that governs the District's homeless services that will

go before the D.C. Council for a final vote Tuesday.

Among its provisions, the bill would lay out a detailed set of conditions homeless people must meet before

entering the city's emergency shelter system, and give city officials more flexibility to cut off homeless services to

people already receiving them.

D.C. officials say if the bill passes, it is unlikely the new rules would be put into effect this winter.

The bill —originally pushed by Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) and advanced by council member Brianne K. Nadeau (DWard

1), chair of the council's Human Services Committee —was approved by the 13-member council Nov. 7 with

only two members opposed. As it heads to a second and final vote, however, the legislation is being contested by

advocates for the homeless, who are lobbying council members for changes.

A survey of 32 U.S. cities in December 2016 found the District had the highest rate of homelessness and had

experienced a 34 percent increase in homelessness between 2009 and 2016. Bowser's administration is moving

ahead with plans to close the city's main shelter, D.C. General, and replace it with smaller shelters for families

spread throughout the city. In the meantime, the city has turned to renting motel rooms to accommodate the large

number of families in need, spending roughly $80,000 a night.

In a letter to lawmakers Thursday, leaders at the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, noted with

disapproval some of the barriers to shelter they say the bill would create, such as new requirements for how the

homeless prove that they have no other safe place to stay and that they are long-term residents of the District,

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rather than people entering the city solely to take advantage of the shelter system.

The letter acknowledged a need to update local laws governing homeless services —in part to conform with

changes to federal law —but said parts of the current bill "need to be clarified to help ensure families in need are

not turned away from shelter." The letter urged the council to delay action on the bill to allow for further debate.

Amber Harding, a staff attorney at the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, said her organization is arguing

for multiple changes to the legislation, including requirements for proof of residency and the creation of a

presumption, absent proof to the contrary, that anyone named as an occupant on a lease is ineligible for shelter.

She said both provisions would be especially burdensome for the young parents —commonly between the ages of

18 and 24 —who often seek shelter, since they may not have adequate documentation of where they live or may

still be listed on leases at the homes of parents unwilling to host their families.

"The purpose of the right to shelter is to prevent people from freezing to death," Harding said. With the current bill,

she added, "We will guarantee that people will be left out on freezing nights who are D.C. residents and are eligible

for shelter, just because they've put up these bureaucratic hurdles."

Nadeau said the bill has evolved in a way that softens some of the original shelter eligibility rules proposed by the

mayor. It now includes a provision that shelter applicants would meet the residence requirement if they are already

receiving certain other D.C. government benefits for the poor, she said. The bill has also been modified to require

only one proof of residency, rather than the original two, she said.

Nadeau said the purpose of the bill was not to exclude those in need from the shelter system, but to use city

resources more effectively to combat homelessness.

"When we say that we can't keep spending $80,000 a night . . . it's not because we don't want to support the people

in hotels," she said. "It's because we want a better intervention for them. We can spend $80,000 a night in so many

ways that help people more."

Kristy Greenwalt, director of the District's Interagency Council on Homelessness, said the city's existing laws on

homeless services were outdated, placing a premium on emergency shelter as a universal response to

homelessness.

She said the bill under consideration would align more with the District's current approach, which also emphasizes

homelessness prevention and programs that help people exit the shelter system and get back on their feet.

"We need to have a safe place for people to land," Greenwalt said. "But it's not a place for people to live forever."