In Defense Of Shelter
As you may or may not know, two major homeless shelters in the District of Columbia are under threat of closure, CCNV, our largest singles shelter, which houses 1,350 people (it’s the largest shelter in the nation) and DC General, our largest family shelter, which houses roughly 1,000 persons (adults and children). The closure of these two shelters would have drastic consequences and could cause a humanitarian crisis. Here are the major reasons I believe in shelter.
1) Absence of Alternatives
Politicians in the District love to close shelters for so-called humanitarian reasons. But after shelters close they don’t seem to care all that much that people who lived there don’t have anywhere to go, and often end up on the streets. (For more learn about Franklin Shelter, La Casa Shelter, and the closure of many public housing developments in the District.)
Politicians tout program such as the Local Rent Supplement Program, The Housing Production Trust Fund, Rapid Rehousing, Permanent Supportive Housing but these programs exist on a very, very small scale nowhere near serving the number of people served in shelters. The other major problem with these programs is that so much of their funding gets tied up in administrative costs rather than serving the people directly. Public Housing funding has been cut almost in half, so it is unlikely to take the place of shelters.
Absent meaningful alternatives, how could a call to close a shelter be a humanitarian effort? Where will these people go?
2) Capacity Issues
New affordable housing developments that go up serve very small numbers of people, often at a high cost. What’s more, zoning regulations have changed to require mixed use developments (with commercial components) so we can’t expect to be able to serve the same number of people with any new development going up. This estimate is speculative but in order to serve say, the 1,350 people that live at CCNV, something like 14, maybe 15 new developments would have to go up. It is so unlikely that DC gov is ready to spend that kind of money housing the poor, esp. if the latest round of tax cuts is any indication.
3) Defense of Public Property
The DC government has privatized most of the city, often by selling properties for far less than market value. There are so few truly public goods anymore. Why should we care? Well, persons without property depend on public land to exist, to live. Shelters are among the few places poor people actually have to live without being at risk of violating the law (besides hospitals or jails).
The other reason to defend public property is once it is gone, it is likely gone forever, as government is unlikely to use eminent domain against the wealthy, who fund their campaigns.
4) Homeless Services Reform Act (HSRA) : There Can Be No Right to Shelter Without Shelter
The HSRA provides that when it is 32 degrees or below, people have a right to shelter. This past winter, we saw a 25% increase in family homelessness, and a 13% increase in homelessness overall-in just 1 year! Shelters were at capacity, we had warming buses, people were put in motels both in DC and in Maryland, and the Administration even began to house people in gyms. All the usable motels in the District were full with DC General, the family shelter, open. How could we possibly house everybody in the cold without shelters? Could we really find housing for the 2,000+ people that live in DC General and CCNV come winter?
My hypothesis is that without CCNV and DC General the right to shelter and the HSRA will collapse. The District is unlikely to build more shelters, and certainly not ones of scale. The HSRA was passed to keep people from freezing to death, by guaranteeing shelter. But if shelters don’t exist, its hard to see how the government (a) could comply and (b) could even be made to comply via the courts.
This may be a strategy: lets close shelters so we don’t have to spend money to house people come winter. I can’t live with that. I don’t want people freezing to death. I want a government that takes care of people in hard times, not one that, quite literally, leaves people out in the cold.
5) Shelter Is The New Public Housing In The District of Columbia
There are many, many individuals who simply cannot afford a market value apartment in the District. People making minimum wage just cannot afford a market rate apartment in DC, not even close: earning minimum wage in order to afford housing a person would have to work 140 hours a week in DC! Public Housing had, and continues to have, major problems. But the slashing of the public housing budget has caused many individuals, working individuals, being priced out of housing all together, and having to live either on the street, or in a shelter.
If we had a robust public housing program, perhaps we could reduce shelter capacity in the District. But given that public housing is on the decline, demand for shelter is as high now as it has probably ever been. We cannot de-fund public housing and shelter simultaneously. People just won’t have anywhere to go.
6) Shelter Isn’t As Expensive As You Think
If you compare the cost of shelter to the cost of a voucher is going to be way more expensive, given the huge personnel costs to keep shelters open. But its not as expensive as you think. The initial production costs of creating affordable housing are, if not prohibitive, unbelievably high. This is because cost of labor, materials, etc. is more expensive here. So the price of the rent isn’t really reflective of the true price of the unit.
For vouchers, while the voucher may not be particularly expensive, the case management services necessary to actually USE the voucher are. Shelters provide more than just shelter, they often provide food, clothing, health care, even babysitting all of which would have to be paid out of pocket if individuals weren’t living in the shelter.
7) Poor Conditions Are Not Endemic To The Existence of Shelter
DC’s Department of Human Services (DHS) as well as the DC Interagency Council for The Prevention of Homelessness (DC ICH) are the two agencies charged with providing homeless services. They are doing a terrible job. The Mayor’s job is to oversee (DHS), the Councils job is to pass laws and conduct oversight of (DHS). DHS contracts out homeless services to The Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness (TCP).
The City Council points fingers at TCP all the time, almost as if TCP was the one responsible for the poor conditions in the shelter. They may be partially responsible but I also suspect they have neither the budget, nor the agency (i.e. decision making ability) to make shelters safe. The government is the boss here: when you hire contractors, whether its an independent contractor or an agent, you have to supervise, and you have a fiduciary duty (not technically, but the concept still holds) to make sure they are operating safely, and that they have the funds to operate safely. The conditions are terrible because the DC Government is (purposefully?) incompetent not because shelters are inherently bad places. (Think tort law concept of respondeat superior–let the master answer).
Shelters can be clean, orderly, and safe. Nothing about a shelter says otherwise. It costs real money, and real management to make that happen. Councilmembers say “There’s No Amount of Money That Can Fix This Shelter,” and the recently retired Director of Human Services recently said , “DC General Is Dead.” Of course these statements are patently false: I’m pretty sure rehab of a building has a price tag that the DC government can pay-what with a 1.75 BILLION dollar surplus.
8) Human Rights
Two individuals froze to death last winter in DC. The UN has already declared the District of Columbia in violation of international human rights law for the deprivation of water and basic sanitation. Shelters in the District are in terrible shape; But they do have running water, they do have restrooms, they do have heat.
Human rights is used as a so-called humanitarian outcry by politicians for the bad shape of shelters, and they use language of human rights to justify closure of shelters. But if human rights was really a priority, why not build more housing, why not expand, rather than constrict, public housing? Politicians have succeeded in their goal: they have purposely abandoned oversight, purposely withheld necessary funding so that deplorable conditions will arise, giving them the ammo necessary to turn over shelters to private developers. If human rights were a priority, there wouldn’t be people on the street. They wouldn’t arrest people for panhandling to get money for food. Water fountains, public restrooms would be available 24/7, people would have the right to shelter year-round. No, the DC Government could care less about human rights.
9) Displacement Has Major Costs, Including Loss of Community
Poor individuals have been displaced over and over again as the city’s demographics have changed. Poor people have communities. They have families. They have neighbors. Displacing people to the far flung corners of the city makes it harder for a Grandma to help out with her grandkids, a friend take care of another who got sick, perhaps lost their job. These social safety nets actually can help people rise out of poverty, if not guarantee a much higher quality of life.
The other thing about displacement is that most individuals in shelters grew up in DC, they are from DC, it is their home and has been for generations. Market trends, government policy are pushing out people who built DC and who contributed to its growth. Our goal should be to keep communities intact, while getting more resources to communities that need them. We shouldn’t run poor people out of town through government policy, I guess that’s what I’m saying.
10) Absence of Reasonable Alternatives
I have ZERO clue why homeless advocates are advocating for the closure of shelters. We know which way the political winds are blowing and they certainly aren’t going in the direction of support of social services. As an interesting aside a recent study showed in the most “corrupt” states, more money is directed into potentially “bribe-generating” stuff like construction and highway projects, and less money is spent on human-capital investments such as education and health care. DC’s got plenty of corruption, plenty of construction, and declining interest in human services. As responsible public citizens, we cannot take for granted the vital role shelters play in the preservation of life: and, until government begins to put real dollars into affordable housing, we’ve got to hold on for dear life to the little bit of a social safety net that we have left.
A Home For Every Heart 