Photo by Alex Barth.The District is facing a tight budget crunch, and most, if not all, of its homeless shelters are filled to the brim with people looking for a place to sleep every night. Combine those two situations with high unemployment rates, and its obvious that the District is taking in more homeless individuals than it can bear, given the current allotment of funds.
Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells — who, it should be noted, is really stuck between a rock (budget woes he has to help solve) and a hard place (you know, helping people) — has suggested that the District end its long-standing policy of taking in homeless residents from other jurisdictions.
Citing a looming budget deficit, officials are proposing that on winter’s coldest nights, the city should provide shelter first to families who can demonstrate their D.C. ties with proof of a legal address in the past two years or with a record of having received public assistance from the city. Under current law, the District must shelter anyone who is homeless and seeking a bed when the temperature falls below freezing.
I don’t really need to point out the issue with this plan, do I? In case you need more information, here’s a fact sheet from the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless which outlines how the Homeless Services Reform Amendment Act of 2010 will present some major problems for, say, those who have lost proof of residence in an apartment fire, or the fact that people could be turned away from a shelter, despite suffering from hypothermia.
In the report linked above, Post scribe Paul Schwartzman offers some anecdotes from those who would be left out in the cold if the open-door policy is reversed, while noting that both Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties are two of the largest jurisdictions in the country who have instituted residency requirements. Hmm. Doesn’t the fact that D.C. is obviously struggling to help a large number of people coming from those two Maryland counties a sign that the residency requirement isn’t really working very well?
