Via DCFPI.
With the number of homeless families seeking shelter in D.C. expected to rise this winter, a group of advocates have examined the city’s progress improving its response to the problem.
The progress since last winter’s crisis has been uneven, according to the analysis by the DC Fiscal Policy Institute and other local community groups, with the most improvement made on preventing families from entering shelter in the first place:
The District is expected to launch a new homelessness prevention program this winter, modeled after successful programs in New York City and Massachusetts, using $2 million allocated by the D.C. Council. [The Department of Human Services] will partner with two community-based organizations to provide services at their locations to make it easier for families to access services. DHS is looking to partner with three more organizations. It is critical that this program is up and running as quickly as possible in order to have any impact on the 2014-2015 hypothermia season. As of the Report Card release, the program was not up and running.
The least amount of progress, the report says, has been made on improving case management at D.C. General — where hundreds of homeless families currently live — and at the Virginia Williams Family Resources Center. Of the recommendations made in a roadmap released by the groups in April, the Council did allocate $600,000 for case management at D.C. General, and the Department of Human Services has made other improvements, including opening the playground at D.C. General and bed checks at the shelter.
But the groups still believe that all D.C. General staff members, as opposed to some, should undergo trauma-informed care training and that unused space on the lobby level at the shelter should be made available to non-profits for family programming.
The report also expresses concern about the lack of firm details in the plan to close D.C. General.
“The new mayor has a short window to develop this plan as funding needs to be included
in the fiscal year 2016 budget which will be released in March” Jenny Reed, deputy director at the DC Fiscal Policy Institute, said in a release. “Otherwise D.C. will be stuck with DC General for at least two more years.”
The D.C. Department of Human Services responded with an update, obtained by the Post, to its 2013 family shelter plan.
