The D.C. General Hospital building, which is now used as a homeless shelter. Photo via Google Street View.

Amid a debate over the necessity of private bathrooms, the D.C. Council approved Mayor Muriel Bowser’s plan yesterday to replace the notoriously dilapidated family homeless shelter at D.C. General with a series of smaller facilities.

The administration has widespread support for the closure, but there has been disagreement about the type of bathrooms at the new shelters—with many homeless advocates arguing that communal access poses safety and sanitary issues. Mary Cheh introduced the amendment, which failed 9-4, requiring an individual bathroom in each room. “Spend a little more money for dignity and safety. What’s wrong with us?” she said in response to opposition from the Council.

Others, and the administration, argued that closing D.C. General as quickly as possible should be the priority. And the mayor’s pledge to increase the number of bathrooms, as well as a promise to study the number of families with special needs that would require a private bathroom before finishing the floor plans, won over some advocates. The D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute called it a “reasonable compromise that increases privacy and helps ensure that the District can move forward with replacing the dilapidated DC General Family Shelter.”

Conditions at the shelter attracted widespread criticism after the disappearance of 8-year-old Relisha Rudd more than a year and a half ago. Bowser has promised to end family homelessness by 2018 and all chronic homelessness in the District by 2025, as well as closing D.C. General.

The new facilities “will be a very different kind of service and environment than what we have [at D.C. General],” says Director of Human Services Laura Zeilinger.