Via City Desk, the excellent homeless publication Street Sense scooped everyone on a big story about the potential closing of the District’s largest family shelter, D.C. Village Family Emergency Shelter in southwest Washington. Under a new city proposal, the shelter could close sometime this fall, to be replaced by a bus operations center for WMATA in advance of the opening of the new Nationals stadium. From Street Sense:

…more than 350 … people – mothers, fathers, young children and teenagers – currently living at D.C. Village would be moved to another family shelter or into permanent housing in neighborhoods closer to the city’s center. D.C. Village sits virtually isolated on a campus in the southwest corner of the city.

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty has said D.C. Village residents will have adequate shelter before final plans are approved.

“We’ll move all the clients into affordable housing units,” Fenty said. “That will be determined before D.C. Village closes.”

Council Member Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6), who represents the neighborhood around the new stadium, also said the families will not be neglected and will be placed in neighborhoods more convenient in the city.

So color us curious — where exactly is all this available affordable housing in the center of the city? Last we checked, the legacy of Mayor Williams’ “Homeless No More” initiative was a continued serious shortage of affordable housing.

Photo by OffSeventh