D.C. housed the homeless in upscale apartments. It hasn’t gone as planned

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/dc-housed-the-homeless-in-upscale-apartments-it-hasnt-gone-as-planned/2019/04/16/60c8ab9c-5648-11e9-8ef3-fbd41a2ce4d5_story.html

by onetimemanytime • 7 years ago

26 10 7 years ago

washingtonpost.com

luckylion3• 7 years ago

Non-paywalled: https://outline.com/ppaXyJ

luckylion3• 7 years ago

Why the down votes?

zaroth2• 7 years ago

Because, while useful, the best place for the comment is at the bottom of the page.

chris-hexx• 7 years ago

Sounds like an excellent example of policies failing to address different types of homeless, as described at https://acesounderglass.com/2019/04/03/5-groups-of-homeless-.... Optimal aid for people who just got priced out is not optimal aid for people who use a stairwell as a restroom.

smn1234• 7 years ago

my take away:

The program seems to have placed previously homeless men and women who came directly from shelters or the streets into housing without much screening and without getting them much mental illness or addiction treatment. The previously homeless are found to continue to struggle with severe behavioral problems and are unprepared to live on their own, independently, and with responsibilities.

Experts believed the housing first method is the best way to help people who have trouble helping themselves because of the chaos of homelessness.

There's now a bill proposed to require buildings with at least 20 units and 30 percent or more of them occupied by tenants receiving housing assistance to offer on-site access to social services.

It's interesting the author chose to include this quote “I want us to be careful not to demonize everyone who finds stable housing through a subsidy because not everybody who needs a subsidy is a criminal.” Which is curious, as there was more of a troubled persons theme throughout rather than a criminal one.

OceanKing• 7 years ago

I have several issues with this article.

One, 175% of market rate vouchers?! So the homeless are living better than non-homeless stable working families who are actually able to take care of themselves? In what world is that just?

Two, why do they classify gentrification as a problem? Would they rather have a uniform distribution of crime and poverty across the city? Because if so, the rich people will move somewhere else, and the poverty problem will only snowball from there, bringing the general quality of life in the city down.

slowhand09• 7 years ago

...social justice applying band-aides where tourniquets might be better used. Looks like a half-thought-out simplistic solution to a much higher complexity problem. In the city that elected Marion Barry multiple times...

Cactus2018• 7 years ago

/s cut out a step and simply transfer DC residents' taxes to the landlords.

That meant vouchers could be used for one-bedroom apartments renting at up to $2,648 a month, according to Housing Authority documents.

zaroth2• 7 years ago

Better not to work at all and just collect the free housing, free healthcare, and free food.

Throw in SSDI for a family of 4 and you’re well over $6k/month. That does assume you worked enough months to earn the SSDI coverage to begin with.

D.C. housed the homeless in upscale apartments. It hasn’t gone as planned

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