D.C. completes renovation of men's shelter on St. Elizabeths campus

D.C. completed its overhaul of the 801 East Men's Shelter on Monday, bringing the first daytime service center East of the River and marking an expansion in the city's services for single adults experiencing homelessness.

The $56 million project on the St. Elizabeths East Campus will have 396 beds available for emergency shelter, for seniors and individuals with medical needs, and for those participating in work programs. Additional beds will be reserved for hypothermia season. The newly constructed complex will also host a daytime service center – a place where residents experiencing homelessness can access low-barrier resources. (D.C.'s Department of Human Services currently manages three other day centers: one in Ward 2, and two in Ward 5.)

The service center at 801 East will have a mailroom, computer lab, and laundry facility. Residents can also be connected with case management and behavioral health support, and can access the kitchen for a culinary job training program.

Today, @MayorBowser cut the ribbon on the new 801 East Men’s Shelter.

It will help transform the way men experiencing homelessness in DC get connected to services.

Here’s an inside look this 396-bed emergency shelter in Ward 8.#HomewardDC pic.twitter.com/jiE2mSfN8T

"This is a big, big first step in the work that we will do with men who need housing," Mayor Muriel Bowser said Monday during the facility's ribbon cutting. "But it is going to demonstrate ... smaller, dignified, better services. People can get back on their feet, and get the housing and the second chances that they deserve."

The new shelter is a part of Bowser's Homeward D.C. 2.0 plan, a five-year initiative aiming to eliminate homelessness in the city by 2025. Introduced in July 2021, Homeward 2.0 seeks to accomplish what Homeward D.C., her 2015 plan to eliminate homelessness by 2020, did not. While the city reached some of Bowser's initial goals – shuttering D.C. General and replacing it with smaller family shelters in each ward, and decreasing the number of families experiencing homelessness in the city – others have gone unmet. Homeward D.C. called for an overall reduction in homelessness by 65% at the end of 2020, but the city fell about 26% short of that benchmark.

Homeward 2.0 is meant to address the shortcomings of the city's initial strategic plan, namely its emphasis on addressing family homelessness, at times at the expense of single adults. According to the city, overall homelessness decreased by 20% from 2020 to 2021, with a "small but important" reduction in single adults. Homeward 2.0 outlines a plan to increase permanent housing availability, in part by creating on-site supportive housing units, in lieu of handing out permanent supportive housing vouchers that can be used in private rentals. It also suggests working closely on job training and career building with residents who receive rapid re-housing vouchers, in order to make sure those residents are financially secure by the time their subsidy ends.

"We have fewer families experiencing homelessness in shelters today than were in D.C. General alone," Department of Human Services director Laura Zeilinger said Monday. "The single adult system is larger and more complex. We are similarly focused on all aspects of that system. And today is a critical milestone of what we're doing in emergency shelter for single adults."

The city introduced a plan to renovate 801 East in March 2018, to fix "deteriorating conditions" at the shelter. The new shelter was first slated to open between the winter of 2020-2021, then was pushed to Sept. 2021 amid foundational concerns and permit delays, according to Street Sense Media.

801 East is located on the St. Elizabeths East campus. Formerly a psychiatric hospital, the expanse of historical land is now a massive redevelopment project for the city, including plans for residencies and a new hospital.

The completed renovation of a low-barrier center, designed to serve and ultimately house single men experiencing homelessness, comes as Bowser and her administration face criticism for their handling of the city's homeless encampments. The city launched a program over the summer that offered residents housing – although not always permanent placements – before clearing encampments, preventing them from returning. During one clearing in NoMa, a resident was struck and lifted by the driver of a small bulldozer. In December, emails revealed that administration officials had called for the clearing of a homeless encampment at the site of a Bowser press conference, where she announced a plan to expand affordable housing.

Ward 1 Councilmember Brianne Nadeau introduced legislation that would have temporarily paused the city's encampment program, but neither her original nor amended proposals passed the council last year.

Jesse Rabinowitz, an advocacy and campaign manager with Miriam's Kitchen, said the needed renovation of 801 East is exciting news, but hopes that the mayor's 2023 budget includes additional investments in permanent supportive housing. Homeward 2.0 outlines a plan to increase permanent housing availability, in part by creating on-site supportive housing units, in lieu of handing out permanent supportive housing vouchers that can be used in private rentals.

"I'm thrilled to see that 801 East got a much-needed renovation. I hope that that will mean that fewer of our neighbors sleep outside every night," Rabinowitz said. "However, it's not enough to have safe, dignified shelter. The goal that Mayor Bowser set up was to end chronic homelessness and all forms of homelessness, and the best way we know how to do that is through increasing investments in permanent supportive housing."

This story is from DCist.com, the local news site of WAMU.

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