As the Washington Post reports, yesterday's D.C. Council hearing on homeless services turned city officials into Sharron-Angle style fear mongers. Officials claimed that outsiders i.e. Maryland and Virginia residents were utilizing the city's homeless services. Officials stated that 10 percent of city beds were being taken up by these interlopers:
"A study of the rolls at [...]
It's hot as hell out. Now think about sleeping in your car with your girlfriend and your two children, ages two and four. Throughout much of June, this was Darnell Gibson's life.
Two years ago, Gibson, 26, lost his steady job. Ever since, he hasn't been able to find stable employment. His savings ran out. He [...]
Mayor Adrian Fenty announced today that the city is terminating Families Forward's contract to run the troubled D.C. General family shelter and its Park Road shelter. At his press conference, the mayor made sure to praise the swift actions of Attorney General Peter Nickles and Department of Human Services Director Clarence Carter.
Families Forward came under [...]
Flanked by Attorney General Peter Nickles and Department of Human Services Director Clarence Carter, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty announced at an 11 a.m. press conference that the city is terminating Families Forward's contract to run D.C. General's family shelter at the end of the month. Families Forward was notified by DHS this morning.
Allegations of terrible [...]
Rule No. 1: Don't bring a box cutter to a D.C. council hearing.
One hour into Councilmember Tommy Wells' oversight hearing on D.C. General's family shelter, a Families Forward Inc. employee had a little trouble passing through the Wilson Building's metal detector. The employee tried to walk in with a box cutter.
Duncan Briggs, a monitor at [...]
The contractor charged with running the city's main shelter for homeless families has been fired.
Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells tells City Desk that Families Forward Inc. will lose their contract by month's end to operate the shelter, which is located on the D.C. General campus.
Wells says that Clarence Carter, director of the Department of Human [...]
Families Forward, Inc., the nonprofit that runs the D.C. General family shelter, has admitted in a letter to Mayor Adrian Fenty that it has fired employees for inappropriate contact with female residents.
The allegations first came to light yesterday when we reported the concerns of two female residents who alleged that they had been propositioned by [...]
D.C. General, the city's long-shuttered hospital of last resort, is one facility that's used to being overused. In its pre-gentrification heyday, its emergency room swelled with indigent residents in need of care.
Though it's no longer providing ER services, things have scarcely changed at D.C. General, which now serves as a shelter for homeless D.C. families. [...]
Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and his human services director need to get on the same page.
For the last month or so, the Fenty administration has been getting hammered on surprise cuts to homeless services. Dozens of providers cried foul after they were notified by the Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness that, due to [...]
Apparently DHS Director Clarence Carter's confusing-as-hell letter to homeless advocates did little to settle the issue of just how much money will be cut from the homeless services budget. Homeless service providers will be holding a press conference at 11 a.m. on the steps of the Wilson Building to address the looming cuts and perhaps [...]
Today, DHS Director Clarence Carter sent out a statement to various homeless advocates and shelter providers. Earlier this week, Carter and Councilmember Tommy Wells sparred on just how much the homeless services budget would get cut. Many shelters are facing 30 percent cuts or worse—closing down.
I'm not sure Carter does himself any favors with this [...]
Is this any way to coordinate homeless services?
Late last week, word spread down to various District shelters and homeless service providers that their budgets were going to be taking a huge hit. On September 28, Catholic Charities and others were told to expect 30 percent cuts.The 30 percent cut was the average cut. Some agencies [...]
Every May 15, legions of city employees scramble to finish their financial disclosure statements—public documents collected by the Office of Campaign Finance laying out whether government managers and certain other workers have any real or potential conflicts of interest.
This year, for instance, LL walked into Phil Mendelson's office on May 15 to see the at-large [...]
