Councilmember Tommy Wells, who chairs the Committee on Human Services, announced today that he will hold an oversight hearing to review homeless shelter operations. The hearing is set for March 31 at 10 a.m. The press release on the hearing states:
"The purpose of this Roundtable is to provide an opportunity for the Council and public [...]
A newborn was found unconscious at the D.C. General family shelter on the morning of Feb. 9. The baby girl was rushed to Children's Hospital where she was pronounced dead.
Beverly Fields, the spokesperson for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, tells City Desk that the cause and manner of the child's death are still [...]
In light of the overcrowded mess going on at D.C. General's emergency shelter for families, I thought I should call Robert Egger. As founder and president of DC Central Kitchen, Egger is unmatched as this city's most forward-thinking authority on homeless issues.
Years ago, Egger had approached city officials about moving away from sheltering homeless individuals [...]
Last night, there were 163 families staying at the D.C. General emergency shelter. At that same night last year, there were 79 families.
On this MLK Day, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty has declared that some 30,000 residents are doing volunteer work across the District. Four hundred of those volunteers are passing out food and clothing to the neediest outside MLK Library. But one thing the city needs is affordable housing for homeless families.
The latest report on homeless families [...]
This is going to be an especially tough season for the homeless. The number of homeless families jumped in recent months. For the week of Nov. 9 to Nov. 15, there were 429 families on the waiting list for services. Ten families who had applied for shelter returned to seek services again. Of the nearly [...]
Today, the D.C. Archdiocese just handed Christopher Hitchens a chapter in his next anti-God book. The archdiocese continues to press for a more watered down version of the D.C. Council's gay-marriage bill. It's gone so far as to threaten to pull its Catholic Charities services from the District, WaPo is reporting:
Hours after the Committee on [...]
According to census data collected from Oct. 26 to Nov. 1, the number of homeless families who've added their names to a "pending case" list has jumped to 410. The waiting list number the previous week had reached 382. This represents a significant and worrisome jump. You can check out the census data here.
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 [...]
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 [...]
