You can’t talk about homelessness in DC without discussing Maryland and Virginia, too

“I make $100 too much [to qualify for housing subsidies]. I work full time, I work part time, I work Saturdays. I want to pay rent, it’s the right thing to do. I’m responsible…and I keep getting pushed to the wall. I was born in DC General, I want to be here in Washington. I want to pay rent, I work every day. It’s just me and my automobile… Where is the help for a single, working, decent, tax-paying, law abiding citizen?”

That's Queenie Featherstone, a member of the community, on her struggle to get out of homelessness.

Homelessness and a shortage of affordable housing are two issues that affect everyone who lives in the District, but they don’t get discussed openly and honestly very often. Two key issues among many: DC faces the unique challenge of sheltering homeless people from regions beyond the city’s borders, and the roadblocks a person a person faces can really depend based on their individual situation.

On Wednesday, February 8th at the Dorothy I. Height Library, Kojo Nnamdi hosted a community discussion to address these topics. Full audio of the discussion can be found here.

Three panelists participated in the discussion, and members of the community also had ample opportunity to join in. The panelists were:

• Robert Warren (Director of the People for Fairness Coalition)
• Nkechi Feaster (fair housing advocate)
• Laura Zeilinger (Director of the DC Department of Human Services)

The panelists and community members offered valuable insights into the programs that attempt to address these complex problems, as well as personal experiences in dealing with them.

Although homelessness is down nationwide, the rate of homelessness in the DC is 124 people for every 100,000, which is twice the national average. This can be partly explained by an influx of people into DC, who seek shelter due to the favorable laws in the city.

What should the District do about people who come from VA and MD to seek shelter?

The topic of helping out-of-state citizens seeking shelter in the District was brought up repeatedly during the discussion.

Because DC is the only jurisdiction in the region with any sort of right-to-shelter laws (the other closest jurisdiction being New York City), people struggling with homelessness in surrounding areas often turn to the city to get their needs met.

This is an inherently difficult problem to solve, and it is one faced by the DC’s Department of Human Services, Laura Zeilinger pointed out.

“We want to have the ability to prioritize DC residents for services, and if someone is a resident in another place, we want to have that opportunity to advocate for them to get their needs met there.”

Zeilinger goes on to say that despite the need to prioritize DC residents, dire situations will never be met with turning away people from outside the jurisdiction.

“The alternative cannot be that people cannot get the help they need and are sleeping on our streets. But what we see oftentimes is people in a neighboring county…present to us.”

Ultimately, Zeilinger concludes, there need to be reinforcements put in place to ensure people can get their needs met within their home jurisdictions.

“We need tools [to better help people within their local jurisdictions], that allow them to keep their kids in school where they live, that allow them to maintain their stability…There need to be…more teeth in our law to facilitate our ability to do that.”

Robert Warren believes that the primary focus should be on providing services for DC residents.

“First and foremost, at People for Fairness Coalition, we advocate for lifelong DC residents and those who are in the system who can’t access some form of housing in the District of Columbia, which we believe is a human right.”

Like Zeilinger, Warren is not opposed to welcoming in those from outside the District’s borders.

“We also advocate on behalf of folks who decide they want to live in the District of Columbia… Those are a lot of the people out there dying on the streets of DC. That also needs to be addressed.”

Ken Costello, a homeless man in Foggy Bottom, offered the perspective of an outsider who turned to DC for the support services offered here. He gives a voice to those struggling to get their needs met outside of District borders.

“I came to DC from New Jersey four years ago, and I [came] for the medical services and the support services [needed] to get my life back together. I think you should let people in, because it’s needed.”

Different people need different types of help to get out of homelessness

Nkechi Feaster lost her job and became homeless during the 2008 recession. She turned to DC General for shelter, and while there, she sought assistance with job placement through the job readiness program.

Feaster’s experience was unique, though. Unlike many others seeking assistance through the job readiness program, she didn’t have the same barriers to break through.

“The majority of [job readiness programs] all generally do the same thing: interviewing skills, resume writing, dress for success; or some variation of those three. I’ve been writing since I was 12, been published twice. I don’t need help with that. I had worked in corporate America [at the time I became homeless] for 11 years, I don’t need to know how to get a job. I just need help getting a job. There was nothing set up for me. I had no educational barriers, I had no disabilities - no mental, physical, or otherwise. My result of homelessness was circumstantial. It was a result of the recession. It was a result of not being able to keep a job because of the recession.”

Feaster ultimately concludes that the services provided to her were doing more harm than good.

“The resources weren’t set up for me to climb the ladder, they were set up for me to stay on this perpetual cycle of poverty.”

Feaster’s story provides a first-hand illustration of the larger forces at play. A person with experience (such as herself) still may not be able to make ends meet, simply because wages have not kept up with the cost of housing.

Development policies don't have to leave people behind

Members of the panel said that DC’s high number of homeless residents is at least partly a result of the economic development policies it has put in place over the last decade-plus.

“We’ve had economic development policies that have lead to housing being so far out of reach, with developers who haven’t fulfilled their commitments or obligations to affordable housing,” said Patty Mullahy Fugere (Executive Director of The Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless). There was audible applause in the audience when Mullahy said this.

“I would say that the city has put a value on economic development at the expense of human development. I believe that there is a way that we can see a renaissance throughout DC, [with] economic development and profit for developers without being at the expense of low-income community members.”

As Fugere followed this up by suggesting that the District be more strict about enforcing policies that require developers to construct a mandated number of affordable housing units.

Working together, local agencies could accomplish more

Returning to the example of Feaster’s personal experience, how can the Department of Human Services better serve people in need?

“Stop telling the community what they need, and ask them what they need. The city can improve on what they can control. [The city] can control developing employment programs, [the city can] use community members to work with small businesses, work with corporate America.”

The Department of Human Services is just one arm of the District government that provides outreach and services for the homeless. It is not directly affiliated with the Department of Employment or the Department of Housing, for example. Throughout the discussion, there were occasions where community members blamed DHS for problems that were outside of its jurisdiction.

Perhaps this underscores a significant need for the District’s agencies to work closer together in achieving the common goal to reduce homelessness in the city.