D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has revamped a plan aimed at making homelessness in the nation’s capital “rare, brief and nonrecurring.”
Administration officials recently presented the “Homeward DC 2.0” proposal at an event celebrating the “Goodfellas Team” – a team of seven residents from the 801 East Men’s Shelter who received workforce training and have now been hired to work on the construction of the replacement shelter, according to the mayor’s office.
Since Bowser’s previously released strategic plan to end long-term homelessness six years ago, the District has made significant progress and investments in sustainable solutions to reduce homelessness, her office said.
However, this time the city used a comprehensive approach that included the scaling back on homelessness prevention services for families, reforming the family shelter system, closing DC General and launching small, service-enriched Short-Term Family Housing programs throughout the city.
As a result, this has led to a reduction in homelessness in the District from a peak of nearly 1,500 families on any given night at the program’s outset to just over 400 as of January — a 73% decrease, according to Bowser’s office.
