Tick Tock Sheptock

Breaking with tradition, I'm actually posting some good news about DC mayor Adrian Fenty (a man) and his plans to house the homeless. He too is breaking with tradition by doing something he hasn't done much of until now -- housing families. As of February 25th, 2009, only 1 family (and 414 homeless singles) had been housed through his Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) program. Bear in mind that DC had over 6,200 homeless individuals as of February 25th, 2009. (See my own comment, which I sent in response to Deb's comment, in my previous post. It will tell you where to find stats on the homeless.) I received the following info in my e-mail account recently and decided to post it. However, I take issue with how certain stats are presented. Toward the end of the document, it states that, according to Downtown BID (Business Improvement District), there has been a sharp decline in the number of downtown homeless. It fails to mention that the reason is that the Franklin School S...

There is my blog as well as other blogs about homeless issues. Then there are the frequent news clips about homelessness and the highly contested closure of the Franklin School Shelter. Then there is Michelle Obama's visit to Miriam's Kitchen, a homeless soup kitchen. All in all, the issue of homelessness is taking center stage. As if that weren't enough, there is proof positive that the image-conscious DC mayor Adrian Fenty is running scared. See the story below..... Michelle Obama visited Miriam's Kitchen, which feeds DC's homeless community breakfast and has other helpful programs, on Thursday, March 5th. Her visit, in and of itself, was reason enough for conversation. Nonetheless, the fact that she wasn't accompanied by the mayor is all the more reason for conversation. The homeless community is extremely disgruntled with the mayor. What's more is that they got the chance to speak to the first lady without him being there. He doesn't know what was sa...

I can't count the number of times that the homeless have asked me if I knew where they could get help finding a job. Some have advised me to ask the mayor for jobs for the homeless rather than shelter or housing. Then there are the ones who've suggested that they be allowed to work on an old, dilapidated government building and turn it into affordable housing. (This idea is known as "sweat equity" and has been shot down by the DC Council in the past.) Needless to say, the homeless are an industrious lot of people; but, there seems to be either a shortage of jobs or an inability on the part of DC Government and homeless service providers to connect people to the jobs that are out there. In the past I've even heard the DC Council discuss how employers often need to look outside of DC to find qualified employees due to many DC residents being unskilled. As chance should have it, Mayor Fenty recently visited the DC Jail to promote the Central Detention Facility Employ...

Yesterday I posted a short, undetailed message about a certain DC homeless shelter that was abruptly closed (which I'll soon delete). I have since done my homework and found out what happened and why. So, here it is..... The Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness (TCP) has not paid CCNV (the Community for Creative Non-Violence) for its services for 2 months. CCNV took action so as to exact payment yesterday. Before I give any further explanation of yesterday's situation, I must first explain everyone's role. The Government of the District of Columbia has a Dept. of Human Services (DHS). DHS has contracted out many of its homeless services to The Community Partnership (TCP) which in turn contracts out to the actual service providers such as CCNV and Catholic Charities. (Those homeless services that don't fall under the purview of TCP are administered by the Coalition for the Homeless, which answers to DHS.) CCNV (the Community for Creative Non-Violence)...

DC Mayor Adrian M. Fenty touted his Permanent Supportive Housing plan as justification for closing Franklin School Shelter (which was closed on Sept. 26th, 2008). He said that he would have AT LEAST 300 men placed in PSH prior to the shelter closure. He actually met that goal shortly AFTER closing Franklin. The date on which he met that goal is just a small matter insomuch as he DID meet it. He also promised a downtown, low-barrier men's shelter with 150 beds. Franklin had 300. That half-size shelter has yet to materialize. What is noteworthy is the fact that on September 3rd only 3 people had been housed. Less than a month later, that number stood at around 250. While it is laudible effort to house DC's homeless, the nascent housing program (which was only conceived in April, 2008) was not given enough time to blossom prior to the mayor closing another homeless shelter. Furthermore, the funding for the PSH program was slashed in November due to the economic downturn. Though it...

A close friend saved the Metro section from February 4th edition of the Washington Post and gave it to me several days later. She had marked a certain article that she knew would be of interest to me. It was an article about DC Mayor Adrian Fenty entitled,"Heavy Hitters Contributing To Fenty's reelection Bid". It explained that Mayor Fenty has developed close friendships with many wealthy people -- developers and lawyers alike. It said what many of DC's poor and underprivileged already knew, having learned it the hard way -- that Fenty doesn't really care for the poor or working class people of DC. In order to understand the full gravity of the situation, you must know what he did prior to becoming mayor. Just prior to becoming mayor, Adrian Fenty was the Ward 4 councilman. As the Ward 4 councilman, he was also the chairperson for the Committee on Human Services. (Most councilmembers, though they have their respective wards that they oversee, also have a citywide ...

Something suspicious is happening to the homeless people of DC. There has been a sharp, sudden decline in the numbers of homeless people that frequent certain parks and other areas of town. The recent murders of homeless people in DC creates a definite cause for concern -- one man having had his head bashed in as he slept outdoors, the other having been beaten by 2 men as the result of a verbal altercation and left to die in front of a grocery store. (In the latter case, video footage shows people walking past the man as he lie incapacitated and dying for 20 minutes.) There have also been at least a half dozen non-fatal attacks on homeless DC residents as they slept outside over the past few months. Putting aside all sensationalism, I don't believe that the decreased number of homeless people in the parks is the result of foul play. If so, it's probably non-violent foul play on the part of Mayor Fenty and/or those acting on his behalf; but, don't quote me on that. A certain...