DC Mayor Vincent Gray has officially kicked off a “500 Families, 100 Days” campaign aimed at rapidly moving homeless men, women and children out of shelters and motel rooms and into stable homes.
At an April 16 event, Gray formally enlisted the help of city landlords, pointing out that they literally hold the keys to the success of the effort.
“If I sound like I’m exhorting, that’s because I am,” he told the landlords, asking them to offer any number of units they could – one, two, five, ten.
In recent months, a shortage of affordable apartments has hampered city efforts to help families leave homelessness and rebuild their lives. Many of the landlords who came out to hear the mayor speak said they were ready to help. Others said they had questions about the program for which they needed answers.
With record cold temperatures, this past winter was a particularly difficult one, both for the city’s poorest families and for the city programs tasked with assisting them. Families with nowhere else to turn filled the 285 rooms at the crumbling family shelter of the former DC General Hospital. With the shelter at capacity, hundreds of more families were placed in motel rooms, in accordance with the city’s legal obligation to protect the homeless from dangerous cold.
Concerns about conditions at DC General were heightened by the disappearance of 8-year-old shelter resident Relisha Rudd, who was last seen with one of the building’s janitors; police are still searching for the girl. Meanwhile, last week the DC Zoning Commission recommended that 100 residents be moved out of the decaying shelter because of “health and safety risks”.
Now, with the arrival of spring, city leaders are doubling down on their rapid rehousing efforts as the best way to keep families off the streets and out of the system. Rapid rehousing has been in the District’s arsenal for several years and under the program, the Department of Human Services locates empty apartments and arranges for homeless families to sign a yearlong lease. The city subsidizes the first four months’ rent, with an option to renew every four months up to a year. The city also provides a case manager to help family members with employment, job training, and other needs such as child care and substance abuse treatment.
Paying for decent apartments is far cheaper than operating shelters or paying for motels, while the stable housing helps the families, officials say. They stress that the philosophy behind the program is simple: in the spectrum of a homeless family’s needs, secure housing comes first.
“We found it isn’t necessary for the voucher to last forever,” said Department of Human Services Director David Berns on Wednesday. “It is important to get the family in housing, and then they can address other needs, like finding employment, job training, or education.” He stressed that without stable housing, the other goals are harder to achieve.
City leaders say they have faith in the 500 Families, 100 Days program, and stand by claims that 80 to 85 percent of families who received rapid rehousing vouchers in the past two years have not returned to city shelters. They say success rates in other cities are also encouragingly high.
Nevertheless, as the program expands over the next 11 weeks, the city must find open apartments – and that means finding landlords who are willing to participate. At the April 16 event, Berns was straightforward about his intentions: “We are here to recruit more landlords.”
To illustrate the possibilities of the program, the audience heard from Chioma Nwadigo, a formerly homeless mother who has benefited from rapid rehousing. As Nwadigo mustered the courage to speak, her caseworker Morgan Taylor held her 3-year old son Joshua, who is autistic. Nwadigo praised the program and Taylor, and told the audience she was very grateful.
“They have been very helpful, very involved,” she said. “They have helped us come a long way.”
Still, the landlords had concerns. After the presentations, the floor opened up to questions – and there were quite a few.
What happens when the vouchers end after 12 months, since the eviction process can last more than a year? Will the city provide more support for overworked case managers?
More than one landlord who had already had experience with the program said he believed that rapid rehousing tenants can be disruptive, and often leave the apartment in worse shape than they found it.
Berns and the other city leaders said that the program was evolving along with its expansion, and reminded landlords that money saved from shelter expense could be put toward better uses, like paying more caseworkers.
“We can’t wait to make it perfect before we move forward,” said Berns. “So work with us.”
Other landlords were more optimistic. Kevin Green of East Coast Development Inc. spoke up to say that he had housed a number of rapid rehousing tenants and had not seen many of these problems.
“I think the whole program is outstanding,” he said.
DC Housing Providers Association Chairman Russ Brown echoed his sentiment.
“The majority of landlords I speak to have not had those problems,” he said.
The attitude perhaps, most prevalent in the room was expressed by Dwight Harris, a landlord who runs the Youth and Homeless Economic Development Corporation, Inc. Harris, who has experienced homelessness in his life, said he feels an obligation to help others – not as a landlord, but as a human.
He shares skepticism about disruptive tenants and missed payments, but plans to give the program a shot.
“I’m gonna put them through the test,” he said.
