
D.C. housed the homeless in upscale apartments. It hasn’t gone as planned - onetimemanytime
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/dc-housed-the-homeless-in-upscale-apartments-it-hasnt-gone-as-planned/2019/04/16/60c8ab9c-5648-11e9-8ef3-fbd41a2ce4d5_story.html
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chris-hexx
Sounds like an excellent example of policies failing to address different
types of homeless, as described at
[https://acesounderglass.com/2019/04/03/5-groups-of-
homeless-...](https://acesounderglass.com/2019/04/03/5-groups-of-homeless-
people/). Optimal aid for people who just got priced out is not optimal aid
for people who use a stairwell as a restroom.

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smn1234
my take away:

The program seems to have placed previously homeless men and women who came
directly from shelters or the streets into housing without much screening and
without getting them much mental illness or addiction treatment. The
previously homeless are found to continue to struggle with severe behavioral
problems and are unprepared to live on their own, independently, and with
responsibilities.

Experts believed the housing first method is the best way to help people who
have trouble helping themselves because of the chaos of homelessness.

There's now a bill proposed to require buildings with at least 20 units and 30
percent or more of them occupied by tenants receiving housing assistance to
offer on-site access to social services.

It's interesting the author chose to include this quote “I want us to be
careful not to demonize everyone who finds stable housing through a subsidy
because not everybody who needs a subsidy is a criminal.” Which is curious, as
there was more of a troubled persons theme throughout rather than a criminal
one.

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OceanKing
I have several issues with this article.

One, 175% of market rate vouchers?! So the homeless are living better than
non-homeless stable working families who are actually able to take care of
themselves? In what world is that just?

Two, why do they classify gentrification as a problem? Would they rather have
a uniform distribution of crime and poverty across the city? Because if so,
the rich people will move somewhere else, and the poverty problem will only
snowball from there, bringing the general quality of life in the city down.

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Cactus2018
/s cut out a step and simply transfer DC residents' taxes to the landlords.

> That meant vouchers could be used for one-bedroom apartments renting at up
> to $2,648 a month, according to Housing Authority documents.

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zaroth
Better not to work at all and just collect the free housing, free healthcare,
and free food.

Throw in SSDI for a family of 4 and you’re well over $6k/month. That does
assume you worked enough months to earn the SSDI coverage to begin with.

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slowhand09
...social justice applying band-aides where tourniquets might be better used.
Looks like a half-thought-out simplistic solution to a much higher complexity
problem. In the city that elected Marion Barry multiple times...

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luckylion
Non-paywalled: [https://outline.com/ppaXyJ](https://outline.com/ppaXyJ)

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luckylion
Why the down votes?

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zaroth
Because, while useful, the best place for the comment is at the bottom of the
page.

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luckylion
What a strange idea. Ah well, so be it, I will make sure not to do that again.

