Legal Battle Over Ward 3 Homeless Shelter Could Delay Shuttering Of D.C. General
Mayor Muriel Bowser aims to replace the D.C. General homeless shelter by 2020 and replace it with smaller facilities in all eight wards, but legal challenges from residents are putting that plan in jeopardy.
A group of Ward 3 neighbors last week appealed the approval of a 50-unit shelter at 3320 Idaho Ave. NW, which was expected to start construction in November, the Washington City Paper reports.
The residents say their concerns are not based on the facility housing homeless families, but rather are upset about a lack of notice given to the local advisory neighborhood commission.
That homeless shelter was expected to be completed in 2019, along with the opening of seven others that would allow for the closing of D.C. General, the facility that houses 250 families and has fallen into disrepair.
The challenge, filed in the D.C. Court of Appeals, is similar to the appeals that have delayed thousands of market-rate and affordable housing units throughout the city, recently holding up five projects around Union Market.
