Are Shelters an Option for the UnHoused During a Pandemic? Is There a Better Way?
In the District of Columbia, there are people who have gone far too unnoticed in their community. They are some of the most brilliant and creative souls in the region. They are masters of innovation with the ability to weather extraordinary situations. These are the unhoused, or homeless, as people want to call them. In a city where 46% of the population is African American, the homeless are 86% African American. Dealing with housing instability is tough enough outside of dealing with health issues like the current Covid-19 Pandemic.
These men and women have a story to tell. People like Daniel Ball who not only makes the best of the situation but also has strong ties to his community. His mother used to live in DC before moving to Addison Road in Maryland.
As far as experiencing homelessness, “yes, some nights I stay up here in DC and some nights I stay with my mother,” Ball said. “I understand people experience homelessness. It’s a good question and going to be a good question because people are experiencing homelessness.”
Photo of Daniel Ball by Elvert Barnes / Flckr
Daniel Ball is just one of many who have found themselves homeless during the COVID-19 crisis gripping the globe. “Yes sometimes I sleep outside. Either I’m on a bench or either I’m up in Farragut West straight up the elevator, I sleep there,” Ball said. “Last night was an experience too. Usually the man from the food court wakes me up. Sometimes I’m already up. A girl slept beside me scheming. When I got up, I didn’t bother her because I know we going through the same change. I usually jump on the Metro. Today I rode the X2 and came up here. But I love a good question like that you asked because it’s a good question. What are you experiencing?”
Ball gave reasons why he chooses to come to the District of Columbia. “It’s like home to me. And my mama always asks, ‘why you keep running to DC?’ I keep running here, because my job is here,” he said, “and some people don’t have money to travel back and forth like that.”
Ball then described his experience signing up for programs in the city. “We do intake with the case worker. They call them caseworkers. I filed for food stamps. I applied for my housing. One thing right now with what’s happening is you can’t rush people. You can’t be going there like, ‘give me my food stamps.’ You gotta have patience. Everything has patience with it,” Ball said. “I ain’t going to knock nobody out. My name is Daniel Ball and I am not going to do that. As far as the government, there are people that are social. There are some that get involved.”
Staying in Shelter
Those living in shelter during this unprecedented emergency are also finding it hard to deal with certain conditions. Forty-four year old, DC native, Donell Lowell used to be an auto mechanic but has been homeless since July 2018. Lowell also survived a stroke which occured on April 16, 2019, “a year and a day ago today,” Lowell says. “Social distancing is pretty much obsolete here. Outside of here you can pretty much isolate yourself if you want,” he said. “I’ve met some good people but there are some bad people out here, especially, these security guards. They treat you like shit. That’s my situation. That happened to me.”
Photo by Julie Gallagher / Street Sense Media
Lowell was assaulted while staying in shelter during the health emergency. “I complained that he bullied me, threatened me. And he was still able to work here. And I sustained injuries at his hands.” The only time Lowell saw any disciplinary action came after he had been attacked by security. “After I got injured they fired him right away,” he said. “Other than that, we have no say. You gotta be hurt or something to be heard around here.”
DC officials have been telling the community in weekly calls that they were providing rooms for self isolation. When I asked Lowell if he was provided any of these other services and did officials consider him vulnerable to the disease, Lowell said,“Yeah they do but they didn’t offer me nothing.”
It may seem like during this crisis a large congregate setting may not be the ideal setting for mitigating the spread of COVID-19. Before the crisis, DC had to deal with considerable disdain for providing emergency housing and spending more per capita than any major city in the United States on housing production. Despite this, the District of Columbia has the tenth highest number of homeless in the United States.
Solutions Proposed by Unhoused Individuals
The unhoused in DC in particular are in a state of flux during the current health crisis and each day brings new challenges. It seems like they are being ignored more than others who are receiving help from agencies, neighbors and local governments. What do the homeless have to say about their situation? Are they being heard if they have a solution to address their current situation?
Donell Lowell seems to have some solid recommendations on homeless prevention and how the city could better its response during the COVID-19 crisis. Problems with the courts after the death of a relative contributed to Lowell becoming homeless. Lowell thinks now that more oversight of the probate courts would help. “That’s unfortunately how I got here,” he says. He also suggests that some people who are experiencing homelessness could benefit from better efforts from upstream services like rental subsidies and that would keep people from becoming homeless in the first place. Lowell thinks that this kind of in-depth oversight could come from government officials–the mayor, city council and governors.
Lowell is hopeful about his plight once things get back to normal. He sees this as a way to potentially end his homelessness for good. “If the city would open back up, I wanna go to school to learn how to become an information technology specialist. With the city shut down and everything it seems like it’ll never open back up,” Lowell said. He also recommends and wishes that, ”there was more oversight for these security guards and all these shelters really. They do what the hell they wanna do. The city should be considering the fact, we don’t really have a voice as homeless folks.”
Living Outdoors
Many residents have taken to living through this crisis outdoors. Paul Infante is currently experiencing homelessness. He has been living in the region for three years and is originally from California. “I think what makes most sense is if you stay (sleep) near a safe place that has services,” he said. “You could get a meal in the morning or you could get a meal in the evening. A lot of places will give you social services and Items like toothbrushes and shaving stuff, you will need for hygiene. That is especially important if you’re trying to find a job and pull yourself out of homelessness,” he said.
Photo by Petmyrhino / Flckr
Infante also has some pretty strong recommendations in terms of how DC could be serving those who have chosen to live outside. “The District of Columbia could do more on its own rather than relying on federal aid to help residents who live on the street. I would say it makes sense, without opening like a FEMA thing, would be to open up lots with showers and outdoor cots that abide by social distancing,” he said. I think it makes more sense than the opening of shelters that don’t have a lot of space.” Infante also feels DC needs to provide more showers and bathrooms. “You will find that people in general would say that they need more bathrooms and more showers,” he said.
DC Government’s Response
Governments all over the place are trying to coordinate the best responses possible to this crisis. The District of Columbia is no exception. But the voice of the homeless and their recommendations to address their needs is currently in a state of flux. Communities that are most greatly affected by the national emergency of COVID-19 can only wonder how their concerns and suggestions will make it to the officials tasked with leading the various responses to the crisis
I interviewed District of Columbia’s Director of Human Services Laura Zelinger on March 15th 2020. She has been at the forefront of the city’s response to COVID-19 and the homeless community. Zeilinger and her team have been convening weekly calls to help agency providers understand the current state of affairs as it pertains to their respective populations. According to Zeilinger, “we have a very strong and important safety message that people need to isolate so we can stop the spread of this virus.”
When asked specifically about permanent housing placement Zeilinger said, “It’s not realistic that people can be out putting together paperwork for their housing application or in a housing search. Meaning, we can’t get people in the same room in this climate. The District of Columbia chose to suspend its full housing placement process until it feels it can conduct certain business safety. The decision by the government in light of stay-home orders implies that people who may have a housing resource such as a voucher cannot use it to obtain a unit. We are very focused on our emergency operations to keep people safe. In the immediate, as we are putting together and executing our response on our emergency activities, we are suspending the CAHP (Coordination Assessment and Housing Placement) system.”
The CAHP system uses a matrix of factors to determine which homeless individuals will be prioritized for available housing, Those factors include: age, history of homelessness, physical as well as mental health, and substance use. With that process frozen, the Department of Human Services and its providers are looking into different ways of using the data to address concerns related to COVID-19 exposure. “We are using that data to identify, as well as our understanding of medical information, to prioritize for housing, to ensure we are reaching out to and provide opportunities for safe placement and isolation of people who are most vulnerable should they be exposed to Covid-19,” Zellenger said.
Zeilinger was optimistic however, about when housing activities could occur: “If we understand that we may be in this state for a prolonged period beyond a matter of days that may be longer than that, we will look to ways we can continue that key part of our work and move people from sites that they may be in isolation and in environments that provide opportunities to social distance particularly residents who are most vulnerable and have been identified for permanent supportive housing to be able to support their transition directly into housing as best as at all possible.”
Zeillenger also provided an overview of the city’s response to people who are currently homeless and what services they can expect to receive. “First and foremost what we want is that people are in a place that is safe and their exposure to this virus is limited. So what we have done is taken our low barrier programs that were just overnight and made them 24 hours at all of our shelter sites. We are providing full meals. And we have added additional outreach and meals in community so that people can have their needs met without having to travel and without having to congregate in lots of different places where we could increase the spread. We’ve instituted screenings in our shelters and if people are showing any potential symptoms we’re moving them into spaces where they have the opportunity to social distance and have medical attention as well as testing when warranted,” Zellienger said. The District of Columbia has also considered making hotel rooms available for people experiencing homelessness during the COVID-19 crisis. “We have secured 3 hotels for use that we are using for people who that have tested either positive so they can be in isolation and don’t need hospitalization, where they can be checked on by medical professionals same as people have homes would be isolating at home and have a nice place and not returning to shelter,” Zeillenger said.
With housing placements frozen and public input at a stand still, people who are currently unhoused, could remain homeless for the duration of this unprecedented emergency. Under these circumstances, can the District government call mitigating the spread of the Coronavirus amongst the homeless a victory? It seems like we’re just cruising forward. Without the input of those who are experiencing homelessness, we are being encouraged to normalize COVID-19. As far as homeless people go, the CDC guidelines don’t seem to apply. Doing this may lead our community into believing that what looks like success is success when it’s actually failure.
The District of Columbia is just one of three or four jurisdictions in the nation that even have laws requiring emergency shelter. It may not be the best setting in a crisis, but it is better than the alternative where most services for the poor are provided by churches which are also closed during this crisis. People need housing to advance their lives. If housing was not such a commodified asset and considered a privilege rather than a right, we would not be in this situation. Housing is healthcare. If this country and this region believes that to be true, then more needs to be done immediately. If COVID-19 and the experience of the homeless has taught us anything, it would be that we have to do right by the poor.