Fifty-one homeless individuals moved off the streets of DowntownDC and secured permanent, supportive housing in the last three years, thanks to homeless services provider Pathways to Housing DC in partnership with the DowntownDC Business Improvement District (BID). Eleven of those individuals moved into housing in just this year alone.
Amid stories of challenges related to addressing D.C.’s homeless population, Pathways DC and the BID have been successfully working for years to help end chronic homelessness for Downtown individuals by utilizing a “housing first” model, which offers housing without preconditions, then works with clients to address mental health issues, medical challenges and/or addiction.
A point-in-time count conducted in May documented 171 homeless individuals in Downtown on a single evening. That was a 13 percent increase over April’s count and a 25 percent increase over the monthly average (136) for counts conducted since January 2013.
Today, many of Downtown’s homeless individuals are men who are chronically homeless, an issue the BID and Pathways DC specifically target.
“The downtown area has the largest concentration of individuals who are experiencing chronic homelessness in the city,” said Pathways DC Executive Director Christy Respress. “Because of the BID’s commitment to responding compassionately with permanent and effective solutions, they partnered with Pathways to Housing DC to provide comprehensive street outreach in their neighborhood.”
The BID has a 16-year history of funding homeless outreach services. Today, in conjunction with the Pathways DC full-time homeless street outreach team, the BID’s Safety/Hospitality and Maintenance employees (SAMs) are also trained in issues of homelessness. A select group of SAMs, known as the Homeless Outreach Service Team (HOST), receive special training on homelessness, meet bi-monthly with Pathways DC and work with the Metropolitan Police Department to address concerns.
Pathways DC staff takes the active role in building relationships, following up with clients, connecting them to services and helping them to apply for and receive housing. This can mean everything from sitting with a client while waiting for a psychiatric appointment to helping an individual fill out housing applications.
The BID first began contracting with Pathways DC in 2007 and the organization has since established a second partnership with the neighboring Golden Triangle BID in Downtown.
The DowntownDC BID budgets each year for homeless services. Pathways DC utilizes much of those funds to staff and operate a four-person full-time Homeless Street Outreach Program in the DowntownDC BID area. Pathways DC’s outreach teams work to make contact with homeless individuals, build relationships, establish trust, help them fulfill basic needs and then address housing, medical issues, addiction and more.
Through Pathways DC, Downtown’s homeless population contains many success stories. Tyler, a homeless individual whom Pathways DC staff first encountered sleeping on a stoop in Chinatown, had been living on the streets for four years when Pathways DC first made contact with him. He was experiencing addiction, health ailments and mental health issues and had not found lasting success through past support systems. But through Pathways DC, Tyler received help for his issues and secured housing this past March. Today he is no longer living on the streets.
[For more Pathways DC success stories, click here]
Pathways DC’s Housing First model is widely successful in ending chronic homelessness. Ninety percent of program participants remain in housing, compared to 45 percent in other programs with housing preconditions.
It is the proven success of the Housing First model that has long earned the BID’s support. That strategy was the focus of a recent Action Agenda, “Meeting the Growing Challenge of Chronic Homelessness in DowntownDC,” released by the BID in January, which outlined a path forward for the city to solve chronic homelessness.
Chronic homelessness remains a particular concern in Downtown for both the individuals themselves and Downtown stakeholders who seek a solution to this growing issue. “Together with the BID we work creatively to address stakeholder concerns,” Respress said. “Ultimately, we are all invested in and committed to the same outcome: ending the crisis of homelessness for individuals living in Downtown.”
The BID remains committed to solving homelessness as well as addressing concerns related to homelessness.
“Pathways DC, through their strategic and successful work, is instrumental in helping the DowntownDC BID solve chronic homelessness and make Downtown a remarkable place for everyone,” said BID Executive Director Richard H. Bradley.
Pathways DC’s staff members meet weekly with the BID’s public space management department to share information regarding public areas, individuals, complaints, legal issues and more.
The BID’s public space management department organized several walk-throughs in May with city officials, MPD, stakeholders, Pathways DC and others to help address issues related to public areas of the BID which are currently home to a high population of homeless individuals. These walk-throughs focused on the McPherson Square Metrorail station and the 400 block of New Jersey Avenue NW near the Community for Creative Non-Violence (CCNV) homeless shelter.
The BID continues to participate in homeless counts, address concerns related to homelessness in Downtown and work with Pathways DC to directly help individuals.
Downtown residents, guests and stakeholders are encouraged to refer homeless individuals in the DowntownDC BID area in need of assistance to Pathways DC by contacting the DowntownDC BID’s Dispatch office at dispatch@downtowndc.org or 202-624-1550.
For more information on Pathways to Housing DC, visit their website at www.pathwaystohousingdc.org or sign up to attend one of their open tours. To donate to Pathways to Housing DC, please visit https://www.pathwaystohousingdc.org/donate.