As Winter Arrives
For a while, it was looking as if we would be spared the ravages of winter this year. People were still clad in summer attire well into January. News commentators reported that the unseasonably warm weather was a result of El Niño and not global warming; they also remarked that businesses that depended on the winter season were suffering as a result. Obviously they spoke too soon, because the characteristic winter cold eventually did hit us and with a vengeance. The entire region was plunged from a springlike warmth right into the midst of hypothermia cold with no transition whatsoever.
The onset of hypothermia season always has grim significance for the homeless. This year the homeless face a particularly difficult situation during hypothermia season, as the hypothermia shelter at CCNV, the largest in the District, is unavailable because of the renovations being done in the facility. In an attempt to offset the problem created by the renovations, CCNV has chosen to continue to do intakes during the hypothermia season to fill the available beds that remain in the shelter.
The real question is if a long-term solution can be found so that the homeless can find permanent housing. The trend that seems to be evolving in the District makes that possibility look very bleak. Very little effort seems to be made toward creating affordable housing. Instead, buildings of condominium apartments seem to be springing up like mushrooms after spring rain all over the District, perhaps with the intention of “cleaning up” poor neighborhoods but with the end result of leaving low-income persons with nowhere to go. If that trend continues, many people now in the District may well be experiencing winters out in the cold in the future.
Somehow when plans are made, the poor and the homeless are always overlooked. The former mayor made it clear in no uncertain terms: homelessness was not a priority under his administration. The problems that create homelessness do not go away, however, and homelessness will not vanish until those problems are addressed. Affordable housing is increasingly growing into a pipe dream in the DC area as gentrification becomes the reality that governs the region. More and more low-income persons will be put in impossible situations when it comes to housing unless something changes in their favor.
Even persons with moderate incomes are feeling the pinch. One of my friends who has lived in Adams Morgan for years has complained that he may soon be forced to relocate as rental prices continue to soar beyond his ability to pay. He is not the only person who I have heard complain of the rising costs in the District putting them into a tight squeeze that has them facing a difficult situation regarding housing.
As Mayor Fenty launches his plans to make Washington into a city of an international standard, many people are hoping that these plans will include ways to make the city more liveable for them rather than ways to drive them out. Time will tell if their hopes were well justified. Let us hope that more and more people will not find themselves out in the cold.
The onset of hypothermia season always has grim significance for the homeless. This year the homeless face a particularly difficult situation during hypothermia season, as the hypothermia shelter at CCNV, the largest in the District, is unavailable because of the renovations being done in the facility. In an attempt to offset the problem created by the renovations, CCNV has chosen to continue to do intakes during the hypothermia season to fill the available beds that remain in the shelter.
The real question is if a long-term solution can be found so that the homeless can find permanent housing. The trend that seems to be evolving in the District makes that possibility look very bleak. Very little effort seems to be made toward creating affordable housing. Instead, buildings of condominium apartments seem to be springing up like mushrooms after spring rain all over the District, perhaps with the intention of “cleaning up” poor neighborhoods but with the end result of leaving low-income persons with nowhere to go. If that trend continues, many people now in the District may well be experiencing winters out in the cold in the future.
Somehow when plans are made, the poor and the homeless are always overlooked. The former mayor made it clear in no uncertain terms: homelessness was not a priority under his administration. The problems that create homelessness do not go away, however, and homelessness will not vanish until those problems are addressed. Affordable housing is increasingly growing into a pipe dream in the DC area as gentrification becomes the reality that governs the region. More and more low-income persons will be put in impossible situations when it comes to housing unless something changes in their favor.
Even persons with moderate incomes are feeling the pinch. One of my friends who has lived in Adams Morgan for years has complained that he may soon be forced to relocate as rental prices continue to soar beyond his ability to pay. He is not the only person who I have heard complain of the rising costs in the District putting them into a tight squeeze that has them facing a difficult situation regarding housing.
As Mayor Fenty launches his plans to make Washington into a city of an international standard, many people are hoping that these plans will include ways to make the city more liveable for them rather than ways to drive them out. Time will tell if their hopes were well justified. Let us hope that more and more people will not find themselves out in the cold.
posted by MasterWriter at 1:17 p.m.
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