D.C. family homeless shelter beset by dysfunction, decay
The D.C. General emergency shelter is supposed to be a cleaner place to stay than an alley, but records show that a young girl woke up with so many insect bites on her legs and her bottom that she had to be taken to the hospital.
It is supposed to be safer than a crime-ridden street corner, but a log shows that shelter officials were told that two teens pinned a 9-year-old to the floor of a bathroom and one urinated in the boy’s mouth.
It is supposed to be better than life on the streets, but one resident filed a complaint saying a shelter worker lured her to his apartment with an offer of $20. She said he began unfastening his pants and asked her: “What are you going to do for the money?”
The city’s largest shelter for families has been in the spotlight since March, when a janitor there took 8-year-old resident Relisha Rudd off shelter grounds. The girl remains missing and is presumed dead.
Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) has said he has seen no evidence that the city failed in that high-profile case, but a Washington Post investigation of the facility in Southeast that is home to nearly 800 of the District’s most vulnerable residents has found that Rudd’s case was part of a pattern of serious problems.
Housed in a former hospital built in the early 20th century and located at the bottom of a hill near the Stadium-Armory Metro station, D.C. General shares a litter-strewn piece of land with a clinic for meth rehabilitation and sexually transmitted diseases, a working jail, and the former city morgue.
Despite its intended purpose as a sanctuary, the shelter is too often beset by dysfunction, decay and disease. Sometimes, it is the more than 460 children living there who suffer the most. Full Story>>>
