The Aston, a homeless shelter at 1129 New Hampshire Ave., is now expected to open between mid-September and early October, D.C. Department of Human Services (DHS) officials announced in Interagency Council on Homelessness and Community Advisory Team meetings in August. The shelter, which will offer individual rooms, was initially supposed to open a year ago.
The announcement refutes the city’s prediction earlier this summer that the shelter would begin accepting residents in August. The delays come amidst a wave of homeless encampment clearings, including three just blocks from The Aston, and high rates of shelter occupancy in the city. The Aston’s late opening is the second step of DHS’ timeline to add more than 500 city-funded low-barrier and specialty beds by the end of 2028.
A DHS spokesperson said officials pushed the opening date back from August to mid-September or early October because of the “multiple streams of work” required to establish a bridge housing program. They said Friendship Place, the shelter operator, is expected to move into the building and start setting it up by mid-September, and accept residents “a few weeks after that.”
“There were minor delays throughout the process that resulted in moving the timeline by a few weeks,” the spokesperson said in an email.
The Aston will start accepting referrals into the program on Sept. 9, DHS officials said at August ICH meetings.
DHS purchased the former George Washington University dorm a year ago, and initially predicted The Aston would open in October 2023. The agency then pushed the date back by six months due to delays securing a contractor to run the shelter. Officials selected Friendship Place — a D.C. housing provider — as the shelter’s operator and said they would move in by the end of April, but later cited construction and building repair issues as reasons for further delays.
The Aston’s neighbors also rallied and filed a lawsuit in the D.C. District Court in October 2023 to prevent the shelter from opening, arguing that its existence would lessen their “quality of life.” The D.C. government has filed two motions to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing it falls outside of the court’s jurisdiction.
The Aston will be the first non-congregate shelter in the District, offering beds with privacy to adult families and medically vulnerable people. The shelter will begin by providing 50 specialty beds, with the potential to increase the intake number to 100. The co-ed shelter aims to keep adult families, who would otherwise be separated due to the prevalence of either male- or female-only shelters in D.C., together.
The D.C. government purchased The Aston from in August 2023 for $27.5 million. George Washington University officials said they wanted to sell the building because it was too far from campus, though students had also reported flooding, plumbing and other maintenance concerns.
Prior to purchasing the building, in June 2023, DHS said it would provide security at The Aston at all times, in an effort to allay neighbors’ safety and lifestyle concerns. DHS also created a community advisory team of local government and community representatives who meet on the second Tuesday of every month to discuss progress on and concerns with The Aston.
