D.C.’s Department of Human Services (DHS) has drafted a plan to open six homeless shelters over the next four years, adding more than 500 shelter beds amidst a wave of encampment clearings and reports of shelters reaching full capacity this summer.
DHS presented their timeline for raising the number of city-funded low barrier and specialty beds from 1216 to 1773 by the end of 2028 at an Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH) Emergency Response & Shelter Operations Committee meeting on May 22. The new shelters would include renovations and replacements of older shelters, as well as the opening of two new non-congregate shelters.
In April, low-barrier shelters were near capacity. Shelter monitoring reports show similar capacity concerns over the last two months, even after D.C. officials opened 80 additional beds in May. At an ICH meeting on July 9, DHS officials said shelter capacity had reached 99.5 percent for men and 97.6 percent for women, which meeting participants attributed to extreme heat in D.C. this summer.
“We’re at really high capacity, and that’s concerning because we likely will have another heat wave,” Kate Coventry, deputy director of legislative strategy for the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute and a voting member of ICH, said in an interview.
The Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services (DMHHS) has also scheduled 10 encampment clearings thus far this summer, despite requests from advocates and Advisory Neighborhood Commissions for DMHHS to pause closures until beds become available at shelters.
“Right now we need more beds, particularly as we’re clearing encampments,” Coventry said. The planned timeline would increase the total number of beds for men by 394 — from 841 to 1235 — and the total number of beds for women by 123 — from 335 to 458. These numbers include just year-round shelters run by D.C. — for instance, the Center for Creative Nonviolence, one of the city’s largest shelters, is not included. At an ICH meeting on June 26, one member worried D.C. officials have historically undercounted the number of beds occupied by women because the Point-in-Time Count, which is used to determine the need for shelter, does not take into account that many women don’t feel safe spending the whole night at a shelter.
The timeline begins on Aug. 1 with the anticipated addition of 15 beds for women at Patricia Handy Place, a women’s shelter located at 810 5th St. in Northwest D.C. These will be specialty beds as opposed to low-barrier, meaning people will have to meet certain requirements to enter the shelter. Requirements could include sobriety, background checks, and credit checks — all of which may delay the process for individuals gaining access to a bed.
The next phase is the projected opening of The Aston — a former George Washington University residence hall located at 1129 New Hampshire Ave. in Northwest D.C — during the month of August. The shelter is expected to add 30 specialty beds for women and up to 100 specialty beds for men, though capacity will begin with only 50 available beds for men. These will be non-congregate beds, offering individuals more privacy, and will allow people experiencing homelessness with adult family members of a different gender to move into the same shelter, which is currently not possible.
DHS officials originally slated the shelter’s opening for November 2023, but pushed back the date to this summer after delays with construction and finding a contractor. At a Community Advisory Team meeting for the area in June the president of Friendship Place, The Aston’s provider, said officials may delay the opening again until October, though a DHS official said August is “definitely a possibility” at a meeting in July.
A second non-congregate shelter at 25 E St. in Northwest D.C. is expected to open next in November of this year, transforming a former office building. DHS anticipates it will add 190 additional specialty beds — 113 for women and 77 for men.
Blair Shelter, a men’s shelter located at 635 I St. in Northeast D.C., is projected to re-open in June 2025 and add 72 low barrier beds for men. The shelter closed for renovations in 2023.
The Harriet Tubman Women’s Shelter, located at 1910 Massachusetts Ave. in Southeast D.C., is expected to close on April 1, 2026 after years of complaints about poor conditions. Its closure will result in 175 fewer beds for women, though DHS expects to make 140 additional beds available for women at Patricia Handy Swing Shelter, located at 1009 11th St. in Northwest D.C., at the same time, resulting in a net loss of only 35 beds.
Greencourt, a former gym located at 1339 Green Ct. in Northwest D.C., is expected to open as a men’s shelter in summer 2026 and add 100 low barrier beds for men. This will help combat the anticipated closure of Adam’s Place Emergency Shelter, located at 2210 Adams Pl. in Northeast D.C., at some point in 2028 — resulting in a loss of 150 low barrier shelters for men.
The last phase of the plan is the projected opening of a new New York Avenue Men’s Emergency Shelter at some point in 2028, a repurposed animal shelter that DHS expects will add 225 low barrier beds for men.
DHS did not return a request for comment on the plan or the status of the selection of providers by officials for each shelter.
