People experiencing homelessness in D.C. may go days, or even weeks, without being able to take a shower, as they can access only a few low-barrier shelter facilities in the District.
Pathway Homes, a nonprofit that provides housing and homeless services in Northern Virginia and D.C., is trying to change that. The organization’s new mobile outreach unit, a retrofitted trailer, will offer showers and other resources to people experiencing homelessness throughout the region.
The trailer is fitted with three bathrooms with showers, including an accessible unit. It is designed to provide 20 showers during each stop, with organizers aiming to provide at least 1,000 showers in the first year.
On Jan. 21, Pathway Homes launched the mobile shower at its first official stop in D.C., Miriam’s Kitchen, a homelessness outreach nonprofit.
Dr. Sylisa Lambert-Woodard, CEO of Pathway Homes, said for people experiencing homelessness, showers are a “tremendous unmet need.”
“Showers offer an opportunity to restore individuals by providing not only health and hygiene, but also being able to restore hope and dignity,” Lambert-Woodard told Street Sense.
While many shelters have showers, they are typically only for shelter residents, leaving out the hundreds of people who sleep outside. According to Lambert-Woodard, there are only about five places where people can take drop-in showers in D.C., and none are mobile facilities. “This key is that [the mobile shower] is low-barrier. This is not something that you have to travel across town for. This is something that is here, right in your backyard,” Lambert-Woodard said.
The new mobile shower will stop at Miriam’s Kitchen every two weeks, and will make stops at other partner organizations around D.C. and Northern Virginia in between, organizers said, though they did not provide a definite schedule.
Miriam’s Kitchen does not have its own shower facilities, but Scott Schenkelberg, the organization’s president and CEO, said showers are one of the top needs for the people the nonprofit serves.
“Every time that we do listening sessions with our guests to hear about ways that we can improve our services, the top of the list is showers and laundry. Unfortunately, we just don’t have the space to be able to offer those kinds of services,” Schenkelberg said. “Having access to basic hygiene is just so critical. Can you imagine going without showers for weeks on end? For many of our folks, that’s what they have to do, because it is just so hard to find showers.”
Responding to this need, other advocates around the DMV have also pushed to improve access to showers and hygiene resources. In Hyattsville, Maryland, the nonprofit Neighborhood Well operates a mobile shower trailer that provides showers twice a month.
In addition to showers, the Pathway Homes trailer has a water bottle filling station and extra sinks at the back. At its stops, workers will hand out health kits with supplies like hand sanitizer, toothbrushes, hats, hand warmers, and blankets.
Organizers hope the mobile shower can help people experiencing homelessness access other services as well, such as meals, health care, and case management. When the trailer stops at a place like Miriam’s Kitchen, Lambert-Woodard said, people coming in for a shower can also easily connect with the organization and the services they offer. If the shower is stopping at a location without these support services, case managers and other workers from Pathway Homes will be there instead.
“A shower is a simple way of being able to engage an individual, to connect in a relationship and allow them to receive the services that they need to be able to become self-sustaining in our community,” Lambert-Woodard said. “The shower is just an entry point.”
To use the mobile shower, contact Miriam’s Kitchen (2401 Virginia Ave. NW) or Pathway Homes for more information.
This article originally appeared in Street Sense’s Jan. 28, 2026 edition.
