Franklin School Shelter Closing Today

Franklin School Homeless Shelter

UPDATE: Sept. 26, 7:15 p.m. Leslie Kershaw, Communications Specialist for Mayor Fenty's Office, sent the following comment in response to emailed questions about the change in Franklin School Shelter's closing date: "Today, the administration is excited to announce it has housed more than 300 long term shelter residents. We are currently in the process of preparing a summary illustrating the fulfillment of the Mayor's commitment to provide permanent supportive housing for our homeless neighbors, instead of placing them in a poor shelter environment."

Protests continued in the rain on the corner by the shelter this evening. A lone homeless man who gave his name as Philip stood apart from the protesters in front of the building and waited patiently to be picked up and taken to his new shelter. He said the city was relocating him to the "North Capitol" homeless shelter, the shelter run by Community for Creative Non-Violence at 425 Second Street N.W.

When asked how he felt about the Franklin shelter closing, Philip shrugged. "It's been coming for a long time."



Left: Protests continue. Right: Philip, former Franklin occupant.




UPDATE: Sept. 26, 3:50 p.m. Rodney Savoy, Program Manager for Franklin School Shelter, has confirmed that the shelter closed to the homeless at 7 a.m. this morning, and that they expect to have "the majority of the furniture moved out" by close of business today. He said the staff at Franklin first learned of Fenty's decision to close the shelter today on Thursday, but since they had been preparing for closure on Oct. 1, things went smoothly.

According to Savoy, only 53 homeless men stayed in the shelter last night; out of those men, 11 are "going to supportive housing units" and the rest will be accommodated at other shelters in the area.

Savoy confirmed that the Department of Human Services was responsible for providing the D.C. Council with names and new addresses for the former occupants of the shelter. DHS declined to comment for this article, referring all inquiries back to Fenty administration spokesperson Mafara Hobson.

Savoy plans to keep in touch with some of the men from the shelter in his new position. He will be moving to Fortitude Housing, which he said is part of Anchor Mental Health and will help provide support for the men who have moved into apartments.

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Sept. 26, 1:30 p.m., Washington, DC: The last occupants of the Franklin School Shelter walked out into the cold and wet with their belongings at 7 a.m. this morning. Staff members of the homeless shelter for men confirmed this morning that the shelter will close permanently at 5 p.m. today.

Franklin School Shelter is one of the last remaining homeless shelters located in downtown D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty has pressed forward on plans to close the shelter over the objections of homeless advocate groups and resistance from the D.C. Council as part of his ambitious program to move homeless residents into more permanent housing.

While the administration celebrated successfully moving 53 homeless men from the shelter into apartments earlier this month, the city has not yet released permanent housing plans for the remaining 250 regular occupants of the shelter.

The D.C. council passed emergency legislation on Sept. 16 demanding the mayor keep Franklin School Shelter open until he provides a detailed plan to provide housing and services for these men. The mayor must sign or veto the legislation by close of business today.

In an article about protests last night over the shelter’s closing, the Washington Post reported that Fenty administration spokeswoman Mafara Hobson refused to confirm or deny rumors that the shelter was closing today, stating only that “The administration is still committed to providing permanent supportive housing to the men at Franklin Shelter, with the end goal of closing the shelter by Oct. 1.”

Administration officials did not return calls for comment on why the shelter was closing five days early by press time.