WASHINGTON — Mayor Muriel Bowser last week announced the site of a new Short-Term Family Housing program, on 14th Street in Ward 1.
The Columbia Heights site is the final location selected in the District’s plan to close and replace the aging and isolated D.C. General Family Shelter. There have been numerous calls for the current family shelter to close, especially after 8-year-old Relisha Rudd disappeared from there in 2014.
The 14th Street project includes 35 short-term family housing apartment-style units and 15 permanent units for low-income seniors. The property is on the site of the Rita Bright Community Center, which Mayor Bowser said will get new life as part of the development.
“Ending homelessness is a citywide challenge that requires a citywide solution,” Bowser said in a statement.
Work at the site is slated to begin in January 2019 and be completed by the spring of 2020.
Construction is already underway for projects in Wards 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. The Ward 2 shelter, the Patricia Handy Place for Women, opened last year.
A map of the location of the new shelter:
