WASHINGTON (AP) — District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray’s administration has released a multimillion dollar plan to close a troubled homeless shelter within a year.
To offset the closure, Gray’s plan calls for leasing or building six facilities to house up to 50 families each.
Landlords would renovate privately owned buildings and turn them over to the city as shelters by fall 2015. Once the smaller shelters are open, the city would demolish the nearly 300-room D.C. General shelter.
The Washington Post reports (http://wapo.st/1vcQutA ) that the plan carries a price tag of at least $52 million and is contingent on identifying vacant buildings and charitable landlords willing to provide housing to the homeless. Critics say those hurdles are just too high.
Gray says the plan is “a workable way for us to move forward.”
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Information from: The Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com
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