DC Mayor Muriel Bowser this week opened a new Men’s Shelter on the St. Elizabeths East campus in Ward 8.
The new 88,000 square-foot shelter is the District’s first major shelter redevelopment project for individuals under Mayor Bowser’s Homeward DC strategic plan to make homelessness rare, brief, and nonrecurring.
The new 801 East Men’s Shelter cost $56 million , and has a 396-bed capacity with a low-barrier shelter, a work bed program, beds reserved for seniors and individuals with medical needs, as well as capacity to expand during hypothermia season. The facility also includes a new daytime services center with a mail room, computer lab, barbershop, and laundry facility.
Since launching Homeward DC, we have been on a mission to transform our homeless services system so that we can prevent a shelter experience for more people, so that we can provide safe and dignified shelter when families and individuals do need somewhere to go, and so that we can expand access to housing supports and permanent supportive housing. Today marks another milestone in this work. This new shelter recognizes that not every person’s experience with homelessness is the same and it is designed to meet men where they are when they walk through the door. I am grateful for all the teams, service providers, and residents who came together to bring the vision for this shelter to life, and together, I know we will achieve what we set out to do: make homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring. – Mayor Bowser.
