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Regarding Marc Fisher's column "Stealing Home" [Metro, Sept. 30]:
Just blocks away from the proposed site for a new baseball stadium, the District plans to close a shelter for men who are homeless.
(Part Of The Proposed Anacostia Site/Marvin Joseph -- The Washi)
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One day before the Nov. 1 start of the District's hypothermia prevention season, 170 men will be evicted from the Randall Shelter, a former D.C. school that has served as a year-round home for men for more than two decades.
The District plans to sell the building, claiming that Randall is "no longer required for public purposes." The Corcoran Museum of Art and College of Art and Design intend to purchase the building and renovate it for adult education and college art programs. The 150,000-square-foot building has been offered to the Corcoran for a little more than $6 million.
The sale must be approved by the D.C. Council, and its review and approval process could take months. But sale or no sale, the mayor means to shut down the shelter by the end of this month.
Deputy Mayor Neil O. Albert has said the city has no plans for a replacement shelter in Southwest. The only location the mayor's office has identified as a potential permanent new home for the shelter is across the river at the St. Elizabeths Hospital campus, almost three miles away.
For the coming cold weather, the District has promised emergency beds for homeless men. However, the temporary bunks at these shelters also are miles from Randall.
For many homeless men, a bed at Randall has been the only constant in their lives. Rather than allowing another structure to be boarded up for months to await the Southwest renaissance, the District should avoid jeopardizing 170 lives and keep the shelter open for the next several months.
ANTONIA K. FASANELLI
Attorney
Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless
Washington
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