Homeless Seeking Help Drawn to Fair by Hope

City and Groups Reach Out to District Families After Criticism for Aiding Katrina Evacuees First

Her own place, Karen Reed mulled yesterday, bouncing her 11-month-old on her knee. A place where she and three sons wouldn't have to share a single room with only a curtain for a door and privacy. What a special holiday that would make.

"To hear that I got approval and I'm out by Christmas," Reed said, giving voice to the hope that hundreds of families had brought to a crowded room at the D.C. Village emergency shelter in Southwest Washington. "That would be a big blessing."

Throughout the morning, help from nearly two dozen city agencies, churches and nonprofit groups tried to live up to those hopes in the District's first-ever "Homeless No More" fair. As their children played and snacked in the chapel across the hall, parents walked from table to table, getting information about available housing, referral assistance and community programs, health testing, day care and after-school clubs.

The event was designed to offer under one roof many of the resources a family would need to move beyond homelessness, as was done this fall at the D.C. Armory for the evacuees from Hurricane Katrina. Although city officials were praised for their aid to those displaced men and women, they faced much criticism that they were neglecting the District's residents. Yesterday represented part of their response.

"It is a good learning experience for us," concluded Yvonne D. Gilchrist, director of the D.C. Department of Human Services, who plans on repeating the effort next year in smaller settings in different parts of the city. She would like to see more private partners involved and more private donations -- more like the post-Katrina response at the armory.

But all in all, "an excellent first fair," she said. "I saw almost all the families sitting with someone, talking about an issue or problem." The true measure of success will come in the next several weeks, she knows. "It's important that people see some immediate results."

Many who attended were from the emergency shelter there, which sits amid an isolated collection of buildings on the District's southernmost point. The Parks and Recreation Department had bused others from shelters elsewhere in the city. Officials estimated that 15 percent of the families, either because they had a working parent or enough in savings or both, were qualified to immediately move into individual housing. One organizer's goal was to get a dozen families placed in time for Christmas.

Descendre Upshur rode the Community of Hope bus from Northwest Washington. For a couple of hours, she pushed the stroller carrying her youngest child up and down the makeshift rows. "I'm trying to find anything and anyone who can help me," she said, sounding more weary than optimistic. At last count, the 25-year-old woman has lived in 10 places in the past six years.

By 11:30 a.m., with names and numbers of housing possibilities in hand, Upshur had one last stop to make. She parked her tiny daughter near the table staffed by the city's Early Care and Education Administration and asked about daycare options and vacancies. The news wasn't good. Most programs for infants and toddlers have waiting lists.

"Sometimes I don't like to get my hopes up," Upshur said as she departed.

At another table, Richard Coles from the House of Help/City of Hope in Southeast Washington was able to offer more to 11 families. His church committed to "adopting" them and providing mentoring, budgeting and emotional support. Five will be able to move into apartments the church owns. Two women began crying as he explained what they might receive.

"Because it was a glimmer of hope," Coles said later. "The big thing is not just to say it but to back it up."

D.C. Council member Adrian M. Fenty (D-Ward 4), who chairs the Human Services Committee, applauded the one-stop approach but emphasized it was just a start.

"That type of comprehensive energy has not been exhibited heretofore for homeless families in D.C.," he said last night. "It has to be woven into everything we do. Every homeless shelter has to have access to these resources every day."