Judge Deals Setback to Bid to Reopen Homeless Shelter

Homeless advocates were dealt a setback Wednesday in their bid to reopen the Franklin School Shelter when a federal judge said their claim that Mayor Adrian M. Fenty closed the shelter unfairly could not be argued in his court.

U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton said attorneys for the advocates and several men who were evicted from the shelter last year must allow their case to be decided in the D.C. Court of Appeals before proceeding to federal court. A D.C. Superior Court judge ruled against the advocates earlier this year.

The D.C. Council approved legislation to close the Franklin School Shelter in September 2008 after Fenty vowed to find alternate housing for the 300 men who lived there. Advocates said the mayor sheltered about 80 men in apartments through the Housing First program, but more than 200 others had to find space in the city's remaining shelters, move in with a relative or live on the street.

In committee hearings, the city has said the men, many of whom suffer from mental illness, have been housed. Attorney Jane Zara said the exodus of Franklin residents filled the city's male shelters to capacity, leaving some men out.

Zara said that the city, citing confidentiality rules, has concealed the identities and locations of the 80 men in Housing First apartments, leaving no way for advocates to monitor whether they are still in their new homes, or receiving the same level of medical and mental health care they received at Franklin.