An ambitious proposal to build seven new homeless shelters around the District of Columbia, with a price tag of $660 million, has been attacked on several fronts.
Aaron C. Davis reports on the controversies that have erupted in the background of a proposal by Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser "for a pricey new network of homeless shelters…" The problem, according to the investigative work of Davis and his Washington Post colleagues: that Mayor Bowser was too hasty in preparing the financial analysis to back up the plan.
According to a solicitation obtained by The Washington Post, a new office within Bowser’s administration issued a request on Friday for “real estate advisory services.” Interested firms had just one business day to respond. The deadline was Monday, and the winning bidder would have less than a week to produce a report analyzing the 30-year, $660 million, seven-shelter plan.
Davis also reported on the plan in February, when the Bowser Administration announced the locations targeted for new shelters. That article detailed the likely political difficulties in locating homeless shelters in new neighborhoods around the city. Back to the present day, Davis reports that the originally scheduled hearing date for the plan, April 19, is likely to be delayed.
FULL STORY: Does the D.C. mayor have confidence in her plan for the homeless? She’s hiring an outsider to study it.

Alabama: Trump Terminates Settlements for Black Communities Harmed By Raw Sewage
Trump deemed the landmark civil rights agreement “illegal DEI and environmental justice policy.”

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

The 120 Year Old Tiny Home Villages That Sheltered San Francisco’s Earthquake Refugees
More than a century ago, San Francisco mobilized to house thousands of residents displaced by the 1906 earthquake. Could their strategy offer a model for the present?

In Both Crashes and Crime, Public Transportation is Far Safer than Driving
Contrary to popular assumptions, public transportation has far lower crash and crime rates than automobile travel. For safer communities, improve and encourage transit travel.

Report: Zoning Reforms Should Complement Nashville’s Ambitious Transit Plan
Without reform, restrictive zoning codes will limit the impact of the city’s planned transit expansion and could exclude some of the residents who depend on transit the most.

Judge Orders Release of Frozen IRA, IIJA Funding
The decision is a victory for environmental groups who charged that freezing funds for critical infrastructure and disaster response programs caused “real and irreparable harm” to communities.
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