The Baltimore City Council unanimously approved Mayor Sheila Dixon's proposal to convert a building at the edge of the Mount Vernon District into a homeless shelter that will provide transitional housing for 275 people.
The city is currently lobbying for $2 million in state funds to begin the renovation, and Dixon anticipates that work will begin in May, the Baltimore Sun reported. The building, located at 620 Fallsway, is currently home to the Department of Transportation Highway maintenance services and will undergo substantial renovations before re-opening as a shelter.
"The existing building will be substantially rehabilitated and a third foor added, for a total of 37,960 square feet. The $8 million investment will turn a dilapidated building into a state-of-the-art Silver LEED [Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design] certified building," Gary Cole, acting director of the City Department of Planning, wrote in a City Council memo.
The Fallsway shelter, approved by the council on March 23, is another component of the mayor's 10-year plan to eradicate homelessness.
Dixon announced the plan, known as "The Journey Home," in January 2008. It aims to address four principal factors that the city identified as affecting homelessness: lack of affordable housing, lack of affordable healthcare, low incomes and lack of comprehensive services.
The 2007 Homeless Census found that 1,000 Baltimoreans meet the federal definition of "chronically homeless," meaning they have been homeless for over one year or have had at least four episodes of homelessness in three years.
A number of individuals who do not meet the definition of "chronically homeless" still do not have a home: Some 3,400 individuals sleep on the streets of Baltimore every night. Census data also revealed a 12 percent increase in homelessness between 2005 and 2007.
Diane Glauber, president of Baltimore Homeless Services, told the Baltimore Sun that the increased numbers of homeless individuals is due to a more accurate survey and the faltering economy.
Mark Marino, executive director of Project Health Baltimore, an organization which refers Baltimore's poor population to basic resources, agreed.
"Homelessness in Baltimore is a result of a number of factors. The first important factor is economic. There has been a decrease in certain affordable housing units, and different shelters are continually closing, while more and more people need these resources," Marino said.
James Goodyear, associate director of the Public Health Studies program at Hopkins, felt that the main cause of homelessness was poverty.
"The number one source of homelessness in Baltimore is poverty, although Baltimore itself has become more prosperous," Goodyear said. "Homelessness is not a desperate cycle but a fact of life in Baltimore."
Both Marino and Goodyear welcomed the opening of the Fallsway shelter. However, they did not think that the shelter would contribute significantly toward eradicating homelessness in the city.
"We should appreciate the mayor's proposal, but it will not eradicate homelessness," Goodyear said. "It is an emergency housing measure."
While Goodyear felt that the shelter would help to fill the needs of some of the homeless in Baltimore, he did not think that everyone would utilize it.
"It's a good start. There is a clear demonstration that there are not enough shelters," he said. "However, a good amount of the homeless population does not enjoy going to shelters. They are really protective and enjoy outside conditions better than inside where they would have to live with other people and follow rules."
Leslie Leitch is the executive director of AIDS Interfaith Residential Services (AIRS), a Baltimore organization that supplies housing and supportive services to low-income and homeless individuals at risk for or suffering from HIV/AIDS.
Leitch welcomed the mayor's proposal, but was doubtful about the new shelter's impact on the city's homeless population.
"Any step is a good step," she said. "However, the funds should be reallocated so that more effort goes into homeownership development. The shelter is going to immediately fill up. But it's only an emergency measure. Where will people go after that? It is a necessary mandate, but it won't solve the problem."
City Councilman Bernard C. "Jack" Young had previously opposed the new facility, because he preferred establishing smaller shelters spread throughout the city, the Baltimore Examiner reported.
Marino felt that while having a greater number of smaller shelters was more convenient, it was economically infeasible.
"In a perfect world, it would be a nice measure. But realistically, 52,000 people will protest. It would be really difficult for the homeless people as well, because they are in packets. Too many shelters will also result in a lack of other resources, such as healthcare," he said. "It's a pretty daunting theory."
Goodyear felt that the shelter would be in a good location to help a large number of people, citing its close proximity to food banks, bus routes and medical facilities.
"The shelter is going to be built in a good spot, in terms of resources," he said. "However, like any other homeless shelter, it is in an industrial area, where the prison is. We are clustering poor people there, which makes the issue much more obvious."
According to Goodyear, the City's efforts were more palliative than curative in nature.
"We are not solving homelessness, but we are dealing with it. Homelessness is not going to be solved unless you have homes," he said. "Living in homes might not solve drug or violence issues, but it will stop people from getting frostbite, tuberculosis and diabetes - things that are treatable."
Goodyear also emphasized the need for healthcare, since many homeless individuals often suffer from medical conditions but are unable to pay for treatment.
The new center will partner with several health agencies in Baltimore, including the the Baltimore City Health Department, Health Care for the Homeless, Johns Hopkins Homeless Outreach and Baltimore Health Care Access.
"The primary goals of these services will be to help clients increase their income, access health insurance, address mental health and addiction needs and improve housing status," Cole wrote in the memo.
