5748528 Resolution 21-277, Interim Eligibility and Minimum Shelter Standards Emergency Declaration Resolution of 2015

A RESOLUTION

                                                        

21-277

 

IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

 

November 3, 2015         

 

 

To declare the existence of an emergency with respect to the need to the amend the Homeless Services Reform Act of 2005 to authorize the Mayor to place a family that does not have a safe-housing alternative in a temporary interim eligibility placement pending a determination of eligibility for shelter and an assessment of the supportive services necessary to assist the family in obtaining sustainable permanent housing, to authorize the Mayor to provide shelter to a family in a private rooms meeting certain minimum standards and constructed for the purpose of closing the District of Columbia General Family Shelter, to add an expedited appeals process for a family that is denied eligibility for shelter following an interim eligibility placement, and to provide that a family may continue in an interim eligibility placement pending the outcome of an appeal of a denial of eligibility for shelter. 

 

 

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this resolution may be cited as the “Interim Eligibility and Minimum Shelter Standards Emergency Declaration Resolution of 2015”.

 

Sec. 2.  (a) The Department of Human Services (“DHS”) seeks to codify its current practice of temporarily placing a family seeking shelter into shelter before making a final eligibility determination.

(b) Specifically, DHS seeks to codify this practice at the start of “hypothermia season” in order to allow for a more thorough review of a family’s circumstances and housing options in order to distinguish more fully those families that are entitled to shelter.

(c) This emergency legislation would codify the Department’s existing practice and establish an appeals process for a family ultimately determined to be ineligible for shelter during an interim eligibility placement.

(d) This legislation also would authorize the Mayor to utilize private rooms rather than apartment-style units as shelter for families.

 

Sec. 3.  The Council of the District of Columbia determines that the circumstances enumerated in section 2 constitute emergency circumstances making it necessary that the Interim Eligibility and Minimum Shelter Standards Emergency Amendment Act of 2015 be adopted after a single reading.

 

            Sec. 4.  This resolution shall take effect immediately.