Montgomery County has unveiled a plan to create mixed-use homeless housing in a converted office building at the corner of Woodmont and Cordell in downtown Bethesda. Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless, a non-profit, purchased the office building building last month for $5.25 million with a low-cost county loan and will convert it to single-room rentals for homeless persons at 30% of their monthly income.
Neighbors are not too thrilled about the conversion of the property into homeless housing. Many feel the price the County has paid was too high. East Diamond Limited Liability Co. bought the building five and a half years ago for $2.1 million.
Despite any reservations, the building has been purchased and the project is moving forward. The Bethesda project will be the first Montgomery County project to try out Housing First, a concept gaining popularity nationally to address homelessness.
Housing First encourages governments and private groups to support permanent housing rather than use the bulk of their funds to create temporary shelters (which in Montgomery County are generally filled to capacity). Supporters say that resolving the housing problem quickly makes it easier for the formerly homeless to focus on finding jobs, transportation and schools.
Tenants will be able to sign leases and then renew indefinitely as long as they meet the eligibility requirements. Some Bethesda residents worry that allowing tenants to renew leases indefinitely when the building is in one of the most expensive and desirable locations in the area will truly encourage people to eventually break free of the subsidized housing.
Nearby are Bethesda Cares and a Catholic Charities program, both of which offer social services to the homeless. The Thes hopes the residents of the building will be encouraged to make the most of the opportunities these two organizations offer to pull themselves out of poverty.
I have been homeless at several points in my life. Contrary to popular belief, most homeless did not become so out of choice and not because they are lazy, stupid, or immoral. Many homeless people are victims of abuse in the form of neglect and abandonment by their parents or other caregivers. Some of them are simply victims of life’s tragedies, such as hurricanes, fires, or other catastrophes from which they simply don’t have the resources to recover. I invite you to my blog devoted to raising awareness on homelessness: Freethegods.com. There you will find an article I wrote on homelessness and pictures I have taken of homeless people. I always give them a dollar or two for the privilege of photographing them. I am often surprised by their cheerfulness and sense of pride. Often, they will show themselves to have some kind of talent. There is a fine line between genius and insanity.
This is a difficult emotion to articulate. I don’t consider myself an uncaring person, and I don’t subscribe to the stereotypes regarding homeless people. I understand many end up down on their luck, and there but for the grace of God goes the rest of us. But, I have worked really hard and made many sacrifices to be able to move my family to an affluent community like Bethesda. I specifically elected not to be part of a more cosmopolitan, mixed-use setting. In short, I don’t want the project here. I don’t think it will do anything to alleviate homelessness; if anything, it will only incentivize more homeless to seek resources in our area. Maybe I’m in the minority, but it seems to me that at a minimum this sort of thing should have been publicized and voted-upon, before potentially changing the character of our neighborhood.
I agree with anonymous resident…..it is completely out of character with that area of bethesda
It’s a travesty. Nobody’s going to shop, dine, or especially raise their family a couple blocks away from a homeless shelter. People won’t complain, they’ll just go elsewhere and Montgomery County will realize that this will cost them a lot more than they planned. When my lease is up I’m out of here, and I feel sorry for the people who own the buildings around here, they just lost millions from this decision. This is on top of the growing problems with Sec 8 residents, homeless, and delinquents taking over the common areas near the Metro.