Construction to begin soon on 14th Street NW homeless shelter

D.C. officials are set to break ground Tuesday on a planned family homeless shelter on 14th Street NW in Columbia Heights. The shelter will be co-located on the site of the Rita Bright Family and Youth Center at 2500 14th Street NW and feature 50 units. It will be built where a current parking lot is, and the community center will be refurbished as part of the project.

Thirty-five of the units will be apartment-style replacements for units lost due to the closure of the former D.C. General shelter, which Mayor Muriel Bowser’s administration shut down in October. The other 15 will be permanent supportive housing set aside for senior residents. Construction is poised to be finished in the middle of 2020, according to the administration.

Bowser, her aides, and Ward 1 D.C. Councilmember Brianne Nadeau are expected to attend the July 2 groundbreaking ceremony. The project will include an outdoor recreation area, a computer room, and office space for social services like counseling for the facility’s residents.

Three D.C. General replacement shelters—in Wards 4, 7, and 8—have opened to date, while four others, including the Ward 1 building, are still being developed. Preliminary renderings of the Ward 1 shelter can be viewed below. GCS-Sigal is the general contractor on the project.

D.C. government

D.C. government

D.C. government

Rendering of the planned Ward 1 shelter