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LOU CHIBBARO J
Friday, July 04, 2008
Workers
this
week
were
putting
the
finishing
touches
on
the
renovation
of
a
three-story,
eight-bedroom
house
in
Northeast
Washington
that
is
scheduled
to
open
on
Monday
as
the
area’s
first
transitional
housing
facility
for
homeless
gay
and
transgender
youth.
The
Wanda
Alston
House,
named
after
a
local
lesbian
leader
who
was
murdered
three
years
ago,
will
serve
as
a
temporary
home
for
up
to
eight
gay
male,
lesbian,
bisexual
or
transgender
youth
between
the
ages
of
16
and
22.
“It’s
a
transitional
housing
program,
not
a
shelter,”
said
Sue
Marshall,
executive
director
of
the
local,
non-profit
group
Community
Partnership
for
the
Prevention
of
Homelessness,
which
arranged
for
city
funding
to
finance
the
Alston
House.
Marshall
and
Brian
Watson,
director
of
programs
for
Transgender
Health
Empowerment
(THE),
a
local
group
that
will
operate
the
Alston
House,
said
the
house
will
provide
a
wide
range
of
services
for
its
residents
in
addition
to
room
and
board.
Marshall
and
Watson
said
that
unlike
a
shelter,
where
homeless
people
are
provided
emergency
lodging
on
a
daily
basis,
a
transitional
facility
like
the
Alston
House
selects
its
residents
through
an
admission
screening
process
and
provides
an
assigned
room
and
bed
for
a
period
ranging
from
several
weeks
to
several
months.
Under
the
direction
of
THE,
the
Alston
House
will
provide
a
licensed
social
worker
to
counsel
the
residents
and
guide
them
through
other
D.C.
agencies
and
community
resources,
with
the
goal
of
preparing
them
for
independent
living
and
self-sufficiency,
the
two
said.
But
some
of
the
residents
who
live
on
or
near
the
800
block
of
46th
Street,
N.E.
in
the
city’s
Deanwood
neighborhood,
where
the
Alston
House
is
located,
watched
with
alarm
as
construction
workers
transformed
what
had
been
an
abandoned
shell
of
a
house
into
what
appeared
to
be
a
group
home,
according
to
Carolyn
Lambert,
who
lives
in
a
house
next
to
the
Alston
House.
“Nobody
told
us
anything,”
said
Lambert,
who
noted
that
rumors
surfaced
in
the
neighborhood
that
the
city
planned
to
open
a
halfway
house
in
the
Alston
building
for
newly
released
prisoners.
“I
have
two
grandchildren
who
come
by
here
and
I’m
concerned
about
who
will
be
living
in
that
house,”
she
said.
When
told
by
a
reporter
that
the
house
would
be
occupied
by
homeless
gay
and
transgender
youth,
Lambert
said
she
had
no
objections
to
such
a
facility
as
long
as
she
receives
assurances
that
the
young
residents
would
have
adult
supervision.
“It’s
going
to
create
some
tension
in
the
neighborhood,”
she
said.
Watson
said
at
least
three
adult
supervisors
will
be
stationed
at
the
house
each
day
in
separate,
eight-hour
shifts,
providing
24-hour
supervision
of
the
residents.
Alice
Chandler,
a
member
of
Advisory
Neighborhood
Commission
7C,
which
has
jurisdiction
over
the
area
where
the
Alston
House
is
located,
said
officials
associated
with
the
Alston
House
had
not
contacted
her
ANC
about
the
house.
Chandler
said
she,
too,
would
not
object
to
a
well
operated
and
supervised
facility
such
as
the
Alston
House.
But
she
said
it
would
have
been
easier
to
build
community
support
for
the
facility
if
organizers
provided
the
neighborhood
with
information
about
the
house
in
advance
of
its
opening.
Watson
said
he
contacted
a
member
of
the
local
ANC
about
the
Alston
House,
but
he
isn’t
sure
if
it
was
the
ANC
with
jurisdiction
over
the
street
where
the
Alston
House
is
located.
Chandler
said
the
different
ANC
commissions
in
the
area
have
boundaries
that
sometimes
divide
neighborhoods
and
confuse
those
who
are
not
familiar
with
the
boundary
lines.
“It’s
possible
that
he
talked
to
someone
from
another
ANC
who
didn’t
tell
us
about
this,”
Chandler
said.
Chandler
said
she
has
had
experience
working
with
gay
and
transgender
youth
in
her
role
as
a
special
education
instructor
at
the
city’s
Duke
Ellington
School
for
the
Arts.
She
said
she
would
try
to
work
with
Alston
House
leaders
to
build
cordial
relations
with
the
surrounding
community.
If
Alston
House
officials
had
contacted
her
sooner,
she
said,
she
would
have
alerted
them
to
reports
by
neighbors
about
a
drug
dealing
problem
on
the
block
where
the
house
is
located.
“It’s
an
ongoing
concern
in
the
neighborhood
and
I
would
advise
them
to
seek
out
routine
police
patrols
to
make
sure
their
residents
are
protected,”
Chandler
said.
Sgt.
Brett
Parson,
commander
of
the
D.C.
police
department’s
specialized
constituent
units,
including
the
Gay
&
Lesbian
Liaison
Unit,
said
he
would
take
steps
to
place
the
Alston
House
on
the
list
of
locations
that
GLLU
officers
regularly
visit
and
monitor.
Watson
said
he
and
other
THE
officials,
including
longtime
D.C.
transgender
activist
Earline
Budd,
began
discussions
about
a
residential
facility
for
gay
and
transgender
youth
a
little
over
a
year
ago,
when
a
growing
number
of
homeless
youth
began
visiting
THE’s
transgender
drop-in
facility
on
North
Capitol
Street.
Although
the
North
Capitol
Street
facility
opened
to
provide
services
for
transgender
people,
gay
and
lesbian
youth
began
flocking
there
after
hearing
about
it
by
word
of
mouth,
Watson
said.
“Many
of
the
kids
were
thrown
out
of
their
homes
by
their
parents
after
the
parents
found
out
they
are
gay
or
transgender,”
Watson
said.
He
said
the
parents
of
one
of
the
male
youths
accepted
for
admission
into
the
Alston
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