Local representatives said the end of a yearlong legal battle that attempted to thwart the opening of an unhoused shelter near campus signals a bright future for the facility.
The West End D.C. Community Association earlier this month withdrew its lawsuit and appeal to the Board of Zoning Adjustment, which argued the operations of The Aston, a bridge housing facility on New Hampshire Avenue that opened in November, violated District zoning laws. Neighborhood leaders said WEDCCA’s decision to withdraw — which canceled the Jan. 29 BZA hearing and Feb. 7 D.C. Superior Court hearing to decide whether The Aston could continue operations — suggests concerns about The Aston were untrue and allows the shelter to continue serving the unhoused population in Foggy Bottom.
The lawyers representing WEDCCA did not return a request for comment on why the group withdrew the lawsuit and appeal. The D.C. Department of Buildings and Department of Human Services did not return requests for comment.
The Aston conversion faced scrutiny from community members since the District pitched the plan for converting the building in June 2023 for potentially lowering property value in the area. D.C. officials delayed the shelter’s opening five times due to difficulties securing a provider to oversee daily operations and a failed building inspection in September. During the yearlong period of delays, community members expressed frustrations to officials about the series of issues, and community members in September 2024 probed District officials about the shelter’s incoming tenants.
“I’m pleased that they made what I consider the right decision and decided to stop wasting everyone’s time and money on something that wasn’t beneficial to the community,” Foggy Bottom and West End Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Jim Malec said.
WEDCCA filed the lawsuit in November 2023, alleging that District officials could not open The Aston because D.C. zoning law prohibits the bridge housing facility from providing medical services and temporary housing, which would have required the District to secure a special exception from the BZA.
The zoning appeal, which the group filed in October, mirrors the lawsuit and states that the Department of Buildings violated the same zoning rules by issuing The Aston a building permit in August, which allowed for the building’s conversion.
Division Director of The Aston Jeremy Jones said in December that the bridge housing facility, which is the first of its kind in the District, admitted 39 tenants in its first month, and member of the Community Advisory Team, the group overseeing The Aston, Courtney Cooperman said earlier this month that the noncongregate, or private, shelter reached 50 residents.
Both Jones and Cooperman reported smooth operations and a lack of community concerns about the facility in its first few months, and District officials said they received no formal complaints about The Aston.
D.C. Department of Human Services Deputy Administrator Anthony Newman said earlier this week that 10 residents exited The Aston program in the first month. He said one tenant moved into permanent supportive housing and the other nine tenants’ departure was “unexplained” — an account that raised eyebrows among meeting attendees.
The CAT voted unanimously with one abstention Monday to raise the number of unhoused people residing in the facility from 50 to 100 as part of the phased move-in system officials announced in September.
Malec, who represents single-member-district 2A08, said he is happy WEDCCA withdrew their legal complaints after two months of successful Aston operations. He said he doesn’t know why the unincorporated group withdrew the lawsuit but hopes The Aston’s stable operations demonstrated that the locals’ concerns were “unfounded.”
“It could have been because there’s no evidence of anything that they were concerned about, like it hasn’t happened,” Malec said. “They don’t have anything concrete to bring to court. So how are you going to complain about something that demonstratedly has not done what you were worried it was going to do.”
Malec said he wouldn’t be surprised if more legal action against The Aston crops up but that he’s happy to see the end of this bout of legal action against The Aston.
Cooperman said WEDCCA’s concerns expressed in the lawsuit were “overblown” and reflected racist and classist stereotypes about people experiencing homelessness instead of the reality of people moving into The Aston.
In each complaint, WEDCCA argued that The Aston should be identified as an “emergency shelter” as opposed to an apartment house under D.C. zoning regulations because it provides services to medically vulnerable individuals and temporarily houses people experiencing homelessness.
District officials pledged in November not to change The Aston’s use from a bridge housing facility to an emergency shelter, according to a nonlegally binding tenant-neighbor agreement signed by CAT and District officials.
The zoning appeal alleged that District officials required approval from the D.C. Zoning Commission to change The Aston’s use from student housing as a GW residence hall to a bridge housing facility because the building falls under existing Planned Unit Development, which grants property zoning rights to buildings for mixed uses.
“The fact that the Aston is operating smoothly without anyone in the neighborhood taking note is a testament to how off-base those assumptions were and how we can welcome all types of housing in all types of neighborhoods,” Cooperman said.
Cooperman said she’s heard no negative comments from community members about The Aston but has received “a lot” of inquiries about how to volunteer and donate to help their unhoused neighbors and the noncongregate shelter.
“Now that The Aston is open, the main reaction I’ve seen from the community is interest in volunteering and supporting the residents,” Cooperman said.
2A03 Commissioner Trupti Patel said at an ANC meeting last week that despite WEDCCA withdrawing the lawsuit, she worries about the safety of The Aston’s residents because the debate surrounding the noncongregate shelter’s opening among locals “has gotten very intense.”
Patel said some “very unkind” comments have been spewed toward members of the ANC and community members attending meetings in the lead-up to The Aston’s opening.
The ANC had to adjourn its July 2023 meeting pertaining to The Aston early due to infighting, punctuated by members of the community berating commissioners and one making a racist comment toward Patel.
Before WEDCCA withdrew the lawsuit, a District judge twice rejected D.C. officials’ requests to dismiss the case. In November, the BZA rejected the group’s emergency request to postpone the noncongregate shelter’s opening that month and to expedite the Jan. 29 BZA hearing.
“I have serious concerns that this animosity could be directed at residents of The Aston, and I want to make it very clear that that is a red line in the sand,” Patel said.