Earlier this month, a District judge rejected D.C. government officials’ request to dismiss a lawsuit from the West End D.C. Community Association seeking to block The Aston unhoused shelter from opening, six months after declining officials’ first dismissal request.
Judge Maurice Ross denied the D.C. government’s motion to dismiss the case in an Aug. 6 order, which contended that the lawsuit was outside of the Superior Court’s jurisdiction and scheduled a remote hearing for Feb. 7, 2025, according to the court docket. The West End D.C. Community Association — an unincorporated and unnamed group of local property owners — filed the lawsuit in November alleging that District officials cannot convert The Aston, a former GW dorm on New Hampshire Avenue, into an unhoused shelter because of zoning restrictions associated with providing medical services and temporary housing at the shelter.
D.C. officials first announced plans to convert The Aston, a former GW dorm, into a non-congregate homeless shelter for medically vulnerable individuals in June 2023, after purchasing the building from GW for $27.5 million.
Ross previously rejected a D.C. government request for the case’s dismissal in February, after attorneys on behalf of District officials filed a motion to dismiss one month prior. In the first motion to dismiss, D.C. government officials argued the future shelter could not yet violate zoning laws since residents hadn’t yet moved into The Aston.
District officials announced at a Community Advisory Team meeting last week that The Aston would begin accepting residents in early October, after nine months of delays. D.C. officials have said they have not stopped progress on opening the shelter due to ongoing legal action seeking to block the shelter.
A second Aug. 6 order from Ross denied the West End D.C. Community Association’s motion for partial summary judgment, which sought to avoid a trial by asking the judge to rule that there was no factual dispute to the complaint’s allegations of zoning violations.
The association requested partial summary judgment in May, arguing that The Aston’s plan to provide temporary services and use a third-party operator would make it an emergency shelter under zoning rules, meaning District officials would need to acquire a special exception from the Board of Zoning Adjustment to begin housing residents. The D.C. government filed a motion opposing the request for summary judgment in June.
The suit closely resembles a complaint the West End D.C. Community Association filed in July 2023 and withdrew a month later, alleging D.C. officials failed to provide community members adequate time to comment on The Aston’s purchase. The District completed its purchase of The Aston, a former GW dorm, from the University weeks after.
