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Isaac Harris draws on decades of experience at CCNV to urge better casework and mental-health supports
Summary
Isaac Harris, who volunteers and works with the Community for Creative Nonviolence, testified about long-term homelessness in D.C., the need for thorough casework, consistent behavioral-health staffing at shelters and stronger pathways to reentry services.
Isaac Harris described his long experience with CCNV and his personal history with homelessness, saying the shelter population includes many long-term residents and that effective casework is essential to help people exit homelessness. "I myself have been homeless for 15 years," Harris said, and he described using a housing voucher to obtain stable housing in October.
Harris raised operational gaps including inconsistent presence of Department of Behavioral Health representatives at satellite shelter offices, uneven caseworker follow-through, and the need for more dependable mental-health and reentry supports. He urged more thorough, hands-on casework rather than bureaucratic checklists, and recommended better coordination between nonprofits and city agencies to improve outcomes.
