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Peer workers say DC Stabilization Center faces staffing, security and intake delays
Summary
A peer recovery coach told the Committee on Health that the DC Stabilization Center is understaffed, lost district security staff late 2024/early 2025, and has intake delays of up to four hours; she warned these gaps put patients and staff at risk and asked the Committee for oversight.
Ralinda Rose, a certified peer and recovery coach who works at the DC Stabilization Center, told the Committee the center has admitted more than 5,300 people but now suffers from serious staffing shortages and the removal of district security personnel. Rose said district security was removed “in late 2024, maybe early 2025” and the center now relies on lobby staff without security training; she described weapons, controlled substances and prolonged waits in the lobby.
Rose said intake can take up to four hours, that patients cycle through intake/discharge multiple times a day, and that missing personnel — including an addiction counselor who resigned in January 2025 — undermines continuity of care. The Committee asked DBH and its contractor about corrective actions and signaled it will follow up on security, contractor performance and plans for additional stabilization centers in other parts of the city.
