mayor muir yul bowser has pledged to close the d.c. general homeless shelter saying it's no longer suitable for families. today she presented council members with her plan that includes building eight new housing facilities for homeless families and single women. there will be one facility in each ward. >> we've worked hard over the last several months to make sure we have smaller, dignified facilities all over washington, d.c. where families can have a safe place to move toward permanent housing. >> there will be one women's only facility in ward 2 that will have 213 bieds. the other seven facilities will be smaller with about 50 units each. as to what will cost the d.c. taxpayers. >> we're talking about $22 million annually. and that compares to $17 million to operate d.c. general. >> while the new housing will allow d.c. general to close, the district has 1,000 families living in hotels. the mayor was asked today if she could say when the district would no longer need to pay for hotel rooms for homeless families. >> no, i can't. >>

mayor muir yul bowser announced her plan to open eight new facilities at her monthly meeting with council members this morning. parts of her larger plan to close d.c. general, the district's largest family homeless shelter. >> d.c. general is not an appropriate place. >> bowser plans to build seven new short-term family housing facilities with between 39 and 50 units each. and one women's shelter with 213 beds. >> woo have paid special attention to how each of these units will be developed. so they fit into their neighborhoods. >> while council members expressed overwhelming support for the plan, ward 5 council member mcduffy is opposed to using this location in the northeast to house homeless families. >> the location is in a neighborhood that is really burdened by a number of government-related services, that's already an existing men's shelter. there's an existing homeless day center. there's an existing nightclubs. >> this neighbor agrees and questions why the district would choose this location. >> you can see it's a dead end. it's across from the metro bus depot. >> each facility wi