D.C. closed two encampments in early February, after rescheduling several times due to the cold weather.
In addition to the closures, the city’s Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services (DMHHS) also conducted one full cleanup and rescheduled two major encampment closures, one in Brentwood and one in Foggy Bottom, to mid-March due to weather concerns.
The city had originally scheduled several encampment closures for January, but rescheduled most of them across February and March due to hazardous weather.
The full clean-up, during which encampment residents had to move their belongings but were technically allowed to move back, was on Feb. 4 outside of Carnegie Library on K Street. One person, who declined to speak to Street Sense, lived at the encampment.
As outreach workers and city officials looked on, the resident moved her possessions into shopping carts and sorted them into two sections, one of which she gave DMHHS permission to dispose of. The clean-up was finished by 10:30 a.m. Afterward, DMHHS officials traveled across the city to conduct the first site closure of the week.
The city primarily interacts with encampments in two ways: through clean-ups and closures. At clean-ups, like the one outside Carnegie Library, residents have to move for a period, but can generally return to the encampment the same day. But after an encampment is closed by DMHHS, residents may not return to camp at that location. Sometimes the city will erect fencing or other infrastructure to block people from returning to the area, like at San Martin Memorial Park in Foggy Bottom.
During the Feb. 4 encampment closure, DMHHS displaced one resident who lived outside the Cleveland Park Metro entrance. Outreach workers and DMHHS arrived just before 11 a.m., but because of confusion and disagreement between the resident, police, and DMHHS, the closure didn’t begin until 12:28 p.m. The resident did not want to move and argued DMHHS did not have the authority to force them to leave the area. “Do you understand what’s happening here?” a DMHHS official asked the resident multiple times.
“I understand I’m being robbed,” the resident responded. He spoke with Street Sense about his frustrations at having to move, but asked not to be named to protect his privacy while living outside. After some back and forth, DMHHS provided trash bags and gave the resident roughly 30 minutes to move.
Encampment closures can be emotionally and physically difficult, and sometimes confusing for residents. While the city puts up signs announcing closures two weeks in advance, the terms the city uses, like“scheduled full cleanup” and “encampment site closure,” are not defined. The signs also do not specify if an upcoming action is a cleanup or closure. Outreach workers, advocates, and residents have told Street Sense this lack of information can make it difficult for residents to know what to expect.
DMHHS closed a second encampment on Feb. 5 on Lincoln Road, next to the Harry Thomas Recreation Center. The city had previously rescheduled the closure due to the weather, and when DMHHS and city
officials arrived, the structure appeared to have been abandoned for at least a few weeks. Officials sifted through the contents of the structure, but did not store any belongings.
Throughout the closure, city officials cracked jokes and shared their thoughts on the shelter system. Emery Men’s Shelter, which has both a low-barrier shelter program and a work bay, a shelter specifically for men who are employed or in job training, is located on the other side of the recreation center. A staff member wondered aloud if the encampment was a “party tent” where shelter residents go to take part in activities typically prohibited by shelter rules. The same staff member noted encampments partially exist because of the strict rules shelters have and because shelters can be crowded and inconveniently located.
Following a drop in temperature and forecasted rain on Feb. 6 and 7, DMHHS rescheduled two previously scheduled encampment closures due to the hazardous weather conditions — the city’s encampment protocol recommends postponing closures when the temperature is below freezing. The first encampment, in Brentwood, is home to four tents and residents who have been previously displaced from other nearby sites. DMHHS rescheduled its closure to March 11.
The second closure, at Whitehurst Hill in Foggy Bottom, was originally scheduled for Jan. 14, a date advocates strongly objected to, then rescheduled for last week, and is now rescheduled to March 12. Whitehurst Hill is relatively large and has only grown as DMHHS and the National Parks Service have closed encampments throughout the city, including two large ones over the summer in Foggy Bottom.
Miriam’s Kitchen, the homeless service provider for Foggy Bottom and surrounding neighborhoods, has been advocating against the closure of Whitehurst Hill, arguing closures can distress and uproot residents, sometimes causing them to lose contact with their caseworkers.
“There’s, you know, more and more evidence that involuntary removal from encampments has negative health outcomes for people experiencing homelessness,” Andy Wassenich, director of policy at Miriam’s Kitchen, told Street Sense. “Irrespective of time of year and temperature, they’re
detrimental to people’s health.”
Wassenich also noted safety concerns, a common reason DMHHS cites for closing encampments, are often localized to a single resident and tent. Rather than work with that person, Wassenich said, DMHHS chooses to close the entire encampment, which can be difficult and unfair for other residents. At Whitehurst Hill, a tent burned down before Thanksgiving, but the resident who lived in the tent has since moved, according to outreach workers and encampment residents.
Mr. G, who lives at Whitehurst Hill, spoke to Street Sense about his feelings of anger and frustration at having to move. He thinks the reasoning about the fire is “BS” since the resident has moved on. He also said that had it not been for his caseworker and Street Sense, he wouldn’t have known that the closure had, yet again, been rescheduled.
“I was going to start moving stuff,” he told Street Sense the day before the closure was scheduled in February. “I wish they would give us better notice — but also if it’s not bothering anybody — if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.”
This isn’t the first time he’s been forced to move. This summer, he was displaced in a closure along the C&O Canal conducted by the National Parks Service. He wondered aloud whether any space in the city would still be available for camping.
“They haven’t told us where we can go,” he said. “There’s a dog park, but no park for the homeless.”
Mr. G, who describes himself as “a working individual” who’s just trying to “bounce back” is proud of his tent set-up. It includes multiple space heaters, a sitting room, and a bedroom complete with a rug and bed frame holding his bed off the ground, and isn’t easy to move, he said.
“Where do you want us to go?” he asked, before adding, “I’m not moving all of this in the winter.”
Upcoming encampment engagements: a closure at 2nd and D St. NW on Feb. 12, a closure at the L St. underpass on Feb. 13, and a full cleanup at 15th and P St. NW
