Editor’s Note: This is an installment of a biweekly column,“Encampment Updates.” Each edition, a Street Sense journalist will write about past and upcoming encampment clearings and closures in D.C. The government’s policies and schedule can be found at: dmhhs.dc.gov/page/encampments.
D. C.’s Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services (DMHHS) fully or partially cleared four encampments during the week of June 24.
On June 25 at 10 a.m., DMHHS conducted two encampment clearings at the same time. The “full clean-ups” had been originally scheduled during the previous week but were rescheduled due to an extended heat emergency. “Full clean-ups” differ from site closures. While some or all items might be removed and the area power-washed during a “full clean-up” residents can return to the area after the cleanup is finished. In a site closure, residents are not allowed to return after clearing.
Darwin Hall, the former resident at an encampment on the corner of Florida Ave. and Q St. NE, told Street Sense that when DMHHS came to clear his tent and other items “there wasn’t a lot of talking.” Hall had been staying at the Exxon station on that corner for a couple of months before finding an apartment.
Hall said he wasn’t too upset about the removal of his tent and other items because he has somewhere else to go. “I feel beautiful about it,” he told Street Sense when asked about his new apartment. He wanted readers to know that finding housing had reaffirmed his faith.
“Don’t give up on yourself, and God won’t give up on you,” Hall said.
No residents were present at the other encampment cleared on June 25, located at an expressway underpass near 555 South Capitol St. Nor was anyone there the previous week when Street Sense visited the encampment. According to an email from a DMHHS spokesperson, the encampment had been “classified as unsafe for encamping due to its location and safety risk” and after a month of outreach, “the residents relocated accordingly.”
DMHHS threw away all belongings at the encampment, including a tent, bedding, clothing, and a functional bicycle. A spokesperson wrote to Street Sense that “none of the remaining items were eligible for storage.”
On June 27, DMHHS conducted another two “full clean-ups,” both at 10 a.m. At an encampment on 9th St. in Brentwood, DMHHS only removed items the resident approved of for disposal. The Department of Public Works also cut down a significant amount of bushes and vines around the encampment. The resident declined to comment to Street Sense on the clearing.
DMHHS also conducted a “full clean-up” of an encampment underneath the Benning Rd. exit of 295 at the same time, closing the site due to “health and safety hazards.” When Street Sense visited the encampment the previous week, no residents were present. DMHHS officials did not respond to questions about the June 27 clearings by publication.
DMHHS publishes upcoming engagements at https://dmhhs.dc.gov/page/encampments. Those include: July 9 at 10 a.m. at 27th and K St. NW, July 11 at 10 a.m. at Maryland Ave. NE at the Arboretum Entrance, July 23 at 10 a.m. at 228 7th St. SE (Eastern Market), and July 25 at 10 a.m. at 228 7th St. SE.
