Georgiann had been sleeping under the loggia of the Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Memorial Library since February. Along with about 60 other people, she spent each night under the protection of the building’s overhang, seeking shelter in one of the last outdoor places in downtown D.C. where people experiencing homelessness could reliably stay the night.
But after the D.C. Public Library (DCPL) began enforcement of rules banning people from sleeping outside the building in July, Georgiann, who introduced herself with just her first name, and dozens of others have been forced to find alternative places to rest. Many of them spend the night just feet away on the sidewalk, without the protection of the loggia, staring at the rope barriers, police cars, and officers lining the front of the library.
This new enforcement, which is expected to last for at least 90 days, isn’t the first time the library has banned people from seeking refuge there. In 2024, the MLK Library restarted enforcement of its policies against sleeping or lying down inside or right outside the library. The library implemented a 30-day overnight patrol and posted signage banning sleeping, but many people still gathered under the loggia each night until this summer.
Library officials said the new enforcement, which includes rope barricades and a police presence, is meant to address longstanding complaints about safety and conditions outside the building. Outreach organizations worry it will simply move people elsewhere, making it harder to connect them with housing and services while doing little to address homelessness.
The pilot began on July 6 with a two-week warning period, during which people sleeping outside the library reported seeing yellow tape along the loggia at night. It was later replaced with rope barriers. Beginning July 20, library police said they would issue bar notices, written notices banning people from DCPL property, to people who stay under the loggia overnight after being asked to leave.
Starting Aug. 3, people sleeping beneath the loggia could be arrested for trespassing. The enforcement is framed as a 90-day pilot, but library officials said they will use that period to evaluate the policy and determine future enforcement. Several unhoused people sleeping near the MLK Library in mid-July told Street Sense they were unaware they could face arrest.
“The Library is enforcing rules related to the Loggia because conditions in that area have created a barrier to participation at the MLK Library. Enforcement removes that barrier,” a D.C. Public Library spokesperson wrote in a statement. “Even with daily cleaning, the area under the loggia has become unwelcoming.”
According to the library, patrons complained about conditions under the loggia, such as urination, defecation, violence, and theft. With the new policy, facilities staff need less time and fewer resources to clean and prepare the space before the library opens.
But banning sleeping under the loggia has stripped people of a refuge, according to people who stay outside the library and outreach organizations. After the enforcement began, people sleeping on the sidewalk have had to find limited shelter under the awnings of neighboring buildings or standing under the loggia, if police allow. They cannot lie down or sit under the loggia, including during rainfall and during the day.
People sleeping outside MLK who spoke with Street Sense said a few people had snuck under the barricade to sleep beneath the loggia, but were quickly escorted back to the sidewalk by library police. They said they have not seen or heard plans of resistance to the policy so far.
The increased police presence initially led to some conflict, but has decreased the visible incidences of crime around the library at night, people who gather near the loggia say.
“It’s been quieter, because there’s more security,” Georgiann said.
Shannon Clark is the executive director of Remora House, a mutual aid organization that provides food, clothing, and supplies to people experiencing homelessness in D.C. She said she sees the enforcement as part of a broader pattern of increasingly restrictive policies affecting people experiencing homelessness in D.C. Large encampment clearings and the closure of public spaces have displaced people rather than moved them into housing, she argued.
Georgiann said she is trying to leave sleeping at the MLK sidewalk behind. She received a housing voucher in May but has not yet been able to find an apartment because of inspection requirements and delays in the process.
Her experience reflects a wider challenge. A report by The Lab@DC found between 2023 and 2024, households took an average of five to six months to move into housing after being matched with a voucher.
Until then, Georgiann plans to continue sleeping outside the library, though now on the other side of the barrier. Clark said other people who have regularly stayed beneath the loggia will likely move to nearby blocks or other public spaces, making it more difficult for outreach workers to find them and maintain their relationships.
“People don’t just disappear when you evict them from an encampment,” Clark said.
Similarly, a spokesperson from Stop the Sweeps, a local group that opposes the clearing of unhoused encampments in D.C., questioned whether the library’s policy would make the space more welcoming to patrons. They said prior to the pilot, the public library had been “watering” the area under the loggia, a strategy to deter unhoused people from sleeping under buildings.
Her experience reflects a wider challenge. Stop the Sweeps emphasized many people do not choose to find shelter under the MLK Library, but simply have nowhere else to go. “The addition of increased police presence throughout the night to deter people from this historic place is counterproductive,” the spokesperson wrote.
Similar concerns have been raised before. In 2025, an MLK Library employee testified the building’s policies against lying down or sleeping in the library harmed homeless populations. A few months after the 2024 enforcement of the newly restrictive library policies, the employee witnessed a suicide by an unhoused patron inside the library.
“While we will never know why he did what he did, the policies being enforced here did not help,” the employee said. “The focus on targeting marginalized people has nothing to do with safety.”
Clark said the library serves a much larger role than simply providing a place to sleep overnight.
The library is one of the few public places downtown where people experiencing homelessness can spend time indoors, escape extreme weather, and access basic resources during the day. Many people who slept beneath the loggia also use the library to meet caseworkers and connect with services, making the location an important point of contact for outreach organizations.
“Where are they supposed to go?” Clark said. “They go to the library. They go there to check their mail. They read a book. They learn something. They meet their caseworker.”
Failing to follow the library’s code of conduct, such as sleeping under the loggia, could result in increasingly restrictive penalties. Failure to comply could lead to a ban of up to five years from any D.C. library and from any other privileges associated with the public library system. This could eliminate a vital source of support, according to Clark.
“[The library] is the main space that folks go to get out of the elements. And it’s designated for that purpose,” Clark said. “But now the exact people that absolutely need to be able to have access to that are going to catch a one-to three-year ban because they’re also trying to sleep outside when it’s closed at night.”
This article originally appeared in Street Sense’s July 29, 2026 edition.
