In November, the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services (DMHHS) closed four encampment sites in D.C., displacing at least seven people experiencing homelessness.
One of the people who had to find a new place to sleep was Eric, a 45-year-old man who has lived in the DMV for the past six years. Five months ago, Eric began advocating for other vulnerable and homeless people. He said he wants to ensure they have a say in changes that affect their lives, rather than having others make decisions for them.
On Nov. 21, the city closed Eric’s encampment under the Anacostia River Walk Trail. About 20 city employees, outreach workers, and contracted bridge maintenance workers were present at the closure. After giving Eric a few minutes to collect his essentials, city workers threw away his belongings, including piles of magazines and newspapers.
Eric, who only introduced himself by his first name, sat a few feet away, reading the New Testament. He told Street Sense it was the first time he had experienced an encampment closure, calling it as unexpected as the COVID pandemic in 2020. He said he planned to leave the DMV after Thanksgiving due to the closure.
The largest encampment closure of the month was on Nov. 8, along the NoMa portion of the Metropolitan Branch Trail. The open space near the train tracks housed five tents, one of which burned down around two weeks before the closure.
Two of the residents, Bart and Angel, were still there before city workers arrived on the day of the closure. Other residents left behind an abandoned tent and an open tent with belongings.
Bart and Angel said they were planning on moving temporarily to somewhere on Massachusetts Avenue after the closure, although Angel told Street Sense she did not have a plan for where to go long-term.
Before the closure, Bart said he had an altercation with one of the city workers, who Bart said was not considerate of the space around his tent. According to Bart, when the city worker came to mow the grass, without prior warning to the residents, there were rocks near Bart’s tent. The lawnmower hit the rocks and they pierced several holes in the tent. Bart was very upset with the city worker, who told him to speak to the government about getting a new tent. The two had a short exchange before the city worker left.
DMHHS did not respond to a request for comment on the incident by publication.
On Nov. 6, city workers closed an encampment in the woods on a small hill by 26th Street NW in Foggy Bottom. No residents were present. DMHHS employees threw away all materials at the encampment, including framed paintings, a red suitcase, and a backpack, and crushed a pink bicycle with a bulldozer.
The following day, by the water pumping station at 27th and K Streets NW, city employees let an encampment resident move his belongings before workers threw away what was left. The resident declined to be interviewed for this article.
A fifth scheduled closure, on Nov. 13 at Souza Bridge near the DDOT underpass, was changed to a trash pickup, with no present according to DMHHS. The city also canceled a sixth scheduled closure in NoMa.
DMHHS has not yet scheduled any encampment closures or clean-ups for December.
