We are writing this letter to express our concern about the way the Washington, D.C. government has chosen to deal with encampments on public property. As members of the People for Fairness Coalition – whose objective is to end homelessness in D.C. through advocacy, outreach and peer mentoring – many of us have either lived on the streets or are currently living on the streets.
As is indicated in the 2015 Point in Time count, 7,298 displaced citizens in our nation’s capital are homeless; of these, 1,118 sleep outside, and of those, a smaller number have chosen to live in encampments. Many live in encampments because it is the only place where they feel safe and supported and can keep their belongings safe.
Unlike the random strangers they would encounter in a shelter, they have formed a true community of people who know and watch out for each other. Their only other alternatives are to sleep on the streets in areas that are not safe or to go into shelters. Many have already experienced staying in shelters and choose to sleep outside instead because of the conditions in the shelters: inability to get a decent night’s sleep due to fights and loud arguments; theft of their possessions; and unsanitary conditions, including bed bugs and terrible odors.
A number of cities, including Baltimore, have placed a moratorium on dismantling of homeless encampments until housing placements can realistically be secured for all the people staying in the encampments. Yet D.C. is moving full speed ahead with shutting down all encampments in the city, on the cusp of winter, without ensuring that everyone in the encampments has access to decent housing.
We appreciate that the city has been successful in finding housing for a portion of the individuals living in encampments. However, every individual living in an encampment that gets housing lengthens the wait for housing for those who have been assessed with the VI-SPDAT pre-screen.
By shutting down encampments, D.C. is getting further out of step with the federal government’s very strong guidance on this issue. The U.S. Interagency Council on the Homeless, in its report “Ending Homelessness for People Living in Encampments,” cautions that “forced dispersal of people from encampment settings is not an appropriate solution or strategy.” The U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in July filed a brief in a case involving Boise, Idaho’s efforts to prosecute homeless individuals for sleeping outside, arguing that “criminally prosecuting … individuals for something as innocent as sleeping, when they have no safe, legal place to go, violates their Constitutional rights.”
What does the D.C. government plan to do when encampments that have been removed start growing again? Will the D.C. government continue to place priority on finding housing for people living in encampments with the full knowledge that those assessed and awaiting placement in housing are being pushed back in line? While this has not yet happened, is the D.C. government considering criminalizing living in encampments by charging fines or arresting the people who remain in encampments once the city has done its best to disband them?
The People for Fairness Coalition calls for the D.C. government to end encampment cleanup and obtain housing for everyone in DC who needs it. Walk a mile in our shoes, feel the way we do. Understand that the world is not safe especially for those who live outside, and if we work together, we can make the world a better and safer place for everyone who lives here, not just the wealthy and privileged.
