In a city full of politics, it is no wonder that in this election season, communities are bombarded with forums in which candidates deal with the many areas of their resident’s concerns. One such forum was hosted by the National Coalition for the Homeless. This forum focused on the issue of homelessness.
Homelessness concerns me because of my decade of lived experience with it in D.C. I have seen politician after politician, mayor after mayor, and city council after city council. These people come before the public to display and describe their leadership plan for the city.
There was a season where I also participated in the candidate process as an advisory neighborhood commissioner (ANC). I didn’t get the chance to grace the debate stage, but I do understand the process through which candidates form their stances. Some stances residents can agree or disagree with, but as far as delivery, candidates must be able to inspire, and this forum gave me a lesson in how candidates can deliver their message. This forum featured three candidates for mayor.
The first candidate to answer questions was Myrtle Alexander, who touted she is an educator and entrepreneur, shared she was currently homeless, and was asked to stop encampment sweeps.
“When you ask the question about sweeps,” Alexander said, “this is the nation’s capital if we can take care of the homeless. We have a blank check.” Alexander said we are entitled to about $20 million.
“We should not have anyone homeless,” Alexander said. “We have empty buildings that need to be refurbished.” I felt that.
“We can create jobs immediately,” Alexander said. “We can bring back a building so that it could be housing. There will be no sweeps. Everyone deserves dignity.”
Alexander ended her statements with, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself. Where is the love?”
I definitely agree with the need to get people into work, but this candidate lacked a clear plan to produce funds to support these ideas to stop sweeps. In my campaign for ANC, I tackled the issue of pop-ups. This concept exploded after the Obama administration amended the height of buildings act to allow penthouse additions to single-family homes. The residents of my prospective single-member district were very concerned about rising property values tied to the pervasiveness of pop-ups appearing in the neighborhood and selling for millions. Some residents shared their property incurred damages and rodent infestations due to the construction and rehab of such properties. When delivering this message for the pop-ups, people questioned where funds would come from to defend their communities. While the residents understood it should come from their tax money, they also didn’t want to foot the bill for their defense against potentially harmful and expensive development, nor did some of them have the time or energy to conduct legal proceedings. I felt I was tasked with organizing and funding what these particular voters wanted. While Alexander’s message, I think, was spot on, I can see that in creating a platform, you still will have gaps in what you present to voters
Joe Zero, who is also a Street Sense vendor and artist, as well as currently homeless, was the second candidate. When asked about his commitment to stopping sweeps and if there were paths to housing, Zero replied, “Yes, 100% there are paths to housing. We first need to get the people that want the help. There are plenty of people who just need a small push, a small edge. They just need to get a foot in the door.”
He continued to say, “We have the very best of people coming here to D.C. on a daily basis. If we can get people to come here and train our workforce, have them train once again using technology, building electricity things not affected by AI, things improved by AI.”
I can see the influx of residents migrating to D.C. for AI. I did notice during my ANC run not all the residents I encountered were originally from the District of Columbia; some residents moved in either during or after the census was taken. While a great plan, I would estimate voters would want to know more about how newer residents factor into training, whether this training would be through the government or philanthropy I am by no means dismissing that being a candidate is difficult because voters will always have in-the-weeds questions, but it does take courage to stand on any political stage as a candidate.
Zero said he supports Universal Basic Income. He promotes a better civic system.
“If we use our civic system the way it’s supposed to be used, we won’t need sweeps,” said Zero. “Then we go and help the people who need more help.”
Dr. Rhonda Hamilton, who shared she is a small business owner and mental health advocate, was also asked about committing to stopping sweeps.
“Absolutely, there would be no sweeps. I don’t see the need for them,” she said. “What I realize is that as a District we struggle with this so much so that I was one of the advocates interviewed by media when we had that unfortunate circumstance over at M Street under the underpass with the construction crane vehicles that were used to remove our homeless.”
I was also present for this incident when it happened. I was appalled. I was first alerted to the happenings from a woman making a sound no one should hear. It was the kind of shriek that involves fear and anger from a man and warrants him to jump into action to protect the one making that sound.
“At no time should we be a city that would represent that kind of callous decision making,” Hamilton said. “Homelessness, in my opinion, professional or otherwise, is that it should be temporary. The challenge we have before us as citizens and as advocates is that just getting them into housing in our current state has proven insufficient because we have a heavy problem with the presence of slumlord behavior.”
Hamilton also highlighted the income disparities in the city.
“What we recognize in an 81-times wealth gap setting in the District is that there are far more people who are going to be susceptible to homelessness. We have to elect leadership that understands this.”
These are people who are not front-runners in the current mayoral election, but nonetheless, they are candidates, and they have chosen to put themselves up to advance a platform and have a voice in how they would want to see the city. I, for one, commend each and every candidate who dares to run for something. Politics is a hard game. Most of the deliverables are ideas people can’t see or touch, but when there is an impact, you will see it on the voter, the resident, the one to whom we as candidates present ourselves. In this election season, I hope all the voters will choose each candidate, even the ANC ones, with great care and consideration. This election is big because after it ends we will have a new government and with the new government, I hope all will be heard.
This article originally appeared in Street Sense’s June 3, 2026 edition.
