Content categorized as Criminalization of Homelessness

Tossed in the trash: Residents at Union Station stripped of their belongings

The National Park Service cleared the 35-resident Union Station encampment on June 1, throwing away belongings and involuntarily committing one resident.

Despite rule change, DCHA is not allowing identity self-certification

After passing a resolution to allow people applying for vouchers to self-certify their identity, DCHA released regulatory guidance that banned that practice.

What role should police have in protecting people living in encampments?

Due to concerns for their immediate safety, some encampment residents have expressed a desire for greater police presence around encampments. However, homeless rights advocates advise that the police force is fundamentally unsuited for meeting the safety, resource and housing access needs of unsheltered residents.

Human or animal?

Donté Turner shares a personal story about the way his community is being oppressed and disregarded.

Homeless Truxton Circle residents brace for early December eviction amid pleas to halt encampment clearings

Meet some of the people living at Allen Park in Truxton Circle who will either be displaced by the upcoming Dec. 2 clearing or placed into housing accommodations through the city’s new encampment pilot program.

NPS closes second park on Capitol Hill, once again pushing out encampment residents

The National Park Service closed a second triangle park near Union Station on Oct. 15. Ten people who had been living in the park at Massachusetts Avenue and 3rd Street NE had only 14 days to find a new place to live.

“Black lives are going to hell,” says resident flipping off DC’s Mayor

D.C. opened a renovated Franklin Park in September. An unhoused resident pushed out of a nearby encampment interrupted the ceremony & was quickly whisked away.

Panhandling permits are a bad idea

Vendor Jeffrey McNeil offers his opinion on why Montgomery County’s consideration of requiring permits to panhandle is extreme and only furthers stigma.

Montgomery County weighs panhandling permits for ‘safety’

Montgomery County Councilmember Craig Rice is reintroducing efforts to require permits for soliciting money or donations near roadways for “pedestrian safety.”

Housing activism turns confrontational in face of deepening housing crisis

Tenants and housing advocates are using more confrontational tactics to fight eviction and displacement as the national affordable housing shortage intensifies.

When trans and non-binary people age out of homeless services, there’s nowhere to turn

Transgender people in the United States face barriers in many aspects of their lives, from job discrimination to family rejection. While LGBTQ-focused youth programs and housing assistance is growing nationally and in the District, transgender adults are being left behind after aging out of the system in their mid-twenties.

DC task force recommends major investments in affordable housing to prevent crime

The District Task Force on Jails and Justice made 80 recommendations to the Mayor to invest in more affordable housing, to help communities and prevent crime.

Report highlights bias-motivated violence towards people experiencing homelessness

A report by an advocacy group studied bias-motivated crimes against people experiencing homelessness and what can be done to reduce these acts of violence.

Coronavirus exposes “people that we missed” amid homelessness crisis

Local D.C. advocacy group People for Fairness Coalition called for a greater investment in ending homelessness during 2020’s Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day.

Unjustifiable End

Laticia Brock calls on the city to do more to help those experiencing homelessness.

What policing homelessness looks like

Case manager Charlie Mussoff on his experience witnessing the policing of those experiencing homelessness.

Global coronavirus pandemic could help the homeless or hurt them more

COVID-19 presents another challenge for the unhoused community in Washington, D.C. Will local leaders take the right actions to create positive social change after this unprecedented crisis?

Response to protests upends daily life for homeless people downtown

The influx of people into downtown DC and the aggressive police response has put people experiencing homelessness in DC on edge.

The Trump Administration’s false and damaging narrative on homelessness

The founder and executive director of the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty says how the Trump administration has only hindered those who are experiencing homelessness.

Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley has a bold vision for criminal justice reform, and it calls for decriminalizing poverty and homelessness

U.S. congresswoman Ayanna Pressley unveiled a resolution titled The People’s Justice Guarantee which proposes decriminalizing sex work and other low-level offenses “which are byproducts of poverty, homelessness, discrimination and/or addiction.”