The National Park Service cleared the 35-resident Union Station encampment on June 1, throwing away belongings and involuntarily committing one resident.
Content categorized as Ward 6

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

Serve Your City is fundraising to send Ward 6 kids to summer camp
Serve Your City-Ward 6 Mutual Aid, a D.C.-based nonprofit, is raising money to send children in Ward 6 to summer camp. The group plans to… Read more »

The new year
Abel Putu writes about his goals for the New Year.

Thank you, Eastern Market!
Juliene Kengnie expresses her thanks to her customers at Eastern Market through a letter.

As DC lapses on porta pottie contract, public restroom pilot programs inch forward
A public restroom pilot program plans to address the longstanding problem of access to public restrooms. An anticipated report by the work group consisting of nine government agencies is planned to release a report sometime this month.

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.

DC government removes tents, injures one resident, houses others, and deploys concrete barriers to enforce a ‘pedestrian passageway’
An encampment eviction was suspended for less than a day after a District worker used a small front loader to push over a tent with an individual still inside. District officials maintain the worker didn’t know someone was inside, but it raises the question: How could this happen in the first place?

DC is moving some encampment residents into housing. What about those not “on the list?”
D.C. officials are moving some residents into housing from three large encampments, but others may be kicked out. Where will they go?

DC will shut down long-standing NoMa encampments as part of pilot program
Like K Street in January 2020, the underpasses at L Street and M Street NE will be designated as “pedestrian passageways.” Unlike the K Street eviction, D.C. government says it will expedite housing as part of removing people and their belongings.

Community-controlled affordable housing model could address gentrification in Southwest Washington
Ward 6 residents are advocating for soon-to-be available land to become a new community-controlled, permanently affordable housing and retail space in the Navy Yard neighborhood.

Local teen’s message on poverty: Believe in yourself but don’t leave others behind
Local Templeton Academy sophomore Miguel Coppedge started a fundraiser last year to benefit children in foster care and families experiencing homelessness. His charity donations are destined for St. Ann’s Center for Youth, Children and Families, the place where he was adopted at age 2.

DC encampment ‘cleanups’ largely rely on free labor to temporarily move residents’ belongings
On May 13th, the DC Government exercised protocols to “cleanup” two encampments near Union Station and NoMa that caused substantial displacement of a number of residents.

Q&A with the founder of The h3 Project
Artist/Vendor Marcus McCall interviews Ami Angell on the mission and programs of The h3 Project, which focuses on homeless outreach efforts near NoMa and Union Station.

Navy Yard fire
Vendor/Artist Jennifer McLaughlin contributes a report on a fire near the U.S. Department of Transportation that may have been caused by a cigarette butt during high winds.

Federal government attempts to dispossess CCNV from their property: The shelter’s lawsuit parallels to the past
On Jan. 3, 2021, CCNV filed a lawsuit against the HHS and GSA over the rights to the shelter, paralleling back to past conflicts with the federal government

Making room for construction in NoMa, DC government conducts its 18th encampment cleanup in 2021
Despite CDC warnings, on March 4, The Deputy Mayor on Health and Human Services conducted the 18th encampment cleanup in 2021 on 1st and H, cleaning up trash and displacing several individuals to pave the way for a construction project.

Community for Creative Non-Violence files lawsuit against federal government over site of DC Central Kitchen
The Community for Creative Non-Violence, D.C.’s largest homeless shelter, filed a lawsuit against the federal government for breach of contract and disrupting their daily activities.

Workers report new problems claiming unemployment in the District
D.C. workers on pandemic-related unemployment programs are struggling to get approved for benefits and back-pay.

What should Biden do about Trump post-inauguration?
Many people are asking that question. It raises concerns both about the safety of American citizens and restoration of the rule of law.

Homeless people in quarantine face poor conditions, rudeness, and transphobia
Shelter residents are sent to DHS’s isolation sites when exposed to COVID-19. But some report mistreatment and transphobia by staff and security guards.