From evictions to deaths, a look back at media coverage of homelessness in the District over the past year

As Street Sense Media presents its fifth news blitz on issues surrounding homelessness in DC, we take a look back at some of the local media’s articles, columns and commentaries from the past year that stand out on the subject.

— December 2019: ‘Broken systems created homelessness — and only multifaceted solutions can end it, advocates say.’ Deirdre Bannon in The DC Line: “Permanent supportive housing is considered to be the gold standard to solving homelessness, with a more than 90% success rate of residents able to retain their housing, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness. But advocates say truly ending homelessness goes beyond securing housing for those who need it now: It’s about understanding what causes homelessness in the first place, and providing resources for workable policies and practices.

“‘The city needs to look further upstream,’ said Karen Cunningham, executive director of Everyone Home DC, a nonprofit serving the local homeless population. ‘You can’t ask the homeless services system to solve poverty — that’s not what it’s designed to do. Homeless services can’t make up for the lack of affordable housing or training for jobs that meet the cost of housing, or that you need three jobs to pay rent.

“‘We need to lift people out of poverty by putting more resources into quality education, employment, child care and health care — and to make sure that people have access to what they need to thrive,’ Cunningham added. ‘If we’re going to make homelessness rare, brief and non-recurring, all those other things upstream need to be addressed.’” [The DC Line]

— January 2020: ‘D.C.’s homeless receive more mental health help, but housing remains elusive.’ Joseph Young and Robert Warren for Capital & Main and Community Based News Room in partnership with Street Sense: “Henry Wilson, 46, awoke to the sounds of Washington, D.C., police officers scuffling by his tent in the M Street NE pedestrian underpass on this summer night. A woman’s body lay on the sidewalk in front of the tent parked next to Wilson’s.

“None of the other people living in the homeless encampments that have sprung up in the NoMa neighborhood seemed to know much about the deceased woman now covered in a white sheet. Wilson, her neighbor, only knew that she went by the name Tink.

“Michelle Hydier, 52, who has been living at the M Street underpass for the past six months assumed this woman died from a drug overdose. ‘They could send drug counselors here,’ Hydier said. ‘If the city was supportive of [people with substance use disorders], I think that would eliminate the problems they are having.’“ [Capital & Main]

— January 2020: ‘An 11-year-old uprooted from a gentrifying city: ‘Sometimes, moms can’t afford things.’’ Jessica Contrera in The Washington Post: “Her toys were crammed in boxes. Her clothes were stuffed in trash bags. The furniture in her house was wrapped in plastic. Kamiyah Johnson, 11, was ready to move.

“Or at least, her belongings were.

“Kamiyah stepped over them on a January morning, her last in this Southeast Washington apartment where she had lived for a year with her mom and 2-year-old twin siblings.

“Here was the kitchen where her mom had made spaghetti for her birthday; the bedroom where she had posed for first-day-of-school photos; the living room where she had Cardi B dance parties. Here was her home, the place her family had moved to after more than two months of homelessness. Now Kamiyah was about to move again for the sixth time in three years.” [The Washington Post]

— February 2020: ‘A homeless child is killed in a hotel that was supposed to be a home.’ Washington Post columnist Petula Dvorak: “‘We knew that baby was in trouble,’ she said, turtle-hunched inside her jacket against the rain as she waited for the D6 bus with a knot of other women who live in a hotel on one of the District’s ugliest stretches of street. ‘It’s Relisha all over again.’

“She’s remembering Relisha Rudd, the 8-year-old girl whose disappearance from the largest family shelter in the nation’s capital nearly six years ago awakened the city to its staggering crisis of homeless children.

“This time, the child is Makenzie Anderson, and she was killed last week, a month short of her first birthday.

“Time to wake up again, D.C.” [The Washington Post]

— February 2020: ‘At hearing on the future of public housing in DC, more questions than answers.’ Morgan Baskin in The DC Line: “An attorney testifies that her client’s children have visible bites from insects and rodents. A mother tries to justify why she had to grab a gun to save her son’s life. Another openly weeps when she discloses that her rental voucher expires the next day, and she can’t find a landlord to accept it. 

“The details change, but the substance of the complaints never does. 

“Those anecdotes, shared Friday afternoon at an oversight hearing held by the DC Council’s housing committee, all point to the same truth: In one of the wealthiest regions of the country, people living in housing owned and operated by the DC government still have their kids removed by child protective services because conditions in their homes are life-threatening.

“‘The pace of deterioration is accelerating,’ DC Housing Authority director Tyrone Garrett said of living conditions in the city’s public housing, which requires more than $2.5 billion in backlogged repairs. ‘Neither time nor money is on our side,’ he said.” [The DC Line]

— March 2020: ‘Almost one third of people experiencing homelessness in D.C. say incarceration played a role in housing struggles.’ Natalie Delgadillo for DCist: “It was October 2018 when Kadija became homeless for the first time. She was 24 years old and the mother of two children under 10. She’d been out of prison for only about a year, and she couldn’t keep living at home with her parents in Southeast D.C. — they weren’t getting along, and the situation devolved into something ‘toxic,’ she says.

“… Kadija’s situation is not uncommon in the District, according to a recent report from the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute. The report finds that returning citizens face particular struggles in finding and keeping housing upon leaving jail or prison, and they often don’t receive the kinds of specialized resources that they need.

“‘For people returning to D.C. from incarceration, it often means coming home to homelessness,’ says Kate Coventry, the author of the DCFPI report. ‘They face all the same issues that other low-income folks in the District face, but they also face some unique challenges. They’re more likely to have a mental illness, they have weaker ties with their loved ones … and they may face discrimination in the job market and the housing market [due to having been incarcerated].’” [DCist]

— April 2020: ‘Can Mayor Bowser follow through on her plan to end homelessness by 2025?’ Morgan Baskin for Washington City Paper: “To be sure, the Bowser administration has logged some successes. It shuttered the noxious and degraded D.C. General homeless shelter and, with the D.C. Council’s help, executed a plan to open smaller shelters in most wards, despite many of those projects being mired in petty, if not outright racist, lawsuits. Bowser’s human services agency opened a long sought-after day services center for homeless adults, and has plans to update a handful of low-barrier homeless shelters for single people. 

“Despite those wins, Bowser’s government has not met any of the major homeless population targets outlined in Homeward DC. Far from fulfilling her campaign promise to eliminate homelessness for good, some populations have actually seen a rise. The District’s education system has reported an increase in student homelessness nearly every year since 2016, with homeless youths outnumbering the entire homeless population reported by [the Department of Human Services]. Veteran homelessness, which Bowser promised to snuff out by the end of 2015, actually increased from 2017 to 2018. Homelessness among single adults continues to increase, too, and dozens of unsheltered people die on the streets every year. Despite pledges to reduce D.C.’s reliance on motel rooms as emergency overflow shelter, DHS continues to pay for hundreds of rooms.

“Family homelessness, perhaps the Bowser administration’s greatest initial focus, has fared relatively better, but still hasn’t seen anywhere near the progress needed to end it soon. By the most optimistic math, it has decreased about 24 percent from 2015 to 2019. Simultaneously, the number of families who receive temporary subsidized housing vouchers through rapid rehousing has doubled since Bowser took office — these families are not counted as homeless — and they often live in some of the city’s most deplorably maintained apartments.” [City Paper]

— May 2020: ‘With 16 beds up and 32 more on the way Hope Has a Home looks to transform medical respite care for DC’s homeless community.’ Julia Pinney for Street Sense: “Last year, the District had fewer than 50 ‘medical respite’ beds for people experiencing homelessness who are too sick to be living on the street or in a shelter but not sick enough to be in a hospital or nursing-home setting. There were 34 for men at Christ House and 12 at Patricia Handy Place for Women. Then, in October, Hope Has a Home opened two new facilities, each providing 8 beds. Four more homes are planned to open within the next year. 

“When the program receives a referral call for a homeless man with complex medical needs, the program’s social worker, Arsiema Yeibio, is often his first point of contact. ‘Usually he’ll have a bunch of questions,’ Yeibio said, from what the program could provide — a safe bed in which to heal and assistance in potentially securing permanent housing — to its standards. The program is low-barrier, so while there are behavioral requirements, sobriety and medication adherence for a mental-health condition are not among them.

“Hope Has a Home committed to opening 48 medical respite beds in the District, doubling the city’s capacity for this service.” [Street Sense]

— June 2020: ‘Homelessness crisis is expected in D.C. when coronavirus emergency ends and evictions begin.’ Robert McCartney in The Washington Post: “Just about the time the District is coming out of the coronavirus crisis, it will face a new one over homelessness, housing experts warn.

“Thousands of tenants who recently lost their jobs because of the pandemic shutdown can no longer afford to pay their rent or will soon lack the money to do so. They’re able to stay in their homes for now because of an emergency moratorium on evictions. But the ban ends 60 days after Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) lifts the public health emergency, and evictions are likely to surge, according to officials and advocates for tenants.

“Jewel Burgess, 39, is ‘definitely worried’ about losing her one-bedroom apartment in Northeast. She stopped paying her monthly $1,002 rent in April in a strike over the lack of cleaning and other poor conditions in her building. Now she can’t afford it after being furloughed in May from her job delivering meals for the city’s Office on Aging.” [The Washington Post]

— June 2020: ‘Franklin Park renovations begin, leaving some homeless residents unsure where to go.’ Lana Green for Street Sense: “People experiencing homelessness, and the rest of the public, will lose access to Franklin Park due to a 12-month renovation project organized by the National Park Service and the Executive Office of the Mayor beginning July 1. The renovation began with a clean-up conducted by the National Park Service on June 30. When Street Sense went to press, fencing was planned to be constructed around the park on July 1.

“First proposed in 2005, the $18 million redevelopment project includes a cafe-pavilion, a new children’s garden, relocation of paths, Capital Bike Share stations, and a central flag-stone plaza with a fountain. After a partnership between the National Park Service, the District, and Downtown D.C. BID was solidified in 2012, the organizations developed a planning effort that took into account community input, including from public meetings with people experiencing homelessness. 

“… Franklin Park is an unofficial home for multiple outreach services, and its residents rely on the park for a place to sleep and receive services provided by businesses and nonprofits. Now, its residents aren’t sure what comes next.” [Street Sense]

— August 2020: ‘Two homeless residents say Dupont Circle neighbors cleared their belongings when they were given an Airbnb for one night.’ Lana Green for Street Sense: “Two homeless residents living in front of the Safeway at 17th and Corcoran streets NW lost all their belongings to vigilantes overnight. Stevie and Savon have been living outside in the Dupont Circle area for nearly a year and a half after moving from an underpass on K street NE that had been frequently targeted by city encampment cleanups and was later permanently closed to tents in January. 

“A close friend offered them a shower and room for the night on Saturday, July 25, according to Stevie. They accepted this charitable reprieve from life on the street but returned the next day to find that all of their belongings — including medicine, birth certificates, and their home — had been removed without their knowledge. 

“According to the police report, Savon and Stevie left their encampment in front of the Safeway at 10 p.m. for a night stay at the nearby Airbnb and all of their belongings were removed between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m.” [Street Sense]

— August 2020: ‘‘Two sides of the same coin’: Addressing the link between racism and homelessness.’ Christian Zapata in DCist: “Nationally, Black people comprise 40% of the homeless population, despite being only 13% of the general public. In the District, Black residents make up nearly 48% of the general population, but 88% of people experiencing homelessness. To many working to end homelessness, systemic racism is part and parcel to chronic homelessness.

“‘Homelessness is caused by racism. Full stop,’ says Jesse Rabinowitz, Advocacy Campaign Manager at Miriam’s Kitchen. According to Rabinowitz, racism not only forces people into homelessness, but keeps them trapped there longer by making it harder to find a place to live, secure a job, or gain access to supportive services.

“‘We will not end homelessness without addressing racial equity,’ Rabinowitz said. ‘They are two sides of the same coin.’” [DCist]

— August 2020: ‘A ‘small but mighty’ protest marches on Mayor Bowser’s house demanding Department of Human Services reform.’ Will Lennon for The DC Line and Street Sense: “Activists marched to the home of DC Mayor Muriel Bowser on a recent Saturday to protest the quality of services provided to homeless people in the District. Protesters singled out the District’s Department of Human Services and a contractor it has used for nearly three decades as the sources of their dissatisfaction.

“The Aug. 15 event was organized by a coalition of groups, including Grassroots CUA, Ward 5 Mutual Aid and Black Lives Matter DC. They first gathered at Shepherd Elementary School and were followed from there by members of the Metropolitan Police Department, which monitored the demonstration for over three hours.

“The protest in the northern tip of Ward 4 was organized in part to bring attention to the poor experiences of families who have been sheltered by DC’s Department of Human Services (DHS) in motels and hotels, especially the Quality Inn and Days Inn on New York Avenue NE.

“Activists say they fear that DHS’s withdrawal from these hotels as of this month will put an end to investigations into conditions faced by people staying there. While the shift away from the use of hotels to shelter families experiencing homelessness has been planned for more than a year, projections of homelessness increasing by as much as 45% in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic also have advocates worried the city will not be providing enough shelter space.” [The DC Line]

— September 2020: ‘A report on the life of Alice Carter highlights gaps in D.C.’s continuity of care system.’ Chelsea Cirruzzo for Washington City Paper: “In early December 2019, Alice Carter, a transgender woman who had experienced homelessness, met with the clinical director of Street Sense Media, Lissa Ramsepaul, and told her she wanted to ‘do some different things’ to change her life. Carter was a ubiquitous and beloved figure in D.C., with an ‘infectious smile’ and a love for poetry and music. She even performed her poetry onstage at Busboys and Poets. 

“But for years, Carter struggled with both a mental health and substance use disorder, and was repeatedly incarcerated. She had also recently told a nurse at Community Connections, an organization that provides behavioral health care and primary care services to people with substance use disorders and mental illnesses, that she was drinking four pints of alcohol a day and using cocaine, PCP, and K2. 

“ … These details about Carter’s life, her treatment in D.C., and the circumstances that led to her death — all based on medical records and accounts by the people who knew and worked with her — are included in a new case study conducted by Street Sense Media for the D.C. Auditor. The report examines the public and private institutions that shaped Carter’s life in an attempt to ‘put a human face’ on substance use disorders and incarceration, according to D.C. Auditor Kathleen Patterson.

“The report is a rare and somewhat unprecedented look at the intimate details of life that officials often decline to provide — or are legally barred from providing — to the press. But Clara Hendrickson, the reporter who wrote the case study, says telling Carter’s story in this way provides an opportunity for the city to better support people experiencing homelessness.” [City Paper]

• Related: ‘How a D.C. sex worker became the face of a city report on drug treatment failures’ by Justin Wm. Moyer [The Washington Post]

— October 2020: ‘Thousands of D.C. renters are evicted every year. Do they all know to show up to court?’ Josh Kaplan for DCist with funding from Spotlight DC: “Thanks to the work of legislators and tenant advocates over the years, renters facing eviction in D.C. have more rights than almost anywhere in the country, and Superior Court judges dutifully administer those rights inside the courthouse.

“But the entire system rests on a pin: the means by which tenants are notified that they need to come to court.

“In D.C., tenants are supposed to find out about eviction cases — which are currently halted by the coronavirus pandemic — via private process servers, who are hired directly by landlords (or their lawyers) to deliver summonses. They let tenants know about their cases and tell them exactly when to come to court. Earlier this year, Superior Court also began sending notice of suits by mail.

“But the only evidence that a tenant was informed of their eviction hearing is a document called an affidavit of service, in which a process server swears that they served the summons. Upon closer examination, though, many of these affidavits are demonstrably false.

“A nine-month investigation — which included observing week after week of eviction proceedings in Superior Court, poring through more than 13,000 pages of court records, conducting nearly 60 interviews, and reviewing hours of security camera footage — turned up more than 600 cases in just two months where two process servers filed affidavits containing discrepancies that, if brought to a judge’s attention, would likely result in the eviction case being dismissed.” [DCist]

• Related: ‘D.C. Council strengthens requirements for notice of eviction cases’ by Jenny Gathright [DCist]; ‘D.C. landlords often use eviction notices to pressure tenants for rent, study shows’ by Ally Schweitzer [DCist]; ‘A small group of landlords is behind nearly half of D.C.’s evictions, report says’ by Kyle Swenson [The Washington Post]; ‘How D.C.’s eviction system kicks tenants when they are down’ by columnist Colbert King [The Washington Post]