News

As the National Park Service moves to close all local encampments on its land, the DC government is considering relaunching a controversial pilot program that aims to connect encampment residents with housing vouchers. At least in…
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It wasn’t the first time Moon has packed his life into his cobalt-blue backpack. Now middle-aged, he has left countless temporary homes since becoming homeless at 15. But this time, he was planning his next move in a city with a dwindling…
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The DC Council’s reconstituted Housing Committee expects to have a busy year as legislators grapple with voucher backlogs, poor shelter conditions and a still-under-fire housing authority. Street Sense and The DC Line caught up with…
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DC's beleaguered housing agency is taking steps toward overhauling its contracting policy, following a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) review published last fall that revealed many “systemic problems” with the…
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Close observers of DC’s homeless services are predicting the city’s shelters may be full by midyear as a potential rise in demand for beds coincides with the shuttering of some shelter programs.  Next week, the National Park Service…
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A year ago, Dr. Mayaalla MuQaddim Abdullah Al Saud was nearly asleep when neon-vested volunteers approached her tent while conducting an annual census of people experiencing homelessness. They asked how long she’d been sleeping outside,…
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DC’s public housing agency is set to have a busy 2023.  Responding to criticism in a stinging U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) assessment made public in October, the DC Council installed a temporary DC Housing…
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For the 10th year in a row, dozens of people gathered on the longest night of the year to remember District residents who died without a home, often without fanfare or memorial services. This year’s Homeless Memorial Vigil, held…
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It was just 30 degrees outside when Jamaar Andre Taylor unzipped the outer flap of his tent to find a dozen people telling him he had to leave. On the morning of Dec. 14, the National Park Service (NPS) closed the Scott Circle…
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After temporarily boosting housing and nutrition benefits in the first year of the pandemic, the DC Council is poised to make their expansion permanent. Legislators unanimously approved the measures during a first reading at their Dec. 6…
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Two months after the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued a stinging assessment of the DC Housing Authority (DCHA), the public outcry as well as the potential penalties are already leading to change — though some…
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As Yeny finished a recent 16-hour workday, she discovered she’d lost money. Yeny, who’s being referred to by just her first name to prevent retaliation, works construction and child care jobs as a domestic worker in DC. That day,…
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DC’s plan to eliminate homelessness for single adults appears to be faltering. Prior to the start of fiscal year 2022, the District did something unprecedented. In a bid to end homelessness for single adults, the DC government funded a…
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People using housing vouchers in DC spent this past summer in limbo. In the spring, the DC Housing Authority (DCHA) deliberated changing the maximum value of all 20,000 vouchers the agency administers. If implemented, the change could have…
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Sitting outside the bright red doors of the Church of the Epiphany, Colleen peered at her tent on the sidewalk. Soon, city workers would order her to remove it in preparation for the day’s encampment engagement. Colleen’s friends were…
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By Jalynn Charity, Joy Li and Zioni Moore It’s in your gas stove. It leaks from service lines leading into houses and apartment buildings. It crisscrosses large regions of the United States through underground pipelines. It has the…
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If you’re facing eviction in DC, there’s just one number you need to call for help: 202-780-2575. It’s an eviction prevention hotline and the attorneys who staff it stopped 70% of evictions sought by landlords from September 2021 to March…
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The tent Chris Cole lived in was a sauna. It wasn’t even 7 a.m. and she could already feel the sun. Her thin roof offered little protection as the temperature outside climbed to 95 degrees. She could hardly breathe. She had to get indoors.…
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Doug had a housing voucher, but he was still sleeping outside.  Three days after the Jan. 6 insurrection, he boarded a train to DC on the promise of a job. When he arrived, he learned his start date was delayed. The place he had…
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For the past two years, Reina has had three jobs.  “Teacher, mother, provider,” she said. “It was very difficult.”  Reina, who asked to be referred to by her first name out of concern for retaliation, is a domestic worker in DC. When…
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