Trump's crackdown on DC homeless encampments begins
At an encampment a few miles from the Lincoln Memorial and the Kennedy Center, a group of a dozen people broke down their tents and stuffed their clothes in garbage bags with the help of city workers and local homeless advocacy groups. The tents that remained – and everything in them – were soon bulldozed and taken to a landfill.
'(The president) is targeting us and persecuting us,' said David Beatty, a homeless man living in the encampment that Trump posted a photo of on social media last week. 'He wants to take our freedom away.'
The moves come days after Trump assumed federal control of the city's police department and mobilized the National Guard, declaring a "crime emergency" and vowing to clear homeless people off the streets of DC. As more federal agents and National Guard troops are brought into Washington, local officials and social workers have sought to get ahead of the anticipated operations.
The push to clear encampments also comes as cities across the United States, including longtime Democratic strongholds such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, have also seen an increase in homeless sweeps and encampment closures.
A landmark 2024 Supreme Court decision that allowed laws banning people from sleeping outside, even if they have nowhere else to go, led to a broad crackdown on homelessness in California, and in dozens of cities, towns and rural communities nationwide.
City boosts shelter space as encampments are broken up
In mid-August, workers with the DC Department of Human Services visited each of the known encampments, warning of the impending crackdown and offering residents beds in local shelters and storage space.
The speedy operations came with little warning and have left the city's homeless population scrambling for places to go. Some plan to move into shelters, while others say they're going to go to neighboring states like Virginia or Maryland. A few said they will continue to wander the city hoping they will stumble on a safe place to sleep.
'I haven't known what's next for so long that it's part of normal life at this point,' said Jesse Wall, 43, who was forced to pack up his tent and leave the encampment he's lived in for the last several months. "We'll see what happens."
In anticipation of a sweeping clampdown on homelessness, the city's human services department added about 70 beds to shelters and expanded storage space to hold people's possessions that they can't carry with them on the street, said Rachel Pierre, acting director of the agency.
She said shelters were full when the president's order came down, but that the agency is prepared to open up more beds and storage facilities if they need to.
"What we are committed to is that we don't turn anybody away from shelter right now," Pierre said.
Since the pandemic, the number of people living in DC's homeless encampments has declined by two-thirds, said Wayne Turnage, deputy mayor of the city's Department of Health and Human Services.
This year alone, the U.S. Park Police have disbanded about 70 encampments from federal parks in the city, said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. The last two still standing will be broken down this week, she added.
There are still many homeless people who are not living in encampments, local advocate groups say. In January, the city counted 900 people living on the streets during a one-night survey.
Advocates warn that encampment sweeps don't address the root causes of homelessness and only make the crisis worse by forcing people into a cycle of jail, debt and living on the streets.
'Fines, arrests, and encampment evictions make homelessness worse, further traumatize our homeless neighbors while disconnecting them from community and support," said Dana White, director of advocacy for Miriam's Kitchen, a local organization that works with homeless people. 'If policing resolved homelessness, we wouldn't have homelessness here in DC or anywhere else in this country.'
DC's homeless communities face uncertain future
On Aug. 14, Wall stuffed his clothes, his rolled-up sleeping bag and a folder of important documents in silver trash bags. The night before, he came home to find a note tacked on to his tent saying the encampment he's called home for the last few months would be taken down the following morning.
After packing up, he and several of his neighbors milled around the grassy median where they live, discussing what they will do next and where to go.
Wall, who moved into a tent nearly a year ago, told USA TODAY he might stay at a shelter for a few nights. Beyond that, he's not sure where he'll end up.
'It's cruel,' he said of the sweeping order and push to move people off the streets.
Beatty, who has been homeless in DC for several years, said he may go to Virginia to avoid the federal crackdown.
'I don't know how far of a walk that is,' he said, as a bulldozer began tearing through a nearby tent.
Contributing: Karissa Waddick
(This story was updated to add new information.)
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Washington DC cracks down on homeless encampments
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