03 08 2017

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Volume 14: Issue 9 March 8 - 21, 2017

Street

sense FEDERAL HOUSING BILL FACES STEEP ODDS

BROOKLAND MANOR RESIDENTS OPPOSE DEVELOPMENT PLAN ORGANIZERS DEMAND END TO SANFORD CAPITAL SLUM CONDITIONS MANY HOMELESS PATRONS CAUGHT OFF GUARD BY MLK LIBRARY CLOSURE

EVICTION COMPANIES CONTINUE TO EXPLOIT HOMELESS DAY LABORERS Marc h Wom 8 is Intern ation en al let’s t ’s Day, alk ch a of po verty llenges and perio ds pg 4

Street Sense is the street media center of our nation’s capital. We aim to serve as a vehicle for elevating voices and public debate on issues relating to poverty while also creating economic opportunities for people who are facing homelessness in our community.

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THOUGHTS & PRAYERS As I mourn the death of my mom, Mrs. Billie Cheek, I know that she is happy to be reunited with my dad, Dr. Conrad Cheek Sr. —Conrad Cheek Jr., Artist/Vendor

COVER ART Lenora Holloman at a Feb. 23 Brookland Manor redevelopment protest outside of a D.C. zoning hearing.

PHOTO BY ASHLEY CLARKE DESIGN BY JEFFERY MURRAY

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OUR STORY Street Sense began in August 2003 after Laura Thompson Osuri and Ted Henson approached the National Coalition for the Homeless on separate occasions with the idea to start a street paper in Washington, D.C. Through the work of dedicated volunteers, Street Sense published its first issue in November 2003. In 2005, Street Sense achieved 501 ( c ) 3 status as a nonprofit organization, formed a board of directors and hired a full-time executive director.

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS Jeremy Bratt, Max Gaujean, Margaret Jenny, Robyn Kerr, Jennifer Park, Reed Sandridge, Dan Schwartz, Jeremy Scott, John Senn, Kate Sheppard, Anne Willis EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Brian Carome EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Eric Falquero COMMUNICATIONS & SALES MANAGER Jeff Gray VENDOR MANAGER Mysa Elsarag EVENTS & ADMINISTRATION MANAGER Dani Gilmour INTERNS Ashley Clarke, Bryan Gallion, Ariel Gomez, Ji Kim, Jeffery Murray, Jeanine Santucci WRITERS GROUP LEADERS (VOLUNTEER) Donna Daniels, Susan Orlins, Willie Schatz OPINION EDITORS (VOLUNTEER) Rachel Brody, Arthur Delaney, Britt Peterson EDITORIAL & PAPER SALES VOLUNTEERS Jane Cave, Leah DiBianco, Roberta Haber, Leonie Peterkin, Andrew Siddons, Marian Wiseman, Eugene Versluysen VENDORS Shuhratjon Ahamadjonov, Gerald Anderson, Charles Armstrong, Lawrence Autry, Daniel Ball, Aida Basnight, Phillip Black, Reginald Black, Melanie Black, Phillip Black Jr., Maryann Blackmon, Viktor Blokhine, Debora Brantley, Andre Brinson, Donald Brown, Joan Bryant, Elizabeth Bryant, Brianna Butler, Melody Byrd, Conrad Cheek, Aaron Colbert, Anthony Crawford, Walter Crawley, Kwayera Dakari, James Davis, Clifton Davis, Charles Davis, David Denny, James DeVaughn, Ricardo Dickerson, Dennis Diggs, Alvin Dixon-El, Ronald Dudley, Charles Eatmon, Deana Elder, Julie Ellis, Jemel Fleming, Chon Gotti, Marcus Green, Barron Hall, Tyrone Hall, Richard Hart Lorrie Hayes, Patricia Henry, Jerry Hickerson, Ray Hicks, Sol Hicks, Rachel Higdon, Ibn Hipps, Leonard Hyater, Joseph Jackson, Carlton Johnson, Donald Johnson, Harold Johnson, Allen Jones, Mark Jones, Morgan Jones, Linda Jones, Darlesha Joyner, Juliene Kengnie, Kathlene Kilpatrick, Hope Lassiter, John Littlejohn, James Lott, Scott Lovell, Michael Lyons, Jimmy M. Ken Martin, Joseph Martin, Kina Mathis, Michael Lee Matthew, Authertimer Matthews, Charlie Mayfield, Jermale McKnight, Jeffery McNeil, Ricardo Meriedy, Cynthia Mewborn, Kenneth Middleton, Cecil More, L. Morrow, Evelyn Nnam, Moyo Onibuje, Earl Parkin, Lucifer Potter, Ash-Shaheed Rabil, Henrieese Roberts, Anthony Robinson, Doris Robinson, Raquel Rodriquez, Lawrence Rogers, Joseph Sam, Chris Shaw, Patty Smith, Smith Smith, Gwynette Smith, Ronald Smoot, Franklin Sterling, Warren Stevens James Stewart, Beverly Sutton, Sybil Taylor, Archie Thomas, Shernell Thomas, Craig Thompson, Eric Thompson-Bey, Sarah Turley-Colin, Carl Turner, Jacqueline Turner, Leon Valentine, Grayla Vereen, Ron Verquer, Martin Walker, Michael Warner, Robert Warren, Angelyn Whitehurst, William Whitsett, Wendell Williams, Sasha Williams, Judson Williams III, Ivory Wilson, Denise Wilson, Charles Woods

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Ward 5 Tenants Accuse Developer of Discrimination

By Ashley Clarke ashley.clarke@streetsense.org Residents of Brookland Manor are protesting a move by the owners of the housing complex to modernize apartments by making them smaller, more expensive and developing more of them. They fear the plans will lead to the displacement of large families and low-income tenants.

“They are pushing people out...It’s not fair,” Leonora Holloman said in an interview. Holloman moved to Brookland Manor six years ago, where she lives with her daughter and three grandchildren in a fourbedroom apartment. She was one of roughly 100 protestors who demonstrated in front of the Wilson Building at the beginning of a Feb. 23 zoning hearing about the project.

MidCity Financial Corp., owners of Brookland Manor, envision a more modern complex with state of the art amenities. It will be renamed Brentwood Village.

“The final product will be a 20-plusacre mixed-use, mixed-income neighborhood with community-serving retail, green space and more,” according to a statement provided to Street Sense

by Maier & Warner, a public relations firm representing MidCity.

The complex, which has just over 500 units, is mainly occupied by low-income residents. Approximately 100 of the units are four and five bedroom apartments. The redevelopment plan does not include any units that have more than three bedrooms, according to a tenant organizer who has been a part of the hearings thus far.

MidCity agreed to keep some of the units “affordable” for the residents whose rents are subsidized by the government. But current residents are

fearful that with the smaller apartment will come a heftier rent, which would force them out of their community.

In the statement from MidCity, the developer said that they have already committed to work with the families that live in large apartments at Brookland Manor in order to accommodate them on the property in appropriate housing. That has not assuaged the tenants’ anxieties.

Holloman said that without larger apartments at Brookland Manor, her family will have to find another home if they want to continue living together. “I like my community. It’s convenient. Convenient to the subway. You can walk to the shops if you’re so inclined to,” she said.

The company’s statement says it intends to build a 200-unit “senior Section 8 building and multifamily building” on site to house existing residents, before demolition of Brookland Manor would begin. Information on individual unit costs or size has not yet been made available.

Ya s m i n a M r a b e t , a c o m m u n i t y organizer for Organizing Neighborhood Equity D.C., said tenants and organizers have been unable to get MidCity to release exact numbers of multigenerational families living in Brookland Manor who might be displaced.

“There are many grandparents taking care of grandchildren. There are people who have grown up there, raised there kids there,” Mrabet said.

The Brookland Manor/Brentwood Village neighborhood association has filed a discrimination lawsuit against MidCity.

“Family’s are supposed to be a protected class,” Mrabet said.

ONE DC, who helped organize the demonstration on Feb. 23, asked current

residents to tell their stories. Many expressed pride in their community.

“I raised my kids there and they’re grown, now I am currently raising my grandkids there”, said a tenant to the crowd. “Brookland Manor is a place where families become families. We are all connected, we all look out for each other, we feed each other, we look out for each other’s kids. It’s our home.”

MidCity said that there have been misconceptions about the elimination of affordable housing options. But tenants feel the developer has not been transparent enough.

No pricing information for the new development has been released. Without it, tenants have begun to worry that the developer’s definition of “affordable” might be very different from what’s actually affordable for current residents. The neighborhood association’s attorney, Will Merrifield, asked MidCity what the statement “qualified tenants will be able to return after the development” meant during cross examination at the Feb. 23 hearing. MidCity representatives declined to answer.

“Our children are suffering”, said Yvonne Johnson in an interview, another Brookland Manor resident. “If you could see the depression that has set in with our little ones you wouldn’t believe it. They’re afraid that when they come home from school, that they’ll have no place to live.”

Johnson said she was born in D.C. and has no plans on moving. She has worked in the school system for 20 years and has never seen this kind of anxiety from younger residents before. Her granddaughter is a student at George Mason University and on top of worrying about her grades, she worries that her family will not have a place

STREET SENSE March 8 - 21, 2017

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to live, according to Johnson.

“This has got to stop in this city,” Johnson said, referencing displacement caused by redevelopment. “This city owes us. We stayed when it was burning. We stayed, no one else stayed. We did.”

Linda Leaks, a ONE DC member and self-described “long-time organizer for housing justice” also spoke at the protest.

“It is so great to see so many people out here raising your voices and shouting out loud to those people in there who are making decisions.” Leeks said. “I am happy to see you fighting for your rights.

Fighting for your homes!”

Leeks says she will not allow policymakers and big developers to push residents out of their housing. She urged the crowd to hold government officials accountable for their actions.

Protestors specifically targeted Ward 5 Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie, who represents the neighborhood where Brookland Manor is located. One woman, tenant Serita El Amin, held a sign that read, “HEY McDUFFIE WHEN I BECOME HOMELESS YOU CAN COME LIVE WITH ME!”. “ We v o t e d f o r t h i s m a y o r, t h e y supposed to be here for us., El Amin said to the crowd. “When we leave, who is gonna vote for them? We need these councilmembers out here too, where they at? We voted for you, where you at?”

Amin said this was a fight for the community’s rights, a community where she had raised her own children as well as looked after those of her neighbors. “If you give me a chance I’ll raise your kids there,” El Amin said. “That’s who we are at Brookland Manor.”

The next zoning hearing related to this project is scheduled for March 16. ■

Underdog Federal Housing Bill Reintroduced

By Bryan Gallion, bryan.gallion@streetsense.org Rep. Keith Ellison reintroduced the Common Sense Housing Investment Act (H.R. 948) in the U.S. House of Representatives on Feb. 8. The bill would make it easier for the middle and working classes to find affordable rental housing.

“Working Americans who put in long hours should be able to afford a place to sleep and food to eat every night,” Rep. Ellison, a Democrat from Minnesota’s 5th District, said in a Feb. 8 press release.

Two federal housing goals are to increase the country’s home ownership rate and to offer affordable rental housing to low-income families and individuals, according to congressional findings. Yet the federal government allocates three times more funding to support home ownership growth than it does to ensure affordable rental housing.

For families in the bottom 20 percent of income, there are 31 affordable units for every 100 families that need them, according to the bill, which states an

additional 7 million affordable homes are necessary to meet demand.

Waiting lists for housing assistance can be 10 years long and are closed in many communities, including the District. One in four families that qualify for rental housing assistance receive benefits, according to the congressional findings.

The bill, which amends the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, suggests reforming the mortgage interest deduction — a $70 billion tax write-off that largely benefits the country’s highest-income households — to benefit those in need of housing resources.

The alterations would convert the MID to a 15 percent flat rate tax credit on interest paid on mortgages up to $500,000. The amount of a mortgage eligible for a tax write-off would be lowered from $1 million to $500,000, a change that would affect fewer than 6 percent of mortgage holders, according to the United for Homes Campaign. These changes would be implemented over a fiveyear period.

Changing the MID to a tax credit would benefit 60 million homeowners, up from the current 43 million, according to analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. The $241 billion saved over 10 years would go toward providing affordable rental homes by expanding the Housing Trust Fund, Low Income Housing Tax Credit, public housing and rental assistance solutions.

The National Low Income Housing Coalition and the United for Homes Campaign — which has been endorsed by more that 2,300 local, state and national organizations nationwide — support this act.

H.R. 948 was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means and the Committee on Financial Services. The period in which it is reviewed, which is determined by the Speaker, will allow each committee to review elements of the act that fall under their respective jurisdictions.

This bill has a 2 percent likelihood of being enacted, according to PredictGov.

Factors considered in this prediction include the bill’s overall text, its Democratic primary sponsor and its primary subject of taxation.

In a Feb. 14 letter addressed to the Committee on Ways and Means, Chairman Kevin Brady and Ranking Member Richard E. Neal, Ellison urged the committee to redirect savings from tax benefit changes to providing affordable rental housing.

“At a time when America’s housing affordability crisis continues to reach new heights, our nation should be investing resources into programs that serve those with the most acute housing needs,” Ellison wrote.

The letter was co-signed by 33 members of Congress.

Ellison introduced earlier versions of this bill in 2012, 2013 and 2015, all of which were referred to the Committee on Ways and Means and the Committee on Financial Services but did not make it out of committee. ■

D.C. Council Hears Testimony on Unsafe City-funded Housing On March 3, the D.C. Council Committee on Housing and Neighborhood Revitalization held a performance oversight hearing to assess the agencies it monitors.

Nearly 30 District residents appeared to testify against slum conditions in lowincome housing, hoping to persuade officials to improve the quality and increase the quantity of affordable housing units in the city.

Most of them resided in Wards 7 and 8 — historically the District’s poorest areas, according to census data. Despite utilizing low-income housing subsidies provided by the government, many residents said they continue to become victims of gentrification. Justice First, a local nonprofit, worked to organize residents to testify.

Tenants from properties of Bathesdabased Sanford Capital testified that their apartments often have rats, gas leaks, drippy ceilings, failing heating units or refrigerators and squatters.

Sanford was the subject of recent exposes by Washington City Paper and The Washington Post. Aside from the abysmal conditions, major findings included that Sanford had already been cited and fined for many examples of these conditions by the D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, with fines still outstanding. D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine sued the company last October, stating that it has over 200 violations in just 2 apartment complexes, resulting in $150,000 in fines. Despite this, D.C. still allows the company to accept city-subsidized low-income tenants and federal housing vouchers because the availability of affordable housing is so limited and Sanford controls a significant portion of it. Department of Human Services Director Laura Zeilinger told The Washington Post that she felt her hands were tied by these realities. In other words, the city is simultaneously enriching and suing Sanford.

Washington City Paper reported that between DHS rent subsidies and D.C. Housing Authority vouchers, Sanford is being paid about $3.7 million a year, by District and federal programs.

City Paper also discovered that Mayor Bowser had accepted $1000 over the legal limit in campaign contributions from Sanford Capital during her 2014 run.

In November, Street Sense reported on the conditions of Stanford Capital property in Congress Heights, where tenants reported they’re needs were neglected to force them to accept buyouts or simply move so that Sanford could flip the property. Stanford Capital did not respond to requests for comment on that article or on this brief.

When it comes to gentrification and increasing rent rates, “Many of our leaders would like to turn every bit of this town into Georgetown,” D.C. resident Jim McGrath said at the D.C. Council hearing, adding, “but housing is not a commodity.”

— Carlos Rocha, Volunteer

New York City Leads Nation in Providing Feminine Hygiene Products for All

By Ji Kim ji.kim@streetsense.org “Hallelujah that I don’t have my period anymore!” said Angela, a client of Thrive D.C., which began in 1979 as a dinner program for homeless women. Now over fifty, Angela recalled how difficult her menstrual period had been before she had a hysterectomy, especially since her abnormally heavy flow was due to fibroids. “Before then, I was bleeding all over the place—through my panties, pants, everywhere.”

This “blood coming out of her wherever,” as President Trump once remarked to a news anchor, is menstruation: the “period” of time every month in which a woman’s uterus sheds its endometrial lining if there is no fertilized egg.

Many women know first-hand that a heavy flow can be a tremendous inconvenience and women of all economic and social strata know that feminine products are costly, prompting D.C. to join eight other states that have specifically exempted feminine hygiene products from sales tax.

In December 2016 the District passed legislation that will end taxes on feminine hygiene products, diapers and incontinence products. However, before the Feminine Hygiene and Diapers Sales Tax Amendment of 2016 can be enforced, approximately $3.3 million in expected lost tax revenue will have to be accounted for in the city budget . The law was championed by At-Large Councilmember Anita Bonds, whose chief of staff expressed confidence in the bill’s implementation, citing a $66 million surplus in funding for the 2017 fiscal year.

D.C. Council will hold budget hearings throughout the next several months before proposing and passing a final budget with Mayor Bowser in June.

Meanwhile, New York City will be the first city in the nation to ensure, by law, free pads and tampons to females in its public schools, correctional treatment facilities and homeless shelters. The NYC law will be implemented at the same time D.C.’s tax relief law will take effect, assuming it receives funding.

Currently, the District’s public schools, correctional treatment facilities and homeless shelters provide feminine hygiene products via government funding and grants. The funding is for general health costs, not specifically for feminine hygiene products, according to Susana Castillo, public relations specialist at Mayor Bowser’s office.

D.C. Public Schools reported that they

provide students with feminine products in the health or nursing suite, funded through DCPS’ nursing contract with the D.C. Department of Health. This contrasts with New York City’s initiative, which will set up free, easy to access pad and tampon dispensers in public schools. Providing female students the ability to discreetly access free health products without taking time away from class to see the school nurse was a prime reason for NYC’s bill, NYC Councilmember Julissa Ferreras-Copeland has said at public meetings.

New York City’s free feminine hygiene movement was powered by activist Jennifer Weiss-Wolf, the same advocate behind the national “Stop Taxing Our Periods! Period.” petition and the main person who stirred NYC Councilmember Ferreras-Copeland to help lead the cause for free health products in NYC schools, prisons and shelters.

In most jurisdictions in the United States, tampons are taxed through a generic sales tax that states independently regulate over goods and services. Some items, such as food and medicine, are exempt from sales tax because they are necessities. Erectile dysfunction medicines such as Viagra are not taxed in most states because they are prescription drugs. Likewise, birth control pills, as a prescription drug, are not taxed.

Until recently, policymakers had neglected to think about exempting feminine hygiene products from the sales tax as necessities, explained Weiss-Wolf in an interview with NPR. Not everyone is in favor of eliminating the sales tax on feminine products. A “good tax policy” should “tax everything,” wrote David Brunori of Tax Analysts, a group self-described as the “only independent, nonpartisan multimedia organization dedicated to fostering an open and informed debate on taxation.”

After having been called by numerous reporters and legislators, Brunori posted an article in March 2016 in hopes of “putting it all to bed.”

He wrote: “They [exemptions for necessities] narrow the base, complicate administration and compliance, distort markets, and often cost a lot of money.

Besides, they are heavy-handed ways of providing relief to the poor since the rich benefit as well.”

In the same year the American Medical Association spoke in support of legislation to remove all sales tax on feminine hygiene products, deeming them a “regressive penalty.”

Thrive D.C. confirmed that they do not receive funding specifically for feminine h y g i e n e p r o d u c t s . G r e g Ro c k w e l l , community relations manager, stated

that they are able to maintain supplies of pads and tampons through a steady rate of donations.

“In the past years, there may have been a few times where we’ve run out of pads but now we have a steady supply,” Rockwell said, “People just know now, through more awareness, that one of the things we need are pads and tampons.”

A Thrive D.C. client who wished to stay anonymous spoke about availability of feminine products. “Depends where you go,” she said, “They’re OK [at Thrive D.C.]. Most places, you can get what you need, but at one place they gave me just one pad, just a single one.”

There is no formal, centralized distribution system to provide feminine hygiene products to in-need women in D.C. At Erna’s House, a part of N Street Village that provides housing and social services for homeless and low-income women, advocate Rabiah Frazier stated that the organization keeps supplies of feminine hygiene products mostly through donations. At Thrive D.C., Rockwell said that the staff exchanges resources with other organizations and individuals in need through informal networks of peers and friends.

When he was an at-large councilmember, Vincent Orange proposed the Mobile Hygiene Pilot Program Amendment Act of 2015, which would have enabled D.C. to re-purpose a bus as a mobile unit for showers, restrooms and hygiene products.

No action on the bill has been taken since it was published in the D.C. Registrar in October 2015 with a Notice of Intent to Act. Frazier, from N Street Village, only recently heard of NYC’s initiative for free feminine hygiene products and she gave her support for it as something that could happen in D.C. Responding to criticism of the initiative and the funding it would require, Frazier said, “One reminder to everyone is that a lot of the homeless here have worked before and paid taxes before.

This would be something that they would have, in a way, paid for already.”

While feminine hygiene products are costly for any woman and potentially hard to come by when needed most on the street, many women interviewed during one of Thrive D.C.’s recent women and children only dinners brushed off the topic and shifted focus to their greater concerns.

Periods—that stuff coming out of wherever—happen once a month, The women at Thrive D.C. cared more about overcoming daily struggles such as housing applications, navigating the maze of nonprofit service providers and a general lack of mental care readily available to those most in need. ■

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Eviction Companies Pay the Homeless Illegally Low Wages to Put People on the Street “We thought that this had been resolved years and years ago.”

BY ELIZABETH FLOCK Joseph Harris, formerly homeless, has worked evictions for over a decade. | PHOTO COURTESY OF DARROW MONTGOMERY / WASHINGTON CITY PAPER This article originally appeared in the Feb. 23 edition of Washington City Paper.

It has been reprinted here with permission in light of its importance to our audience and our own small contribution to the reporting. It can be found and shared online at washingtoncitypaper.com

I

t is a bitter cold morning in November, and the sun is just creeping up over the horizon. But for over an hour already, two unmarked vans have been idling or parked outside S.O.M.E. (So Others Might Eat), a longtime nonprofit that feeds D.C.’s homeless. These are the eviction company vans, known as “trucks,” and they are waiting for cheap, off-the-books labor.

Years of experience tells them they can get it at S.O.M.E., where men who sleep on the street or in the shelter congregate in the mornings. These men, and the occasional woman, are always looking to make a few dollars, and the eviction companies know the homeless will accept below the minimum wage of $11.50— accept even $7 total to work an eviction,

which can take a few hours or most of a day. And the companies also know that, because they are homeless, these men mostly will not complain, even if the job is to make others homeless.

Mostly. Today, an argument breaks out near one of the trucks. “They only pay you $7. They ain’t giving you nothing to eat. You’re better than that,” a tall, wiry man in a Chicago Bulls hat tells his shorter, squatter friend. “It’s better than nothing,” his friend says, moving past him to get in the truck, which is already crammed with men. The tall man shakes his head in frustration. “They always get the drunks and winos,” he mutters, and walks away.

Jason James, who stands nearby sipping coffee from a Styrofoam cup, is also frustrated, because today he didn’t get on a truck. He came all the way from Oxon Hill, Maryland, to S.O.M.E. on 71 O Street NW to try to make a few dollars, but he has already spent a few dollars on transport, and now he sees it was for nothing. “They don’t often take ‘us,’” James says, pointing at himself and a few others standing beside him in fresh, clean clothes. “You gotta have an addiction [to get chosen], because he gotta take his fix, so he’ll take whatever you give him.”

Some days, as many as four or five trucks show up outside S.O.M.E, each operated by a different eviction company. On those days, it’s easier for men like James to get on a truck. But today there are only two vehicles. Clusters of men gather around them, vying to get chosen for a “crew.”

In D.C., after a landlord successfully gets a writ of restitution to evict a tenant, he or she must hire an eviction crew to haul the tenant’s belongings to the curb.

For the sake of speed—and because in D.C. evictions are overseen by the U.S. Marshals Service, which has other jobs to do—that crew must be large enough to quickly carry out the eviction. The marshals require a crew of 25 people for a single-family home, 20 for a two-bedroom apartment, and 15 for a one bedroom.

Enter D.C.’s eviction companies, which are paid by landlords to show up with the appropriate-sized crew.

The people waiting for crew work outside S.O.M.E. take the jobs knowing the day will not be easy. According to interviews with more than a dozen people who work the trucks, this is what they are up against: First, there is no guarantee they’ll get paid what they’re offered.

Second, there are no set hours. Also, if the

work lasts all day, they may be able to eat or be given water, but they probably won’t.

There is no insurance if anyone gets hurt.

There are no gloves and no dollies to move heavy furniture—only trash bags.

There is often no transportation back to S.O.M.E. once the evictions are over, which could be in D.C. or far away in Virginia or Maryland.

There are some benefits to working these crews, of course. It is a job that requires no papers, doesn’t include background checks, and pays cash. There are opportunities for stealing—muchneeded clothing, an iPad, cash found squirreled away under a mattress. Charles Millender Jr., who worked the trucks for years to support himself while living in the shelters and eating at S.O.M.E., says, “You set somebody out, and then you steal people’s stuff to try to survive. Ain’t nobody going to have sympathy for you for that. But it’s a hurting feeling.”

In fact, the ACLU has filed a complaint with the U.S. Marshals Service over the handling of the 2015 eviction of Southeast resident Donya Williams and her daughter.

The complaint claims that marshals entered with guns drawn —despite no evidence that she posed a threat— while

she was naked and wouldn’t allow her to dress before marching her outside. It also claims that a tablet computer and largescreen TV went missing during the eviction.

“Losing your home shouldn’t mean losing your dignity,” says D.C. ACLU senior staff attorney Scott Michelman.

Workers also have to be hard—or hardened—because, as in the case of the Williams family, the people being evicted are often home. There might be little children or old ladies or parents who are angry. And they may react in many different ways. They might swear, or shout, or cry. They might beg not to put them out on the street.

Dupree Cross, 38, with a graying beard, has worked evictions that pick up outside S.O.M.E. and elsewhere for years, but he says he mostly stopped after a man shot himself during an eviction. The suicide was a turning point for Cross but not an isolated event or a matter of his bad luck. In 2006, multiple psychiatrists wrote a letter to a journal of the American Psychiatric Association warning that eviction had been a significant risk factor for suicide in their patients. They asked why this had not been studied before.

“I got emotional with it after someone shot his head off,” Cross says. “We were evicting someone and the wife came out screaming: ‘He shot his head off!’ After that I said, ‘I can’t do this work anymore.’”

When men like Cross drop out, the companies know dozens of others among the homeless are ready and willing to take his place. *** D.C.’s eviction trucks have been showing up outside S.O.M.E. to find labor since at least 1999, when City Paper first published a story about how homeless people were being employed to make others homeless. Back then, eviction companies even went inside the nonprofit’s cafeteria to recruit, but S.O.M.E. put an end to that practice.

And since at least 2006, these companies have been paying their homeless day laborers below minimum wage. That year, the homeless newspaper Street Sense published an expose of their practices, which sparked a class-action lawsuit brought by a group of homeless and formerly homeless men who worked the trucks. International law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton represented the men, who alleged that six eviction companies in D.C. were paying below the minimum wage, and were even colluding to do so. Three of the companies settled before the court made its findings, including one that settled and then disappeared without making payment.

In 2010, the court ordered that the remaining three companies start paying at least the minimum wage and also start maintaining wage records.

But only some of the companies complied with the court’s order. Three

eviction companies—Crawford & Crawford, East Coast Express Evictions, and Platinum Realtor Services, Inc.—never showed up in court, and the court never issued any monetary judgment against them. While Platinum Realtor appears to have dissolved,

because most low-income families live not in public housing, but in the private housing market, where they spend the majority of their income on rent and bills.

But D.C. may be unique in employing the homeless. In 2007, after the class-

Several men in the back of an eviction truck near So Others Might Eat as the sun rises on a brisk morning in 2013 (face blured for privacy).

PHOTO BY ROBERTA HABER / STREET SENSE

the people who run Crawford & Crawford and East Coast Express continued to recruit outside S.O.M.E. as before. According to more than a dozen men who work the trucks, they are still paying illegally low wages. Some report they pay even less now. And without penalty or regulation, more companies have starting popping up to get in on the profit.

“We thought that this had been resolved years and years ago,” says Megan Hustings, interim director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, a nonprofit that helped the men bring the 2006 case. *** D.C. has long struggled with the sheer number of evictions it has to handle. In 1983, the Washington Post published a story about the incredible backlog in evictions the city faced. The prior year, 2,700 families had been evicted in D.C. for failure to pay rent, and 2,000 more evictions were approved but backlogged.

Though fewer evictions are executed today, the numbers remain high. In 2015, according to D.C.’s landlord and tenant court, landlords filed 32,590 cases seeking eviction. Most of these cases are dismissed or resolved through mediation, but 1,567 were executed last year—the vast majority over nonpayment of rent.

Most evictions took place in Southeast, followed by Southwest, Northeast, and Northwest, the court says.

D.C. is not alone in being overburdened by evictions and eviction requests. Several million families face forced removal from their homes across the country every year, according to estimates by the University of Wisconsin Law School’s Neighborhood Law Clinic. In his 2016 book Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, American sociologist Matthew Desmond found that numbers were high in part

action suit was filed, lawyers said they did not believe similar wage violations were happening outside of the District.

Today, both homeless advocates and eviction companies that operate across state lines also say they do not believe the homeless are being employed for evictions elsewhere. Why remains an open question.

D.C. is—and long has been—the only jurisdiction where evictions are overseen by the already overburdened U.S. Marshals Service rather than local sheriffs. But the persistence of the practice may have more to do with the city’s long struggle with homelessness.

And the affordable housing crisis in D.C. may be adding to the crunch.

Jayna Concepcion, office manager for the property management company Real Property Management D.C. Metro, which oversees 270 properties at various income levels across D.C., says the company has seen a rise in evictions because of the increasing lack of apartments low-income tenants can afford. In December, for example, people stood outside all night in the cold for a spot in a new affordable apartment building in Southeast. “People [facing eviction] are staying in apartments longer, because they don’t have a place to go,” Concepcion says.

Around the holidays, RPM DC Metro usually has only one or two evictions in play. This year, she says they had five.

She has seen a similar rise over the last three or four years. When Concepcion has to carry out an eviction in one of their properties, she says she calls East Coast Express Eviction. It is a company she has used for years, and that she says can get the job done without breaking the bank. *** Along with Crawford & Crawford, East Coast Express Eviction is the second

company that, after escaping penalty by the court, has continued to pay illegally low wages.

At the time of the lawsuit, a man named Nelson Terry ran East Coast Express Eviction, but some time in the intervening years a woman named Tara McClain, known as “T” among the men who work the trucks, took over. In 2015, according to business filings, McClain registered a second eviction company, called New Development Express Eviction. In local business listings, New Development and East Coast share the same address.

McClain died in June 2016, and it is unclear whether she changed the name of the company to evade the court.

Either way, New Development’s vans have continued to show up outside S.O.M.E., as have those affiliated with East Coast. Teale Toweill, a lawyer at Cleary who has taken up work on the 2006 case, says it has been hard to pursue the defendants because the companies are so hard to pin down.

“These kind of companies are able to shut down and open with a new name. It’s easy to do that, because all you need is a truck,” Toweill says. “We want to pursue these defaulting defendants, but they are slippery. We are continuing to explore whether there are effective avenues for relief in court.”

A person who answered the phone at East Coast Express Eviction declined to comment on how much it pays and who it employs. But at Manta, a website that tracks small businesses, East Coast is listed as making $1 to $2.5 million annually, while employing four people or fewer—not enough to fill a crew.

A driver for New Development, who was recruiting outside S.O.M.E. one day in December and would not give her name, told City Paper she also would not comment on how much the company paid but noted that “it’s different” for every job. New Development is listed as making up to $500,000 annually, while also employing four people or fewer.

As for Crawford & Crawford, which at the time of the suit was run by a man named Vincent Crawford, there are now zero references to that company online, except in court documents. When the City Paper published its story about eviction companies back in 1999, Crawford’s company was called V&S Evictions. It is unclear what Crawford calls his company today. The men are not usually told what company they’re working for—only that they are working a “Vince truck,” a truck for “T,” or, since 2015, a truck for New Development, or one of the other new vans, which they know only by the names of the drivers.

Repeated efforts to reach Vincent Crawford by phone or in person were unsuccessful. According to multiple men who work his vans, Crawford no longer shows up outside S.O.M.E. and instead meets the men at eviction sites.

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Almost every truck worker interviewed reported about the same pay over the past year from Vincent Crawford, East Coast, and New Development. They all earned between $7 and $10 an eviction, and sometimes as little as $5. They were paid at this rate even if an eviction lasted for several hours.

Those who worked the new trucks, however, reported being paid “package deals” instead of a per-job rate, which sounds more lucrative than it turns out to be. Multiple people reported that one of the new trucks pays $40 for 15 jobs, which comes out to $2.67 an eviction.

Frank James Monroe, who stood outside S.O.M.E. in a gray hat and big parka one cold December morning, became angry talking about the package deals. “I did that shit one time— OK, a few times,” he says. “I got $15, and we evicted four to five motherfucking units. What do I fucking look like?” His friend, who goes by “Antman” Kenny and was rolling cigarettes with Monroe, says the per-job rate was just as demeaning and had actually gotten worse over the years.

“Everybody here has gone [on the trucks] a couple times,” says Kenny. “At first they were paying $20, then $10, now $7. Soon they’ll be chopping people up for $7.

Seven punk-ass dollars.”

“That’s because people that own the companies are getting all the money,” adds Joseph Harris, 52, who has been working the trucks for over a decade.

Though he said he’s long felt exploited, he’s learned not to ask for higher pay.

“He’ll just tell you to get on another truck,” he says. And so he takes the $7 without complaint.

Because if a person needs $7, working an eviction crew is the easiest job to get. In addition to paying in cash and not requiring papers or a background check, all a person has to do to work an eviction is show up outside S.O.M.E.—where he might be that morning anyway. Even Dupree Cross, who was there when a man shot himself at an eviction, says he still works evictions sometimes. He does it when he can’t get transportation out to Labor Ready, which employs day laborers and pays them the minimum wage or more, but is all the way out in Landover, Maryland.

Eric Falquero, editor of Street Sense, the homeless newspaper that first broke the story on the eviction companies’ low wages, says this is the catch-22 of eviction work. “One of the things we see advocates fighting for is consistent work for people who want to work. On evictions, you can come every day and work,” he says. “It takes advantage of their need, but it is some sort of income for honest labor.” *** On one of the last days in December, Falquero went to S.O.M.E. to try to get on an eviction truck. For months, he’d been hearing from a Street Sense vendor that the trucks were still paying below minimum wage after the lawsuit, and he

wanted to verify it himself.

F a l q u e r o w a s l u c k y. T h e d a y h e went, multiple trucks were looking for crews. Parked outside was one of Vincent Crawford’s trucks, along with a New Development van and several others belonging to the newer eviction companies. By 8 a.m., Falquero had successfully boarded Crawford’s cargo van, where he was crammed in with nine other men on benches, plus a driver and a recruiter sitting up front. He was not offered any particular pay, though he heard from one man on the van that it would be $10, and from the recruiter later on that it would be $7. By 9 a.m. they were driving to a house in Southeast D.C. At 10, the marshals arrived. The marshals always enter houses first, before the crew.

This time, the marshals declared it a “trash out”—meaning they didn’t find the personal items inside worthy of saving. The crew was told they could leave. Falquero was paid $7. Another worker was paid only $5. The recruiter told him he “didn’t have change.” The men were left to find a bus back to S.O.M.E., which meant that Falquero’s $7 shrank to $5.25, while the other man’s $5 became $3.25. But the men on the truck were happy. A “trash out” was the best possible scenario. They got a few dollars just to be squeezed in a van for a couple hours, instead of $7 for a lengthy, stressful eviction.

A man who works for both Street Sense and on the trucks, who is homeless and did not want to be named for fear of retribution from the eviction companies, says he first got work on an East Coast Express Eviction truck right after he moved to D.C. several years ago. He had heard through the grapevine that

An evicted tenant’s belongings left on the sidewalk.

DARROW MONTGOMERY / WASHINGTON CITY PAPER

employment was available outside S.O.M.E. and was surprised to find that he did not need to fill out paperwork. When he first got on the truck, he says he saw a cooler of beer, and thought, “I’m in the right place.” It seemed like a party—and it was—drinking in a van with other guys before work. But he soon learned that whatever he drank would be deducted from his pay at the end of the day.

And he realized why the men were

getting beers. “We have seen babies crying, grandmas. … You get a beer, so you don’t have any emotion,” he says in an interview at the Street Sense offices. “You do some kind of drugs, so then you don’t care, so you leave them on the curb over there crying, and go on to next one.” He says the evictees don’t get any information either—no shelter listing or hotline number.

The man, who struggles with a drinking problem, also says it was no mystery to him why eviction companies continued to show up outside S.O.M.E. even after the lawsuit.

“Instead of choosing someone professional who says, ‘I can’t do it,’ they choose people who don’t have any feelings anymore, and have given up on life,” he says. “Because they will get on this truck for $7.” *** For years, S.O.M.E. has tried to stop the trucks from getting near the nonprofit and the people it serves. Kate Wiley, a spokesperson for S.O.M.E., says the nonprofit finds it “inappropriate and

“[It’s] inappropriate and offensive [to] recruit homeless persons for the job of making other people homeless.”

— Kate Wiley, S.O.M.E. Spokesperson

offensive” to “recruit homeless persons for the job of making other people homeless” and to pay them below the minimum wage to do so. She says S.O.M.E. is also concerned about the men’s safety, because they are often “crowded into U-Hauls and other vehicles not intended to transport human beings in the cargo section.”

The nonprofit barred solicitation on their premises and told the trucks they could not park in their lot. After the trucks moved down the block., S.O.M.E. consulted with the Metropolitan Police Department but found it had little recourse. And there was scant desire by other agencies to regulate the industry either.

The U.S. Marshals Service, the agency that spends the most time with eviction companies, is almost certainly aware of some of their hiring practices. Most of the men who work the crews know the marshals by name and say they believe they know how they are hired and paid. But Robert Brandt, a U.S. Marshals spokesman, says that whether the eviction companies pay below minimum wage or not, “it’s not something we actively investigate or are attempting to monitor.”

The Labor Department, which is tasked with enforcing the minimum wage and monitoring labor violations, also seems uninterested in regulating the evictions industry. “We don’t have any initiatives focusing on this industry,” says Labor Department spokeswoman Lenore Uddyback-Fortson.

D . C . ’s O f f i c e o f L a b o r L a w a n d Enforcement, which enforces wage laws in the District, notes that it has an initiative to target labor gatherings, or “hot spots,” in the city. There, it informs workers about their rights and educates employers about wage law compliance. But it says it has not received or investigated any complaints about evictions crews.

And so the eviction companies continue to show up outside S.O.M.E., as they have for almost two decades. *** Some companies in D.C. employ paid staff and have uniformed crews. Others employ day laborers and pay them a fair wage. But these companies are expensive for landlords, charging $2,000 or more for an eviction, when a landlord has already lost rent payments. Gary Roman, who runs the eviction company The Attic, which charges that much, says that’s the cost of affording a large crew.

“Some of these companies say they’ll do the same job for maybe $500 instead of $2,000,” Roman says. “But how do you hire 20 people for that amount?”

Roman hires his crews from Casa de Maryland, a nonprofit that connects companies to day laborers, which requires him to pay at least $12 an hour.

Some men who have worked the eviction trucks for years have successfully gotten out of the game. Millender, the man who described working evictions as a “hurting feeling,” says he stopped doing it after he went to the Phoenix House, a drug rehab and treatment center in Arlington, and got clean. Before that, he had been addicted to Synthetic K, a drug that mimics marijuana and can have a numbing effect.

Millender says going to Phoenix House and then getting involved in Project Empowerment, the city’s job training program, “changed my mentality, my way of thinking,” and “I couldn’t get myself to put anybody out after that.”

On a recent morning, Millender visits S.O.M.E. to see his old buddies. He wears brown corduroys and a Cowboys hat and carries a smartphone with a photo of himself with Mayor Muriel Bowser at his drug rehab program graduation. He now has an apartment he shares with his girlfriend and a job cleaning Bennett Park in Arlington. He gets paid by check, which he says “feels good. I get paid tomorrow.”

The other men ask Millender how he got out. He tries to explain it to them, but he also knows that many of them won’t be able to do it. He knows how hard it was to escape drugs and how difficult to find or stay in the programs that will help them— especially without housing, a phone, or money for transit. He knows most of them will get on the trucks again.

“I hated to see it, especially when you had to put the baby kids out,” he says.

“But that was my hustle.” ■

City Homeless Services Find MLK Library Hard to Replace

By Ashley Clarke, Andrew Siddons, Ji Kim, Eric Falquero Street Sense Staff

T

he day the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial library closed, March 4, a group of at least a dozen homeless residents and their supporters gathered outside. Their goal was to draw attention to the reduction in options for the city's homeless population during daytime hours, and what they viewed as a too-little, too-late response from the city.

D.C. Library began asking the community at large to help "imagine" the renovated library in early 2014. With ample time for planning, homeless advocates such as Eric Sheptock, who organized the rally, felt the Feb. 2, 2017 public announcement of the official closing date for the downtown library and the Department of Human Services' interim service plan released less than a week before the closing date, was not enough.

Street Sense vendor and homeless a d v o c a t e Re g i n a l d B l a c k r e p o r t e d

confusion on his first ride of the new shelter shuttle van route on the morning of March 7.. The van arrived to a morning breakfast program after the program should have closed and did not include a downtown drop-off location on its route, according to Black. That evening, workers charged with executing the new plan demonstrated efforts to account for this confusion. At the Church of the Epiphany downtown pickup location, replacing MLK Library in the interim, United Planning Organization workers who operate the vans said they intended to pass by the former MLK Library pick-up stops on the off chance that uninformed clients were still lining up there. One UPO employee said the new plan is a work in progress and will be tweaked as needed to meet the community's needs.

"We asked them to think about this for three years," Black said in an interview

Protestors at the March 4 closing of MLK Library for a 3-year renovation.

PHOTO BY ANDREW SIDDONS

with Street Sense. "We asked you to include us in your thinking process." According to him, the library needs insight from the homeless community that it was simply not seeking leading up to this transition.

City officials agreed on that point during a debrief of the interim plan preceding a March 8 D.C. Interagency Council on Homelessness quarterly meeting.

"No excuses, communication could have been done better." Kathy Harris said bluntly. Harris is the point person for the DHS transition plan after being hired as the agency's family services administrator in September. By the end of the debrief, aims to create a peer outreach team to work with D.C. Public Library on connecting with homeless patrons had been fleshed out.

Kristy Greenwalt, director of the ICH, pointed out that the library is not a homeless services center.

"But it is though," one meeting attendee interjected, describing the reality of the situation.

Greenwalt continued to point out that DCPL simply provides services to all patrons, some of which are particularly useful to homeless patrons. Ultimately, the informal ICH group concluded what has previously been determined, that a downtown homeless services center is needed. This has been on the city's agenda for several years, held up by the search for an adequate location.

In the meantime, ICH will continue to work more closely to cement communications between DCPL and other agencies that help serve the homeless community.

Back at the MLK branch's official closing, Sheptock said there was evidence of outreach from the city to make sure

the library's homeless daytime users knew their options going forward. Still, he was concerned that the shutdown was happening in the middle of a winter coldspell when people without shelter can be at-risk of daytime hypothermia.

Saturday was very cold, so the city kept shelters open during the day, resulting in what one rally-goer described as a "ghost town" atmosphere in the library on its last afternoon. Others noted that some homeless people with knowledge of the shelter's impending closure may have already moved on to a new daytime routine. Either way, it resulted in a slightly diminished turnout as rally-goers chanted, "Hey, man, what's the plan? The homeless matter!"

Sheptock said that the city was preparing branch libraries for an influx of homeless visitors and was providing sensitivity training to library staff, and that the Adams Place daytime shelter was installing more computers and extending hours in anticipation of greater use. The Adams Place shelter and the Dorothy I. Height Benning Road Library, both in northeast Washington, will attempt to fill the void for homeless support services during the day. The full extent of this plan has been posted on the DHS website to address the interruption in services and ensure that the closing of the library does not mean a complete loss of services to the homeless community in the area. DHS says the plan will be replaced with a longterm strategy when it is developed.

For now, transportation will be provided from 6:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday, according to a fliers circulated by DHS. The shuttle will begin it’s route at 801 East Men's Shelter, 2700 Martin Luther King Avenue, SE and travel to Adams Place Day Center in Northeast where individuals can access laundry facilities and eat breakfast and lunch.

The Day Center will also help to connect individuals with housing and employment opportunities. The third stop on the loop will be at the intersection of Minnesota Avenue and Benning Road, NE. This stop is positioned in between The Department of Employment Services, Dorothy Height/ Benning Road Library and Unity Health Care Clinic. The final stop on the loop will be at Church of the Epiphany in Downtown D.C. This stop is designated for people who want to be in the downtown area during the day, not a place with public restrooms and water fountains like DHS previously claimed.

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Catherine Manhartdt from Church of Epiphany said though they are unable to provide public restrooms or any new services in the wake of the closing of the MLK library, the church will continue to do what they have been doing for the homeless community for many years: keeping the sanctuary open from 10 a.m.

- 3 p.m. Daily and offering additional community programming on scheduled days. For instance, every Tuesday they host Street Church where volunteers gather for worship and lunch at Franklin Park. Other programs include art therapy, bible study and Sunday breakfast.

The church agreed to be a stop on the transit loop on a trial bases, but Manhartdt said other than that they do not have the staff or the resources to do more. DHS has also listed other churches in the downtown area that will continue to provide support to D.C. residents experiencing homelessness. New York Avenue Presbyterian Church , Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church and Foundry Untied Methodist Church, are all places where individuals have access to public restrooms.

On Wednesdays Catholic Charities confirmed it will continue to provide meals in the evening, across from the now closed library. Their offices are also open Monday through Friday 10 AM to 4:30 PM to assist in connecting homeless individuals with other resources. So Others May Eat will continue providing meals seven days a week, twice a day.

For more detailed information on DHS's downtown transportation and services plan visit dhs.dc.gov. For updated information the Shelter Hotline can also be contacted at 202.399.7093.

The city will provide transportation to those locations from city shelters.

However, some view the lack of daytime options in downtown D.C. as evidence that the city wants people without homes to be relegated to the periphery. "Sooner or later we'll be in Baltimore," Sheptock said to emphasize the point.

A MAN ON THE INSIDE: MLK Library Through the Years

By Ken Martin Artist/Vendor I recently had the chance to catch up with Information Specialist Glen Wells of the downtown Martin Luther King Jr. Library. I first met Glen in the early 80s, soon after meeting my former wife, a librarian. It’s amazing that he was the face of that library for at least 30 years.

I went through there for the occasional event or Friends of the Library meeting, but never frequently enough to notice this was his permanent post. He had his finger on the pulse of MLK. He knew the books. He knew the events. He knew the people. If you needed to find something or someone, he could tell you where to find it or at least where to start looking.

(Though he didn’t know to warn me about that faulty elevator I got stuck in years ago). He was a confident, friendly and welcoming face — which is important when he’s the first face you see in the central branch of the library of the nation’s capital. I'd say that’s second-only to the Library of Congress.

I found Glen pushing what may have been the last cart full of books on the afternoon of March 4, just before MLK Library closed its doors for the next— so-they-say—three years.

Ken Martin: What does this library mean to you?

Glen Wells: [The MLK mural] has always been a good point of reference for me because every time I see it, I remember when they first brought it in. It hadn't dried. It was still wet. And we always kidded each other that Dr. King's eyes would follow you all over the whole building. Every time I come in, till today, I still take great advantage of going through the mural and all the changes we've been through. It's an interesting place to work and that is what kept me coming all of these years. There was always a host of expert librarians that would tell you anything that you wanted to know about any subject in the world. They spoke all different kinds of languages. I knew who to go to for what information I needed.

KM: My favorite spot in here has always been Washingtonian. It brings back so many memories of this town and what our community did in this town: what "Chocolate City" was really all about.

Glen Wells pushes a cart of books through the entryway of Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library hours before its closure on March 4.

PHOTO BY KEN MARTIN

GW: Not to mention they had a historian.

His name was Mr. Keys. He is an old Georgetown pioneer and I think he died at a hundred years old. I could sit there and talk with Mr. Keys and he would give me a whole semester in about an hour.

He was so knowledgeable.Another really interesting person was Quadir Madyun.

He was the chief of the Black Studies and Philosophy Department and a student of Wallace Deen Muhammad. MAdyun was so engaging and knowledgeable that I became a student myself and am still a student of Wallace Lee Muhammad. There were so many different departments: Technology, Business, Black Studies (one of my favorites), Sociology... I work in all of the departments doing everything.

I never finished my degree, but learned so much that I didn't think I needed one.

I knew more than the professors know — the people that were supposed to know.

KM: Those sound like the right qualifications to land you on the information desk. How many years were you the first face someone saw when they came in here?

GW: I'mma stop at 30, but I'm sure it may have been much longer than that because I have seen children grow up here. I say, "I remember you. How old are you now?"

And they are married and have children and grandchildren. I always wanted to treat people as if they were coming to my home. I would treat them just how I wanted to be treated.

KM: Well, I've always been amazed at how close-knit the staff is: more than any other agency in District government.

Even though you were separated and delegated to different parts of the city, you still had a family unit that was tight.

GW: Absolutely. We wanted to keep that presence and that is what I tried to present when persons came into this library.

KM: I think that is the reason why people keep coming back and the reason why you foster friends in the community. I don't see that in other agencies. You've got community support as opposed to community complaints.

GW: Well, when a person comes in and finds out that they are welcome and that everybody that comes in that door is welcome, they come back. And vice versa. If you go some place and find out that you are not welcome, you don't return and you tell everyone else, "Don't go there, they are going to treat you bad there." I just hope that the renovation will still keep the same warmth of the library. For example, on the campus of Duke University I was overwhelmed by the buildings and the monstrosity of the whole thing. But on the campuses of Howard University and Hampton University I felt right at home. I hope this building keeps that same sense of warmth and you won't become overwhelmed with technology.

KM: I think it needs to be a place where people feel at home. What are your expectations for homeless people that come here on a day-to-day basis, as a result of the renovation?

GW: I would hope it would become a center where they can pick up where they left off.

Glen has been reassigned to the Tenleytown branch of D.C. Library. This is an excellent addition to that branch because of his sensitivity to homeless patrons. ■ This interview has been edited and condensed for space and clarity.

OPINION MOVING UP: DEPRESSION: Food Stamps

By Arthur Johnson It is tough to survive financially when you are making little money and food is expensive. Millions of people use the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, to make sure they have enough to eat.

One important fact that causes a lot of debate and some anger is that the program was not meant to serve as a family’s entire food budget, yet many SNAP recipients use only their SNAP benefits for food. The first word summarizes the program: supplemental.

That means it is meant to fill in the gap between the amount of money that the recipient can afford to spend on food and how much they should spend to be able to eat nutritiously. There is much debate about the amount that is given to recipients and every year there are “SNAP Challenges” in which politicians and celebrities attempt to survive for one week with the amount that a single person on SNAP would receive.

The process of applying for SNAP in the District is simple. You can visit the Department of Human Services at 64 New York Avenue NE on the sixthfloor Monday to Friday from 8:15 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Their phone number is (202) 671-4200 and they also have a downloadable form that can be used for SNAP, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and Medicaid (https://dhs. dc.gov/node/117542). You can either fill it out electronically or print it and bring it to one of five Economic Service Administration service centers located in the District. They are at 1207 Taylor Street NW, 609 H Street NE, 2100 Martin Luther King Jr Ave SE, in Fort Davis at 3851 Alabama Drive SE, and in Congress Heights at 4001 South Capitol Street.

The District is much less strict than most states in terms of qualification requirements and the amount distributed. They will require you to provide proof of your income, assets residence in the District, rent or mortgage and your utility bills if they are not included in your housing costs.

As of Oct. 2015, the maximum amount a single person in the District could qualify for was $194. Two people would receive $357 and a family of four $649.

Under certain conditions, a single person can earn up to $1,962 per month and still qualify.

The key to making food stamps work is to change the way you shop. One important habit to get into if you use SNAP (and it will also work well if you don’t get assistance) is to shop weekly.

Many SNAP recipients buy almost all their

It Doesn’t Just Dealing With it Go Away in Society

By Jacquie Turner

By Amin Massey

When you say “depression,” most think that it is like a weight or hold-down.

Well, it is.

You can’t stop depression by changing your mood or thoughts. People say “snap out of it,” but that doesn’t work.

More and more people are affected by depression each day. It ranges from light to deadly.

There are hundreds of types of medications for depression and different types of depression. The thing is, it comes on you and you feel down, gloomy, blue — unhealthy and unworthy.

Then there is the physical part, where you are tired, have aches, can’t sleep, sleep too much, talk too much, become reclusive, gain weight, lose weight, maybe some of your hair falls out.

It won’t just go away. Depression needs medication, therapy and time to be cured. Please get help if you feel this way, especially if you ever wonder about suicide.

While in the peak of my academic success at the number one college for Black men in America, I was suddenly overcome by feelings of inadequacy.

I was a young man in a strange town with a lot going for me, yet I began to fracture relationships and lose interest in the hobbies I once enjoyed. I went from being supremely confident, bordering on cocky, to being afraid to show my face.

My mother urged me to talk to someone about my issues but I decided to pack it in and return home. I left my baggage over 900 miles away from where I currently reside but the impact of depression lingers daily. I have gone through over 10 years of outpatient treatment, over 100 treatment providers, and have lived through the ebbs and flows of one of the most commonly diagnosed mental illnesses. Depression is something all of us go through at some point in life and the effects are different depending on the individual.

Every day I am reminded of the blessing of life and opportunity through work and sacrifice. Proper medication and symptom management are a must in order to avoid being placed in a treatment facility or jail.

If the feelings of sadness and hopelessness become too much of a burden, I know that there is always an ear to bend and a steady shoulder to offer support and advice. Two of my number one advocates, my mother and father, have given me words to live by in this circumstance. My dad advises, “Say, ‘Get away from me, depression.’” And my mom sums it up perfectly for me: “You can’t be embarrassed.”

Jacquie Turner is an artist and vendor for Street Sense. food at the beginning of the month. One problem is that if you shop that way, you could miss out on the opportunity to maximize your benefits by taking advantage of sales and promotions that the grocer may have.

There are some restrictions with food stamps. You can’t use them to purchase non-food items and you also are restricted from using them for buying heated items.

Another way to make your food stamps go farther is to focus on foods that can be bought in bulk and that you can get many meals from, such as pasta. Getting a two or three pound container of spaghetti and a jar of sauce could provide enough food for several days. There are also farmers markets that accept food stamps and that will especially be a big help in providing affordable fruits and vegetables. One problem is that there has been a tendency by many who receive benefits to purchase foods that don’t have the greatest nutritional value (though healthy foods are often more expensive). Lawmakers have proposed restrictions on the type of food that can be purchased with benefits in an effort to force SNAP recipients to eat healthier food.

As we move forward, please remember that if you find yourself struggling to afford food, there are places to turn

Amin Massey is an artist and vendor for Street Sense. to whether it is short term or if is a long term problem, which may make it necessary for you to apply for assistance.

Don’t be afraid or feel ashamed to ask for help from the government so that you can be able to eat every day. The money that pays for the benefits is there to help those that are struggling and do not have the resources to be self-sufficient. ■ If you have any questions or comments about this column, please email ajohnson@streetsense.org.

Arthur Johnson is a volunteer writer with Street Sense.

Mind of My Own

By Jeffrey McNeil Sometimes I think about selling out and joining the resistance. It’s lonely not being a Flat Earther. If you don’t have a rabid hatred towards President Trump, then you’re not part of the clique. That’s the price one pays for not following the cool kids. I’m a working-class guy; I have no interest in bourgeois society. Most Washingtonians are snobbish, elitist, and out of touch.

Before I moved to Washington, I regarded myself a Democrat. Although I n e ve r vot e d Re pu blica n , I fou n d myself agreeing with them. I believed in compassion but also believed people play a part in their own circumstances.

I hated the concept that race precedes everything. There are too many that can’t think outside the realm of government dependency, redistribution of wealth and a living wage. I learned Leftism is anything but liberal and progressive.

It’s backward thinking instead of moving beyond protest politics. I had moved on from the sixties. Them people are stuck in the Jim Crow mindset. I’m like Joshua that found Jericho while they’re still wandering in Egypt.

I’m depressed that Martin Luther King’s dream of a colorblind society was unfulfilled by Barack Obama. Many Trump supporters are just as single-minded and extreme as my left-wing counterparts.

Both have a “who’s going to take care of me” mindset. Whatever happened to “We Shall Overcome”? My grandfather was the product of the Black migration. He didn’t let bigotry determine his destiny. Instead of whining about the White man he saw America as the land of opportunity. He was proactive and started a church and didn’t march around begging someone for a minimum wage.

I don’t blame Whites being resentful.

We w e n t f r o m d e s e g r e g a t i o n t o segregation in reverse. Some colleges have all Black dorms and graduations.

Then these same people jump up and down because White institutions snub them for Oscars and Grammys. I agree with Whites. I oppose racial quotas, sensitivity training and affirmative action. I believe in merit, not privilege.

I don’t want anything I don’t deserve. If I can’t beat someone in the marketplace I don’t deserve to be promoted.

It pains me to be brutally honest, but I’m not the enemy. Self-examination is painful — that’s why so many play the race card. I grew up as a Democrat but I don’t recognize today’s party. It’s after moral purity and no one’s ever pure enough, liberal enough or radical enough for that crowd. If you don’t idolize or worship them, they throw hissy fits and temper tantrums. When someone treats them as human beings, accountable for

Have an opinion about how homelessness is being handled in our community? Street Sense maintains an open submission policy and prides itself as a newspaper that elevates community voices and fosters healthy debate. Send your thoughts to opinion@streetsense.org.

STREET SENSE March 8 - 21, 2017

1#1

OPINION

Trump’s First 100 Days their own choices rather than victims, then that person becomes the villain.

I’m for assimilation, not integration.

Relationships should be done organically rather than forced upon communities. I have nothing against gay folks, Muslims or foreigners, but love and tolerance have their limits. If those that live in gated communities have safeguards and protections for their neighborhoods, why should I be labeled a racist because I want common sense and the rule of law in mine?

It’s not the responsibility of President Trump to help inner cities when Blacks and Hispanics have their own economies that could provide income for their people. The reason why Blacks fail economically is because these selfproclaimed Black leaders and Black pastors don’t build a damn thing!

When Whites ran Detroit, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Chicago they were booming metropolises with booming factories employing people from all walks of life. The citizens in Baltimore shouldn’t be waiting on Whites to rebuild their cities when they have been running the city for fifty years. Progressivism has failed the poor and there no argument to refute it. The American Left is great at criticizing and tearing things down but have nothing to show for their destruction. Liberals talk a good game but you will starve listening to them.

Liberals hate President Trump because he is cleaning house. He is taking on the old order that many in Washington want to preserve. Living off taxpayer dollars while others bust their ass is no longer acceptable. The bureaucrats in Washington need to put out or get out. Under President Obama, the inmates were running the asylum.

Now politics as usual is over, and not just for the left. Republicans need to do their job or we are going to toss them out also.

I hope President Trump doesn’t spare the rod on these pampered, spoiled rotten adolescents known as the American Bourgeoisie. ■

Jeffery McNeil is a columnist and vendor for Street Sense.

By Angie Whitehurst A president’s first 100 days isn’t about working with everybody. It’s about ego and fulfilling campaign promises. And that makes it difficult to communicate and sit down and have tea and crumpets (Trumpets) with somebody. It is an unsettling time, but one thing is certain.

We have a lot of work to do.

In D.C., we really have it coming. We’re going to suffer because we are a sanctuary city. When the federal dollars are cut off, where’s the money going to come from?

Are we going to raise taxes, build privatepublic partnerships? I think we’re in for a hard time.

So we have to get serious, get educated and really get the advocacy thing together. It’s more than attending meetings and having a picture taken. It’s about coming up with what this should be and what it should look like, instead of waiting for someone else. That takes a lot of volunteers and professionals. And we have to come together over a lot of overlapping racial attitudes.

You have people saying “they’re taking our jobs.” The things that are often said, I don’t know if people mean them in their heart. But it’s on the tip of their tongue.

And it will all be used against all of us to conquer and divide America.

D.C. is going to suffer under this.

We’re a sanctuary city and we have a president down the street who doesn’t like sanctuaries. What do you think he’s going to do to us?

When my father worked for the city, he opened up job training programs and medical clinics to immigrants and helped them get hired in real jobs. The first one he opened was at Columbia and Calvert. People were angry. But now we’re approaching a point where we could backslide. And that’s dangerous.

Out west you see all sorts of opinions on this issue. Some folks leave blankets, w a t e r, t e n t s , med kits, etc., in the area where people regularly cross

the border illegally. Then you also have folks that shoot at those same people.

But when you put out a nationwide anti-sanctuary order, you are helping people who already have hate in their hearts to feel valid in their actions.

By criminalizing sanctuary cities, are we moving the same way that the end of Reconstruction went? Once Jim Crow became legal, it justified separate bathrooms, lack of opportunity, etc. And that wasn’t just Black folks. Mexicans who came across the Texas border and Native Americans also suffered immensely.

Hopefully we will not regress, but as John Lewis told us in his interview with Street Sense, we the people must not be silent. Of course, always adhering to nonviolence. But we need leadership too.

When people don’t have good leadership, anybody can end up in the White House.

I’m still seeing protest signs that were

in the street last week up in people’s windows now. That’s a sign that we are still not settled, not at peace.

The inaugural stand and the fences surrounding it were up for far too long.

To see that in front of the White House for six weeks after the inauguration — for our government to act with that kind of fear — it did not send a message of peace.

It sent the message: “I’m in charge.” The only reason that stand hasn’t come down fast in past years was due to ice or snow, which we’re pretty short on this winter.

It was eerie. It was unsettling. It was fearful. It was anti-American. It wasn’t right. That has always been a clear, open, inviting area. It looked like some third world country that had just gone through a violent coup. ■

Angie Whitehurst is a vendor for Street Sense.

CALL FOR ENTRIES! 8TH ANNUAL STREET SENSE

EXCELLENCE IN JOURNALISM AWARDS Entries must: address the causes, consequences, and/or solutions to homelessness. relate to the D.C. metro region or national policy on homelessness. have been published between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2015.

Print, web, television, and radio pieces will all be considered.

You may submit more than one article in each category.

Categories

News/feature reporting Opinion and commentary Photography

Please send submissions and questions to AWARDS@STREETSENSE.ORG Anyone can nominate a story. Please submit a link or PDF of the article.

Please also indicate the category and provide your email and phone number.

The deadline for the receipt of all submissions is April 1, 2016 You may view past winners at http://streetsense.org/awards

The Street Sense Writers’ Group is led by writing professionals and meets every Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. The group’s goal is to develop ideas and collaborate on the next great issue of Street Sense.

Proud of My Brother, Pt. 2

By Ricardo Meriedy, Aritst/Vendor

My brother did many negative things in his past that hurt people badly. Then God came into his life. Now he is Rev. Otis Meriedy of the Bless Our Children Ministry at the Woodland Recreation Center in Southeast. He has been preaching the Word for eight years. What a great turnaround in his life!

If it weren't for him, I would not be seeking Christ today. I attend his Sunday service where I praise my heavenly father and give my offering to celebrate how God has blessed me during the week selling my Street Sense papers. The most wonderful thing is that I get to see my family every Sunday. May God keep his love in my brother's heart. Amen!

BY DWIGHT ILLUSTRATION

HARRIS

Sepia Sorrow

By Frederic John, Artist/Vendor Mary Church Terrell And her spouse; Despite much wisdom — Just half a house.

The front loader 'rides' And neighborhoods die.

Could all the sorrow, Bring a better Tomorrow?

PHOTO BY FREDERIC JOHN

Being on the Streets

By Ronald Smoot, Artist/Vendor

I been on the streets for 30 years and it has been really hard for me.

I've been sleeping in the subway for a lot of that time because it's the warmest place in D.C. After the subway closes for the night the transit police pretty much leave me alone. But they hustle me out of there as soon as the station opens and I'm still tired.

I been surviving, although sometimes I feel like dying. But God won't let me.

I gotta think I must be one of his angels.

A

I

pplying for public benefits you must start early and plan to make almost a day out of it. A calm demeanor is a must because you have a million personalities and attitudes all with their own agenda. Sometimes even the employees seem to have a hidden agenda.

I try to have a positive attitude because some people feel a sense of shame and pride being there. But at the end of the day, we are there for help. Lots of paperwork and waiting. Without cell phones to occupy the time, it would be much worse.

Sometimes, people there with you will have psychotic episodes, unruly kids or be under the influence. The caseworkers wear many hats: psych doctor, therapist, and referee. There are times when violence occurs.

However, not all trips to the benefits office are negative. My caseworker proved to be very understanding and gave me three months of benefits that I did not know I was eligible for.

Now, with the new administration, you may have to take a drug test to apply for benefits. This will cut a lot of people out of the system. Things certainly seem like they are going to change. I think the new legislation will make a lot of people not even attempt to access benefits.

My experience with food stamps and Medicaid is an ever-changing thing.

t takes a long time to apply for any benefits, whether you need food stamps, medical insurance, energy, assistance, or SSI. When you go to these places, there is a line outside of the building. Then there is another line when you finally get into the building, just to receive an application. Then you have to wait until they call your name or number, sort of like the DMV. I can tell you that when I go to these places I often wait forever. But eventually, things are taken care of.

— Damon Smith, Artist/Vendor

— Michael Craig, Artist/Vendor

— Shana Holmes, Artist/Vendor

I

went to the Fort Davis center in Southeast to receive my food stamp benefits. The wait was four hours! But that did not bother me. I need the benefits, so I was ready for anything. After finally filling out the paperwork and showing my ID, I got what I came for. So, my wait was worth it!

— Dave Johnson, Artist/Vendor

I

agree that arriving early will reduce the wait time when applying for any benefit, but it’s crucial to remember that you can make an appointment or use the drop-off box for your application. I do not believe that any of the major social services contribute to the national debt.

— Derian Hickman, Artist/Vendor

W

aiting in line is an inevitable part of acquiring any form of assistance.

The key word is patience: realizing that people assisting you are also assisting others. Being arrogant or negatively persistent is not to your benefit. Making your appointments is crucial! If you want options, you must learn to navigate the maze of public agencies AND nonprofit organizations.

STREET SENSE March 8 - 21, 2017

13

VENDOR WRITING PERCEPTION OR REALITY: Facing Myself

When Immigrants Come to America It Can be Awesomely Good

By Robert Williams, USMC Artist/Vendor

Toward the end of the year, I visited the InterAmerican Development Bank staff gallery. It was an eye-opening surprise.

The gallery was filled with beautiful handcarved furniture and artwork. This was not the usual show.

What made it unique, special and invaluable to our community is that all the furniture, boxes, sculpture, glassware, and hand-woven garments were produced by artisans in South America. They produce the products to be sold via a store in Baltimore, Maryland. The artisans all come from poor villages which were isolat-

Wow, it’s a beautiful day, but to my dismay, most people pass and look the other way — even with my papers on display.

Where are all the real people? Am I not in a real world? It seems to me that most people are so pretentious. You want to be accepted for who you are, respected as well. But how can someone do that if you won’t let them know who you are?

What is it about me that makes you see what you don’t wanna see? What is it about you that closes your eyes to someone getting the best of you?

You live, you die. What do you choose to do with the space and time in between?

By Angie Whitehurst, Artist/Vendor

ed, disconnected and left to wallow. Yet, all these profits now go back to the artisans, their families and their communities.

An Italian priest named Father Ugo De Censi founded the program by bringing together volunteers and village residents to develop skills, market them and

2 Years in Loving Memory

My Other Day Job

By James Davis Artist/Vendor The National Coalition for the Homeless is a nonprofit organization located in Washington, D.C. whose sole purpose is to end homelessness in America as we know it. I have been a member and a speaker for the organization for 13 years.

Aside from advocating for, litigating and defending the rights of individuals experiencing homelessness — we testify before and participate in Senate and House committee and subcommittee meetings on Capitol Hill.

On Feb. 22, I had the opportunity to participate in a meeting held at the office of U.S. State Senator Steve Daines of Montana. The meeting was held with Matthew Ketron, CPA, Daine’s legislative

assistant. Also in attendance were Kaitlyn Snyder of the National Housing Conference and Clay Kershaw of Enterprise Group, another nonprofit organization.

We discussed certain aspects of the HUD budget and where we would like to see funds appropriated to specific programs like Section 8 (housing vouchers), homeless prevention, rapid-rehousing,

$50 a Slice

By Phillip Black, a.k.a. “The Cat in the Hat” Artist/Vendor On Feb. 21, I was leaving Eastern Market after selling my Street Sense papers. I caught the Blue Line to Largo. The next stop, at Potomac Ave. Station, a friend of mine got on the train with a whole pizza.

It smelled so good. He was eating a slice and asked if I wanted one. And of course, I said yes. We both finished our slice of pizza and got off at Addison Rd. Station.

When we exited the train, two Metro police officers were waiting for us. We both got $50 tickets, for eating a slice of pizza. Wow. Who could have known that good smelling pizza would cost me $50. Oh well, I’ll never eat on Metro again.

become self-sufficient.

They developed housing, hospitals, schools and workshops. It begs to wonder why we cannot do that here in the United States. We should have no unsheltered, unhoused, displaced residents and citizens.

The exhibit was proof to me of what can be done with a moral ethos, action by individuals and support from both the public and private sectors.

If our Latin American neighbors can do it, so can we. And we should. Like the old cliché says, "find a niche and fill it!

More photos at StreetSense.org!

ILLUSTRATION BY DWIGHT HARRIS, CONCEPT BY SHEILA WHITE

low to moderate-income housing and permanent supportive housing.

The proposed budget was due March 1 so that the final budget can be completed by May 2017. However, some of the financial issues were not addressed because HUD — headed by Dr. Ben Carson — is not yet fully staffed at this juncture.

I also spoke about the importance of increasing the budget for Housing First initiatives across the country. It is one of the few programs that has a low recidivism rate when it comes to getting homeless people into society.

As a reminder to my customers and Street Sense supporters, please send your copy to the White House as part of my silent protest. Once again, thank you in advance.

By Sybil Taylor Artist/Vendor

Father — I will always love you. The last time that I saw you it was 2015 and you were on your way to heaven. The heavenly birds sang a lovely tune to greet you. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, your spirit lives forever. Amen.

My father, Henry Matthew Taylor, went home to be with his father. No more suffering, no more pain.

No more sadness and hurt. No more cancer treatments and hospital care. No more crying or turning. No more sorrow, no more pain.

No more cries all night. No more morphine. No more nights of sadness.

Gone on to the Glory to see the Lord, I will be loving him always.

He had gotten the diagnosis the day of his exam: colon cancer. He didn’t know the signs. We didn’t know the signs.

But he knew then that he was dying.

Nevertheless, he enjoyed our family. The smiles, the cheers, the laughter and the comfort. We helped him though his pain until he got too weak to fight anymore.

This was hard, but we prayed and his spirit rose. We visited him and celebrated his life everlasting. One day we will see you again. you are missed.

In loving memory of my father. No more suffering, no more pain.

COMICS & GAMES

The Monkey with Alzheimer’s

A Way Out

By Michael Craig Artist/Vendor

By Barbara Pollard Artist/Vendor

The old monkey was very quiet and observant. He lived on his farm with three generations worth of family that he raised there.

He would often meander about the farm just enjoying nature and visiting his animals. He loved to look at the stars and the moon at night, to smell the grass and the roses in the wind. With all those monkeys on the farm, he often preferred walking off to find peace and quiet. And when he didn’t want to be bothered by any of the family around him, he played on their assumptions of his age and just pretended not to hear them so well. Sometimes he’d even ask them the same question over and over.

But all this seemed odd to the other monkeys. They thought their patriarch had Alzheimer's and that the old monkey didn’t comprehend his surroundings. So, they called a family meeting and tried to force him out. They proposed a nursing home.

The old monkey was furious. “Where is this coming from?!” he bellowed. “Who’s responsible for this. I raised three generations of y’all here. If I want to go out at 3 o’clock in the morning and pet my cows, I’ve earned that. I’ve got one foot in the grave for crying out loud. Whoever wants to deny me my freedom is gonna be off the will. You think I got Alzheimer's? Y’all ain’t getting jack! You think I’m stupid?”

That got their attention. They all sat around him, staring in disbelief with the monkey look.

“Well, who’s responsible?!” he demanded.

All the other monkeys remained quiet, shocked and ashamed.

“Look at you — nothing to say. Now who’s got Alzheimer's?”

The old monkey walked back out to his farmland, banjo in hand, singin’ a song.

The mother monkey was placed in a nursing home by her monkey children. She needed a lot of help these days and they didn’t want to take care of her.

But the mother monkey wanted to be with family. Lucky for her, one of the children got the mother out of the nursing home to live with her.

In life, we need to take care of our parents.

STREET SENSE March 8 - 21, 2017

15

COMMUNITY SERVICES Housing/Shelter

Food

Clothing

Showers

Case Management

Health Care

Transportation

Laundry

Education

Employment Assistance

Legal Assistance

Vivienda/alojamiento

Comida

Coordinación de Servicios

Seguro

Educación

Assitencia con Empleo

Academy of Hope Public Charter School: 269-6623 | 601 Edgewood St, NE aohdc.org

Bread for the City: 265-2400 (NW) | 561-8587 (SE) 1525 7th St, NW | 1640 Good Hope Rd, SE breadforthecity.org

Calvary Women’s Services: 678-2341 1217 Good Hope Road, SE calvaryservices.org

Catholic Charities: 772-4300 catholiccharitiesdc.org/gethelp

Central Union Mission: 745-7118 65 Massachusetts Avenue, NW missiondc.org

Charlie’s Place: 232-3066 1830 Connecticut Ave, NW charliesplacedc.org

Christ House: 328-1100 1717 Columbia Rd, NW christhouse.org

Church of the Pilgrims: 387-6612 2201 P St, NW churchofthepilgrims.org/outreach food (1 - 1:30 on Sundays only) Community Family Life Services: 347-0511 | 305 E St, NW cflsdc.org

Ropa

Lavandería

D.C. Coalition for the Homeless: 347-8870 1234 Massachusetts Ave, NW dccfh.org

Línea de juventud

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HOTLINE: (202) 749-8000 Línea directa de Violencia doméstica

BEHAVIORAL HEALTH HOTLINE: 1-888-793-4357

Assistencia Legal

Covenant House Washington: 610-9600 2001 Mississippi Avenue, SE covenanthousedc.org

Línea directa de alojamiento YOUTH HOTLINE: (202) 547-7777

Duchas

Transportación

Community of Hope: 232-7356 communityofhopedc.org

SHELTER HOTLINE: (202) 399-7093

Línea de Salud del Comportamiento Jobs Have Priority: 544-9128 425 Snd St, NW jobshavepriority.org

Loaves & Fishes: 232-0900 1525 Newton St. NW loavesandfishesdc.org Martha’s Table: 328-6608 2114 14th St, NW marthastable.org

Samaritan Ministry: 1516 Hamilton Street NW | 722-2280 1345 U Street SE | 889-7702 samaritanministry.org

Sasha Bruce Youthwork: 675-9340 741 8th St, SE sashabruce.org

So Others Might Eat (SOME) 71 O St, NW | 797-8806 some.org

Father McKenna Center: 842-1112 19 Eye St, NW fathermckennacenter.org

Miriam’s Kitchen: 452-8926 2401 Virginia Ave, NW miriamskitchen.org

Food and Friends: 269-2277 219 Riggs Rd, NE foodandfriends.org (home delivery for those suffering from HIV, cancer, etc)

My Sister’s Place: 529-5991 (24-hour hotline) mysistersplacedc.org

Thrive DC: 737-9311 1525 Newton St, NW thrivedc.org

N Street Village: 939-2060 1333 N Street, NW nstreetvillage.org

Unity Health Care: 745-4300 3020 14th St, NW unityhealthcare.org

New York Ave Shelter: 832-2359 1355-57 New York Ave, NE

Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless 1200 U St NW | 328-5500 legalclinic.org

Patricia Handy Place for Women: 810 5th Street, NW, NW | 733-5378

The Welcome Table: 347-2635 1317 G St, NW epiphanydc.org/thewelcometable

Foundry Methodist Church: 332-4010 1500 16th St, NW foundryumc.org/ministry-opportunities ID (FRIDAY 9-12 ONLY)

Friendship Place: 364-1419 4713 Wisconsin Ave, NW friendshipplace.org

Georgetown Ministry Center: 338-8301 1041 Wisconsin Ave, NW georgetownministrycenter.org

Samaritan Inns: 667-8831 2523 14th St, NW samaritaninns.org

St. Luke’s Mission Center: 333-4949 3655 Calvert St. NW stlukesmissioncenter.org

Whitman-Walker Health 1701 14th St, NW | 745-7000 2301 MLK Jr. Ave, SE | 797-3567 whitman-walker.org

I Am “Homeless,” Not...

By Ronald Dudley, a.k.a. “Pookanu” Artist/Vendor I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I

am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am

“homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,”

not not not not not not not not not not not not not not not not not not not not not not not not

dirty. stupid. ugly. ignorant. selfish. helpless. a liar. mean. a deadbeat. lazy. perfect. blind. evil. a thief. late. bad. mad. a fraud. ungrateful. an animal. illiterate. unappreciative. brain-dead. a non-thinker.

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I

am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am am

“homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,” “homeless,”

not not not not not not not not not not not not not not not not not not not not not not not not

a plague. a disease. a problem. a curse. broke. careless. wrong. fake. worthless. greedy. slow. jobless. unkind. dishonest. cold-hearted. weak. tired. cheap. embarrassing. disrespectful. unreliable. a non-dreamer. a non-believer. too political.

March 8 - 21, 2017 • Volume 14 • Issue 9

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