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District residents are going months without their SNAP benefits
SAMANTHA MONTEIRO
Editorial Intern
C. is the worst in the country at processing applications for programs residents rely on for food and other basic needs, like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and Medicaid, according to the U.S Department of Agriculture. These delays can leave residents waiting for months without coverage.
D.On July 2, the D.C. Council held a joint oversight hearing between the Committee on Health and the Committee on Housing to address problems with the D.C. Access System (DCAS), which operates the District Direct portal residents use to enroll in public benefits.
The District is facing a $4 million federal penalty for its high SNAP error rate — 20% of all D.C. SNAP beneficiaries receive either too much or too little money to cover their benefits. Problems with DCAS have also delayed benefit approvals, leaving some residents without access to their benefits as they wait for their applications to be processed, according to testimonies from the hearing.
As of 2022, over 140,000 D.C. residents, or about 20% of the city, received SNAP benefits. District residents have reported issues accessing their benefits in the past, from limited translation options for non-English speakers when District Direct first launched to waiting for months for the Department of Human Services (DHS) to update incorrect information on their applications. And when applications are processed, the high error rate for SNAP payments can still mean that D.C. residents are not getting the right amount of money to cover their food costs.
Despite these issues, D.C. Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Wayne Turnage said at the hearing he still believes that overall, DCAS is operating “fairly well.”
“It is a high error rate, and that is 20%. That means 80% of the payments made are not in error,” said Turnage. “The system is not tremendously flawed. It is not perfect but it is doing a lot because a lot is being asked of it.”
In June, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced it would fine the District $4.4 million for having an error rate higher than the USDA’s limit of 6% for the second year in a row. The D.C. government had the option to either appeal the penalty to the federal government or reinvest half of the money into improving SNAP processing to avoid paying the fine in full. The District is opting for the reinvestment, according to DHS Director Laura Zeilinger, who confirmed the information about the penalty at the hearing.
Some common issues D.C. residents experience while accessing
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their benefits include receiving notices about their applications too late or in the wrong language, LaMonika Jones, director of D.C. Hunger Solutions, testified at the hearing. Jones told Street Sense her clients have also seen their benefits decreased or terminated due to DHS caseworkers misinterpreting information about their expenses and determining they no longer qualify.
Jones said although DHS improved its response time for initial application requests, clients still face extended waiting periods to fix issues with their submissions, going without their benefits until the problem is resolved.
“To delay that, we’re talking about their inability to purchase food for themselves,” said Jones.
Other advocates for SNAP and Medicaid recipients say the process for getting the District to respond to problems with SNAP benefits has become more complicated.
Allison Miles-Lee, managing attorney with Bread for the City, testified that organizations like Bread for the City used to be able to resolve application issues directly with DHS in a timely manner. However, the District has recently been unresponsive to repeated emails and follow-ups about clients’ benefits, she said. Now advocates at Bread for the City are more regularly filing cases with the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) about the long application timelines, which can take another one to two months to resolve because the office has a backlog of hearings, Miles-Lee added.
Usually, hearings with the OAH are only meant to settle disputes between an applicant and DHS if the District believes someone does not qualify for benefits. But Miles-Lee said advocates must pursue hearings more often because DHS has responded slowly to respond, even if there is no dispute.
“Now we’re going to these hearings and DHS isn’t disputing that the person is entitled to these benefits, it’s them saying they need more time to be working on it,” said Miles-Lee.
Recently, Miles-Lee said one of Bread for the City’s clients went for around six months without receiving her SNAP assistance. DHS eventually paid the client the amount due in back benefits, but MilesLee said the time spent without receiving these vital payments can be incredibly difficult for people who rely on SNAP to afford food in the District.
“The DHS reps said, ‘we paid her the back benefits, so there’s no harm,’” said Miles-Lee. “That’s not the reality for our clients, they’re paying for themselves, their children, and it’s expensive to live in D.C. They’re qualifying to live on these benefits and they’re entitled to them.”
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Inside the DCHA recovery plan
FRANZISKA WILD Editorial Intern
D.C.’s largest landlord, the D.C. Housing Authority (DCHA), has a plan to turn around its struggling public housing programs in the next three years, but advocates and residents are skeptical.
Getting the agency that houses 50,000 residents back on track soon is critical, not only because many residents live in old units, but because neglecting to fix current problems could lead to a situation where public housing deteriorates to the point it becomes prohibitively expensive to fix, experts say.
In order to meet this challenge, DCHA leadership hope the agency’s newly-released Three-Year Recovery Plan can achieve a lot: moving more people into the agency’s underutilized public housing and voucher programs; creating more affordable housing; and fixing agency weaknesses like insufficient staff training, poor customer service, and IT problems. Most significantly, the plan aims to reposition all public housing subsidies, which could mean temporary relocation and displacement for residents.
Repositioning is a process where the housing authority takes a public housing property and replaces it with a different kind of rental assistance program, often selling or refurbishing the building along the way. DCHA does not give a timeline for this process in the recovery plan. The accompanying 2025 Moving to Work plan (MTW) sets a goal of beginning the conversion of all 8,000 units in the next year, though agency officials have said the process will take far longer, and will involve extensive consultation with residents.
A much-needed recovery
The recovery plan is not the agency’s first attempt at a “turnaround.” After exiting receivership from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in the late ‘90s, DCHA appeared to recover before showing issues again in the 2010s. In 2022, HUD released an audit that found over 80 issues within DCHA, including a failure to maintain livable conditions in many units and an extremely low occupancy rate for public housing, despite a long wait list.
The recovery plan is based on the HUD audit, a 2021 audit from the D.C. Office of the Inspector General, and feedback from residents and staff, according to the plan’s introduction. DCHA Director Keith Pettigrew emphasized the plan is a “living document” and the agency will seek to respond to resident feedback.
Many of the plan’s agency-wide goals aim to address key DCHA challenges, including low occupancy and poor conditions in public housing. Currently, only 83.42% of public housing units are “online”— an improvement from the 2022 HUD audit but short of the recovery plan’s goal of 90% or above use rate for public housing, which a DCHA spokesperson said is industry standard. To address under use, DCHA will create a plan to spend the money allocated by the mayor and D.C. Council to address vacancies and fix inhabitable units. Once the units are fixed, they’ll be offered to some of the 2,700 people currently on the public housing waitlist, according to a DCHA spokesperson.
The recovery plan also calls on DCHA to computerize tasks like work orders and inspections to reduce the backlog and ensure speedier repairs for residents. The plan will address operating issues by introducing standard training and procedures for all departments and filling vacancies.
In order to address the waitlist that stretches over 18,000 people long for the Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCV), the recovery plan proposes restructuring the department that manages vouchers, calls for the creation of an annual leasing plan, and suggests updating the administrative plan to comply with current regulations.
Throughout the plan, DCHA emphasizes improving customer service and rebuilding trust with residents and voucher holders.
Street Sense found the plan, released on June 27, has garnered mixed reactions from advocates and experts. Susan Popkin, who leads the Future of Public Housing initiative at the Urban Institute, sees it as a step in the right direction.
“I think it reflects a real attempt to turn things around and have a new day,” Popkin said. “When I read it, it’s quite different from things I’ve seen before. They’re responding to all the findings that the HUD review had.”
After years of promises of change at DCHA, Daniel del Pielago, the housing director at Empower DC, hopes this plan will represent a true turnaround for the agency.
“It’s a move in the right direction in the sense that we are hearing finally a housing authority that is taking some ownership for the disarray that this agency has been in and making some moves towards improving that,” del Pielago said. He agrees admitting what hasn’t been going well — and creating a plan to change it — is important, but adds many residents feel like the plan is the bare minimum.
“We need an agency that is going above and beyond. One of the critiques that we heard from residents was like, this is
basically a report on what they should be doing already, right?” del Pielago said.
Katrina Johnson knows what del Pielago is talking about first hand. She’s a voucher holder and has struggled the past couple of years with an unresponsive caseworker who only seemed to get back to Johnson promptly when she was in danger of being terminated from the program.
“She’s hard to get in contact with, she don’t answer the phone, she don’t answer emails or nothing. It’s like I’m talking to a brick wall,” Johnson said, referring to her caseworker. Recently, Johnson has been trying to move into a new apartment — her current apartment failed its inspection — but her caseworker has been slow to respond and send the paperwork to her new landlord. When Johnson contacted her new landlord, the landlord told her the caseworker had arranged for her to move in September even though she moves out of her current apartment on Aug. 18, leaving her angry and worried about where she and her kids will live for those two weeks.
She often feels like she’s the only one responsible for making sure her caseworker does her job, Johnson said, leaving her feeling like DCHA just doesn’t care that she depends on this housing.
“I have work, it’s hard for me to try and work and go back and forth to get somebody to do their job, with me moving and stuff and in general. They never respond back, ever,” Johnson said.
For Johnson, the emphasis on improving customer service in the recovery plan is just the bare minimum. She also thinks it should come with some accountability.
“Fire everybody and start over. That’s what they need to do.”
Controversial conversions
Beyond addressing fundamental operational problems, the recovery plan includes big changes.
Among the most ambitious goals in the plan is DCHA’s intention to reposition the subsidies of all current public housing units. There is no timeline tied to this goal in the recovery plan, but the recently approved 2025 Moving to Work Plan (MTW) — an agreement between DCHA and HUD outlining the kinds of redevelopment and programming DCHA plans to engage in — says DCHA plans to pursue repositioning all subsidies in the next fiscal year.
DCHA aims to redevelop its public housing by converting existing housing to either Section 8 project-based assistance utilizing the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD)
The housing authority plans to pursue a conversion of Kentucky Courts in the coming years. Photos by Will Schick
program or Section 18, which would allow the authority to sell or demolish existing housing without replacing it with a comparable unit, or a combination of these methods, according to the MTW plan. There are a few properties further down the line in this process, among them Park Morton, Kenilworth, Barry Farms, Greenleaf, and Lincoln Heights, but for the rest, DCHA only lists its intention to begin some form of conversion.
In an email to Street Sense, a DCHA spokesperson wrote the repositioning will take several years. After the agency applies to HUD for authorization, they’ll have to find a developer and financing for each property, create a redevelopment plan, have HUD and the DCHA board approve that plan, and then begin construction.
Popkin explained that often, residents often don’t notice a huge difference when a city converts public housing using the RAD program. However, in this case, she said many residents will be forced to move because DCHA’s proposed redevelopment aims to repair or renovate severely dilapidated units.
“They’re repositioning in order to fix the buildings or redevelop them entirely. So people are going to be moved, and it’s going to involve involuntary relocation. Typically, RAD doesn’t provide enough funding, and usually that doesn’t happen, but it’s going to happen here because of the condition of the properties,” Popkin said.
When asked how many residents will have to move due to the conversions, a DCHA spokesperson said it was too soon to provide an estimate, since the agency is just in the first stage of the planning — they’ll still have to make an individual redevelopment plan for each property. DCHA will work with residents to select development partners and create those plans, the spokesperson wrote.
From Popkin’s perspective, the authority is trying to be relatively thoughtful about what such a big change could mean, working with developers with experience in trauma-informed redevelopment and housing.
DCHA’s past handling of redevelopment doesn’t inspire confidence, however, according to Rebecca Lindhurst, a managing attorney for Bread for the City’s housing practice.
“DCHA’s way of doing redevelopment has been completely flawed and has resulted in displacement of communities, destruction of communities for many, many years,” she said, citing the past redevelopment of Arthur Capper under the HOPE VI program — there are hundreds of units that still have not been replaced following the redevelopment of this property.
“The concern is that people just aren’t going to be able to come back, and that redevelopment can take such a long time that it just really destroys communities,” Lindhurst said. Despite these concerns, DCHA hopes redevelopment will ultimately create better conditions for public housing residents and allow DCHA to expand the amount of the affordable housing it offers.
According to a DCHA spokesperson, all residents will have a right to return to their communities.
“DCHA is committed to a dynamic community engagement process with our residents to select development partners, provide input on each redevelopment plan, and develop relocation and continued occupancy plans,” they wrote. Beyond relocation, the other changes associated with repositioning have also caused surprise, concern, and confusion from both residents and advocates alike.
“I just wanted to speak on the Moving to Work because I’ve read as best I could,” Patricia Bishop, a public housing resident, said in a July 10 Board meeting. “My main concern about that, if we’re going to do Section 8 or RAD or whatever. By this being public housing buildings, all the utilities were included. If this does not happen when it’s turned over to these types of Section 8 low rent, people are going to become homeless.”
According to Popkin, RAD does include a utility allowance where rents will be lowered if after conversion tenants are expected to pay their own utilities. However, this is just one of many aspects of a conversion where tenants don’t all know what to expect.
Depending on the program used for redevelopment — RAD or Section 18 — resident’s rights will also change because units will no longer belong to the public housing portfolio, but rather be subsidized by a different kind of assistance.
“There are rights that the tenants keep in a RAD, but not as significant in a conversion to Section 18. So that’s one of our biggest concerns is that it will be converted, and the tenants will then lose their public housing rights,” Lindhurst said.
In public housing, with DCHA as the landlord, tenants have the right to file grievances if the conditions in their unit are being neglected, or they feel that their rent has been miscalculated. But if the property is sold to a new landlord using Section 18, tenants lose this tool for accountability.
Some of the concern also hinges on the ambiguous timeline for repositioning. Although the MTW plan outlines repositioning within the next year, at the July DCHA board meeting, Chairman Raymond Skinner clarified not all the redevelopment will happen that quickly.
“We’re still at the very, very early stages of this repositioning discussion. So, we don’t know for building by building for the most part where we’re going to go and how we’re going to do it,” Skinner said. “But the residents will be involved and there will be numerous meetings on the plan.”
Advocates, however, wonder what resident involvement for development will look like given DCHA’s past blunders at properties like Kenilworth.
“The question for me is whether that redevelopment or that resident involvement is merely picking the paint color, or is that resident involvement substantive regarding how many units are built, how long it takes, where people go in the meantime,” Lindhurst questioned.
Wary of uncertainty
The recovery plan’s lack of specifics is a recurring concern — one that policymakers have also commented on. Councilmember Robert White, who chairs the Housing Committee, put out a statement about the plan, praising Pettigrew for recognizing how DCHA failures have hurt residents, but calling on him to follow up with “clear data and timelines for accountability, with measurable goals and deadlines.”
Currently, the document includes no deadlines other than executing the entire plan within the next three years. Although the DCHA board could play a role in prodding the executive team for updates about the plan’s progress, the lack of benchmarks has left some residents feeling uneasy, according to advocates. According to a spokesperson, the agency will give “periodic” progress updates about the progress of the recovery plan.
“I think one of the bigger critiques was that public housing residents, voucher holders, have been waiting for improvements for a very long time. So when they see a document that is somewhat general, that doesn’t have specific dates, they are wary of: When will this actually happen?” del Pielago said.
Another worrying omission for some advocates is any mention of DCHA’s Office of Audit and Compliance, despite DCHA struggling with instances of fraud in the past. The recovery plan includes a detailed list of strategic goals and objectives for many of the office’s and departments at the housing authority, but not the Office of Audit and Compliance. According to the DCHA spokesperson, the agency-wide goals still apply to the office, there just were not any specific goals for it. Specific goals may be added as the document is updated.
“I find it so strange that the audit and
compliance office is not included. That’s the checks and balances. How can you put an audit and compliance in your building, but you’re not utilizing it, and it’s not in your recovery plan?” Kenneth Council, a former DCHA board member, asked at a July 10 board meeting.
William Jordan, who works with the Park Morton Equity Team organizing public housing residents, thinks there’s something else missing too: the view that residents are partners in the work of turning DCHA around.
“The part that’s missing is that there’s no department of resident equity or something like that. They have resident services, but that’s not the same thing. You have to have an infrastructure of resident equity at some level for any plan to work,” Jordan said.
Del Pielago agrees and hoped that the housing authority would take seriously the need for increased resident engagement. He noted that although the document is primarily designed as an internal one aimed at the agency and staff, presenting it without an accompanying message aimed at residents or voucher holders can leave some DCHA clients feeling as though the plan isn’t actually about improving conditions or reducing waitlists.
“When something more holistic isn’t presented, it continues this kind of like are they really doing this for us? Are they doing this to cover their behinds?” del Pielago said. “While I think this is a move in the right direction, I think, the agency needs to do something that is a little more holistic and that talks more directly to its client base.”
Despite concerns and uncertainties with the recovery plan, advocates, residents, policymakers, and experts are rooting for it to succeed — DCHA needs to get on the right track so it can show up for the people who depend on it, they say.
“This is an inflection point. The thing I always say about D.C. is it’s really important to get this right because if we lose D.C.’s public housing — whatever we call it, whether it’s now RAD converted, it’s still deeply subsidized housing — we are going to lose the most stable source of affordable housing in the District,” Popkin said. “There will be nowhere for the people who depend on that housing.”
Housing authority residents have long complained of poor conditions.
Kings and queens of Northwest D.C. parade to fight homelessness
FIONA RILEY Editorial Intern
Jennifer Gelencia Muhammad has offered food, clothes, and other resources to people outside of the city’s largest shelter every Saturday for the last five years. On July 21, she offered a parade.
Muhammad is the founder of The New Royal Family of Advocates for Planetary Change, a nonprofit organization that conducts outreach and advocacy work for people experiencing homelessness. After years of offering material support, she recognized the people she serves are also looking for a sense of dignity. In the face of a D.C. government that opts to clear encampments and cut funding for homelessness prevention, she held the first annual Crown the Homeless parade outside of the Community for Creative Non-Violence (CCNV) shelter to honor people experiencing homelessness in the community and urge their Northwest D.C. neighbors to participate in the organization’s outreach efforts.
“No matter what your station in life, your race, your nationality, I just see royalty,” Muhammad said in an interview before the parade. “If we’re all in that mindset, I think we’ll be able to eradicate homelessness because we won’t have our fellow kings and queens sleeping in these conditions, we’ll put them in palaces.”
About 100 people marched the parade route, which started at CCNV on Second Street and turned left to go four blocks down Indiana Avenue and D Street, then right to go down 6th Street, and finally down E Street to complete the loop. Participants held neon green signs with messages like “Show the homeless some love,” “Little things matter,” “D.C. let’s take care of our own,” and “Homeless not helpless.”
The parade was led by a group of nine dancers and drummers as well as four women — including Muhammad — who wore pageant dresses and held a banner that read “New Royal
Family of Advocacy for Planetary Change.” A man holding a megaphone led the group with a “Homeless lives matter” chant while Metropolitan Police Department cars and officers on bikes prevented vehicles from disrupting the parade.
“Let the people know, let the men and women of God know, let the government know that homeless lives matter,” the man with the megaphone chanted as the group turned down E Street.
One of the women wearing a pageant dress was Elvera Patrick, the parade director and a Pure International Pageants queen. She thought one of the best ways to lift up people experiencing homelessness is to remind them they are royalty.
“I will be honored with crowning the homeless kings and queens,” Patrick said. She helped assemble and distribute gold paper crowns to participants both before and after they marched.
Muhammad began planning the event with other members of The New Royal Family about eight months ago. She said advocates, volunteers, and supporters wanted to do more to promote the mental well-being of the people they serve and encourage residents in the area to participate in their outreach efforts every Saturday.
“We need all members of the community to help us get our kings and queens off of the street so that they can live humanely,” Muhammad said.
Muhammad, also a pageant queen who has worked in education and mental health and is passionate about protecting women and children from abusive household situations, said she wanted the people she serves to feel as empowered as she does when she puts on a crown. She chose to make the celebration a parade in the hopes people would see them passing by and either join in, recognize the dignity of the people experiencing homelessness, or google the organization. She established the organization in 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to provide community support to people
experiencing homelessness by distributing tents, toiletries, feminine hygiene products, medical supplies, food, and water in addition to offering other advocacy and outreach efforts.
“We’re doing a parade to raise awareness, to continue to put the plague of the suffering of the people back in the society’s face in a larger way,” Muhammad said.
Crystal Hughes, a local resident, said she attended the parade to help alert other community members of the support The New Family can provide them when they don’t receive assistance from the government. She said Muhammad reached out to her when she was struggling to afford care for her young daughter and helped connect her with foundations and support her mental well-being.
“I was thinking about leaving the whole DMV altogether until she stopped me and said we want to support you, we want to support your child,” Hughes said.
Frederick Ware-Newsome, whom Muhammad described as her mentor, said the parade helped show young people in the community how celebrating themselves and others can empower them to overcome adversity. He said he was excited when Muhammad came to him with the idea because when people see a parade they are inclined to look into the organization running the event and consider how they can support their local community.
“It’s a privilege and honor to see people rise, rise, rise,” WareNewsome said in an interview after the parade. “Sometimes it only takes one and if that one takes a hold it turns into everyone gravitating towards that one.”
Ware-Newsome is confident the parade will continue and garner more participants each year because everyone who attended brought a lot of energy and many documented the event on social media.
“It’s history in the making, getting all of these people together and peacefully,” Ware-Newsome said.
A group of drummers and dancers led the crowd of about 100 people who showed up to march in the Crown the Homeless parade through the route.
Several pageant queens, including The New Royal Family of Advocates for Planetary Change’s founder (far right) and parade director (far left), wore their crowns and sahses to the first annual Crown the Homeless parade and distributed crowns for other participants to wear. Photos by Fiona Riley
D.C.’s plan to add 500 shelter beds by 2028
FIONA RILEY Editorial Intern
C.’s Department of Human Services (DHS) has drafted a plan to open six homeless shelters over the next four years, adding more than 500 shelter beds amidst a wave of encampment clearings and reports of shelters reaching full capacity this summer.
DHS presented their timeline for raising the number of city-funded low barrier and specialty beds from 1216 to 1773 by the end of 2028 at an Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH) Emergency Response & Shelter Operations Committee meeting on May 22. The new shelters would include renovations and replacements of older shelters, as well as the opening of two new non-congregate shelters.
In April, low-barrier shelters were near capacity. Shelter monitoring reports show similar capacity concerns over the last two months, even after D.C. officials opened 80 additional beds in May. At an ICH meeting on July 9, DHS officials said shelter capacity had reached 99.5 percent for men and 97.6 percent for women, which meeting participants attributed to extreme heat in D.C. this summer.
“We’re at really high capacity, and that’s concerning because we likely will have another heat wave,” Kate Coventry, deputy director of legislative strategy for the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute and a voting member of ICH, said in an interview.
The Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services (DMHHS) has also scheduled 10 encampment clearings thus far this summer, despite requests from advocates and Advisory Neighborhood Commissions for DMHHS to pause closures until beds become available at shelters.
“Right now we need more beds, particularly as we’re clearing encampments,” Coventry said.
The planned timeline would increase the total number of beds for men by 394 — from 841 to 1235 — and the total number of beds for women by 123 — from 335 to 458. These numbers include just year-round shelters run by D.C. — for instance, the Center for Creative Nonviolence, one of the city’s largest shelters, is not included. At an ICH meeting on June 26, one member worried D.C. officials have historically undercounted the number of beds occupied by women because the Point-in-Time Count, which is used to determine the need for shelter, does not take into account that many women don’t feel safe spending the whole night at a shelter.
The timeline begins on Aug. 1 with the anticipated addition of 15 beds for women at Patricia Handy Place, a women’s shelter located at 810 5th St. in Northwest D.C. These will be specialty beds as opposed to low-barrier, meaning people will have to meet certain requirements to enter the shelter. Requirements could include sobriety, background checks, and credit checks — all of
which may delay the process for individuals gaining access to a bed.
The next phase is the projected opening of The Aston — a former George Washington University residence hall located at 1129 New Hampshire Ave. in Northwest D.C — during the month of August. The shelter is expected to add 30 specialty beds for women and up to 100 specialty beds for men, though capacity will begin with only 50 available beds for men. These will be non-congregate beds, offering individuals more privacy, and will allow people experiencing homelessness with adult family members of a different gender to move into the same shelter, which is currently not possible.
DHS officials originally slated the shelter’s opening for November 2023, but pushed back the date to this summer after delays with construction and finding a contractor. At a Community Advisory Team meeting for the area in June the president of Friendship Place, The Aston’s provider, said officials may delay the opening again until October, though a DHS official said August is “definitely a possibility” at a meeting in July.
A second non-congregate shelter at 25 E St. in Northwest D.C. is expected to open next in November of this year, transforming a former office building. DHS anticipates it will add 190 additional specialty beds — 113 for women and 77 for men.
Blair Shelter, a men’s shelter located at 635 I St. in Northeast D.C., is projected to re-open in June 2025 and add 72 low barrier beds for men. The shelter closed for renovations in 2023.
The Harriet Tubman Women’s Shelter, located at 1910 Massachusetts Ave. in Southeast D.C., is expected to close on April 1, 2026 after years of complaints about poor conditions. Its closure will result in 175 fewer beds for women, though DHS expects to make 140 additional beds available for women at Patricia Handy Swing Shelter, located at 1009 11th St. in Northwest D.C., at the same time, resulting in a net loss of only 35 beds.
Greencourt, a former gym located at 1339 Green Ct. in Northwest D.C., is expected to open as a men’s shelter in summer 2026 and add 100 low barrier beds for men. This will help combat the anticipated closure of Adam’s Place Emergency Shelter, located at 2210 Adams Pl. in Northeast D.C., at some point in 2028 — resulting in a loss of 150 low barrier shelters for men.
The last phase of the plan is the projected opening of a new New York Avenue Men’s Emergency Shelter at some point in 2028, a repurposed animal shelter that DHS expects will add 225 low barrier beds for men.
DHS did not return a request for comment on the plan or the status of the selection of providers by officials for each shelter.
Illustration by Leela Waehrer
Encampment Updates: Three closures leave people scrambling to find somewhere to go
n just seven days, District authorities closed three encampments, displacing over 40 people, many without a plan of where to go next.
At the end of July, the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services (DMHHS) closed three encampments: one outside Community for Creative NonViolence (CCNV) the city’s largest homeless shelter, on July 23, one in Eastern Market on July 25, and one in Foggy Bottom on July 30.
The encampment at Eastern Market had only one resident, but no tents or other structures. The resident declined to comment on the closure. According to a DMHHS spokesperson, neighbors forwarded concerns about the resident to DMHHS, but the decision to close the encampment was “due to the numerous health and safety concerns that were observed during months of outreach engagements,” including “human waste and bulk trash.”
The biggest closure, a joint operation between DMHHS and the Department of General Services, was outside the CCNV in the Judiciary Square neighborhood. The encampment consisted of blankets and sheets of tarp tacked to scaffolding along the front of CCNV. Encampment residents arranged furniture, bedding, and their other belongings behind the sheets.
A DMHHS spokesperson told Street Sense the city identified the encampment for closure due to the health and safety hazards
posed by the structure, and that the blankets covering the wiring and vents on the side of the building created a fire hazard.
A resident of the encampment, Alejandro, told Street Sense there were more than 30 people living underneath the scaffolding before the city closed the encampment — mostly migrants from Venezuela and other countries in Latin America. Alejandro has a cousin in D.C. and before coming here had been in New York.
Sitting in a camping chair in front of the scaffolding, another resident of the encampment, who declined to give her name, told Street Sense most people knew about the closure beforehand, and a few had left ahead of it.
“There are families that have gone, but there are a lot of families here who do not know where they’re going,” she said. She said in the previous month, the city knocked down a portion of the encampment and erected a fence.
Andrés, a young man wearing a domino around his neck, told Street Sense he wasn’t sure where he was going to go after the closure. He said there had been some outreach ahead of the closure from Pathways to Housing and Catholic Charities, but much of it had been limited to offers to get him a bus ticket to another city.
The forced busing of migrants to sanctuary cities is a controversial program instituted by Republican governors in places like Texas and Arizona. In 2022, Mayor Muriel Bowser declared a public health emergency in response to the influx of people. But it’s not only red state governors who engage in
busing — D.C. also offers to bus people elsewhere, although completely voluntarily.
Andrés has tried shelters but found them restrictive — not being able to leave after 7 p.m. or before 7 a.m. disagreed with him. Another resident, Franklin, told Street Sense he thought the Office of Migrant Service (OMS) shelters set up for newly arrived migrants on New York Avenue in Northeast were unsafe.
Other encampment residents told Street Sense they hadn’t been able to access OMS shelters because they are only open to families, not single individuals. Residents emphasized they wished the city offered them more resources. Alejandro noted that unlike in New York, in D.C., he hadn’t even received help with obtaining an I.D.
Four residents of the encampment accepted shelter services, according to a DMHHS spokesperson.
D.C. has been rolling back its migrant services in recent months, and although OMS is supposed to help migrants with case management services, some migrants said they have not received assistance from the District with getting an I.D. or work permits — documents needed to rent apartments.
Across the city, at an encampment closure at 21st and E Street in Foggy Bottom on July 30, residents were viscerally angry the city was forcing them to move — for many, for the second time this summer.
“Fuck Muriel Bowser, Fuck the government, Who’s going to watch the destruction of our home?” one resident yelled
FRANZISKA WILD
Editorial Intern
District authorities closed an encampment outside of the Community for Creative Non-Violence shelter on July 23. Photo by Samantha Monteiro
at DMHHS staff, outreach workers, and other onlookers as residents packed up their belongings.
Fifteen residents lived at the encampment in half a dozen tents. At least 10 of the residents were displaced in a series of joint National Park Service and DMHHS closures in May, after which they moved to 21st and E, according to Abigail McNaughton, an encampment case manager at Miriam’s Kitchen.
Street Sense talked to David Beatty and Kirk Johnsen, ahead of the closure. Both men are residents of the residents of the encampment and had been displaced in May.
Beatty expressed his frustration at being forced to move from 21st and E in the first place — in part because he can see his old camp site from where he is now, and he’s noticed none of the rehabilitation that was cited as the reason for the closure has taken place yet. Beatty’s old encampment was closed in preparation for the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence in 2026.
“It’s like a slap in the face, like we got harassed,” he said. “They closed it over two months ago, if they’re going to kick us out, they’ve got to start the work right away.”
Johnsen questioned the need for the closure of 21st and E and told Street Sense he felt as though the city was just pushing him around because they could.
“It’s cause we’re an eyesore, they’re grasping at straws,” he said.
According to a DMHHS spokesperson, the D.C.’s Department of Transportation, which governs the space, told DMHHS the space needed to be cleared due to “future scheduled maintenance, and to ensure that the dumping of various items inclusive of human waste does not have a critical
impact on the primary function of the ventilation mechanisms beneath the triangle park space.”
Johnsen and Beatty told Street Sense no one informed them the vents were an issue before the city announced the closure — and they would happily move the small wicker table which partially stood on top of one if it meant preventing a move.
Johnsen also argued there are ways to mitigate some of the issues the encampment’s neighbors could raise, though a local advisory neighborhood commissioner said he hadn’t heard any concerns. The city could have, for example, provided portable restrooms, a water spigot, access to showers, and an increased police presence at night to prevent altercations between residents.
“They could have given us an opportunity for community outreach,” Johnsen said.
Beatty agreed and told Street Sense at the previous encampment across the street he had — with the help of a housed neighbor — planted and tried to grow over 100 lbs of grass seed. At 21st and E, he cleans up both his trash and some of his neighbors’ sorting out the recycling as part of his commitment to sustainability.
Not knowing where to go next was a stressor for both Beatty and Johnsen. Beatty has thought about returning to his brother in Kansas City, but has an ongoing court case in D.C., making leaving tricky.
Johnsen has toyed with the idea of trying to get a bus ticket to California, hoping for a view of the ocean and warmer weather, but is wary of what the Grants Pass decision could mean for his rights to sleep outside there. Recently, the governor of California ordered state officials to begin removing all encampments. Johnsen is adamant, however, he won’t go
into a shelter — he has tried them before and said he found bed bugs the size of his pinky finger, a lack of running water, and an environment which triggered his PTSD.
Both, however, told Street Sense if given the opportunity to access a non-congregate shelter, like the Aston, which is scheduled to open in late August and is just blocks from the encampment, they would take it.
On the day of the closure, both men chose to move to other encampments nearby, hoping that they wouldn’t be cleared or closed any time soon.
“Every single person is moving to other encampments, and they will continue to do so until a dignified option is available,” McNaughton said, explaining shelters are often full and even when beds are available, residents may not feel comfortable going inside.
In addition to Miriam’s Kitchen, community members, including those with the mutual aid group Food Not Bombs, helped residents move their stuff on the day of the clearing. McNaughton said she was deeply grateful they were willing to come and help as early as 7:30 am.
“Tell your elected officials this isn’t an effective way to end homelessness, and come help people pack, we couldn’t have done this without community volunteers,” she said, referencing the feat of packing up over half a dozen tents in a couple of hours.
When asked what else readers should know, “all we’re asking for is a little empathy,” Johnsen said.
Samantha Monteiro contributed reporting.
Editor’s Note: Some of the interviews in this article have been translated from Spanish.
Portions of the encampment at CCNV as district authorities began to disassemble it.
Photo by Franziska Wild
Signs posted by encampment residents to protest the clearing at 21st and E St. Photo by Franziska Wild
Penal sanctions can’t end homelessness, but the opposite can
ANTHONY RAY CARRASCO
Punishment has never reduced homelessness. Yet, the Supreme Court recently decided civil penalties for sleeping in public are neither cruel nor unusual, and fining people without housing is legal as long as the fees are not excessive. Since the “social question” of homelessness is “complex,” six of the nine justices reasoned penal sanctions are one of several legitimate “public policy responses required to address” extreme housing inequality in America.
Homelessness is already a punishment; adding another log to the fire can’t lower the temperature. I’ve designed housing solutions for hundreds of people transitioning out of homelessness. A fine never helps. More often than not, penalties disrupt and delay the rehousing process. Only support can reduce homelessness.
Fines are cruel and unusual because a debt can never pay off another debt. Criminalization policies are not an evidence-based solution to homelessness, but their opposite can be. Remunerative policies come in many shapes and sizes, like rental subsidies, micro-loans, and basic income programs, but all can reduce homelessness. At UC Berkeley, the campus reduces student homelessness by paying students’ security deposits.
Community support ended homelessness in my backyard. Two summers ago, I met someone sleeping in an unenclosed cement carport behind my rental unit. I learned he’d been unsheltered there for almost two years. Born in San Francisco, ‘Nardy’ Andrus spent the first half of his adult life serving time only to spend the latter unhoused in the Bay Area. I volunteered my legal aid. After 16 months, my unhoused neighbor became my housed neighbor.
Civil penalties will only prolong the plight of freeway-adjacent pay-by-the-month motel families like the one that raised me. I was living out of a suitcase until the age of 12, and a fee would not have helped my family exit homelessness. Aid, however, transformed my life. When my grandmother developed cancer, she decided to leave my mother her life savings with one final wish: use the funds to secure safe and stable housing.
Since aid-based policy approaches already out-perform penalty-based policy approaches, there is no humane reason any municipality should become more punitive. The political desire of cities like Grants Pass to punish reflects a greater interest in banishing their own rather than an interest in helping former lease-holding residents recover from housing displacement their local government failed to prevent. For cities that have their people’s back, the case of Grants Pass ought to be a profile in cowardice; nothing more.
The next national homelessness controversy will be in the courts sooner than you think. An address, or lack thereof, may determine whether you can vote, serve on a jury, obtain a state identification card, board an aircraft, and participate in the census. Too often, people who struggle to find a safe place to sleep cannot access public bathrooms, enjoy privacy, and practice self-defense.
The Supreme Court may have enabled municipalities to remain trapped in a pointless and pathetic process of punishing the poor. However, the fight for housing justice continues wherever people of conscience find the courage to aid their unhoused neighbors.
Anthony R. Carrasco is a graduate student in the Jurisprudence and Social Policy Department at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, where he also co-directs the UC Berkeley Public Service Center Alumni Association.
Perception Paradox: The crime crisis that isn’t
ANAIAH MITCHELL
hat the public believes isn’t always what’s really happening. In D.C., for instance, data shows crime is trending downward compared to its peak last year. Yet 65% of District residents are more worried about crime now than they were a year ago according to a recent poll by the Washington Post, showing two-thirds of residents believe crime is an “extremely serious” or a “very serious” problem in the District. Nationally, we’ve also seen how two sides of the country are experiencing vastly different realities. Whether you’re on the East coast or the West coast, a Democrat or a Republican, or live in a rural or metropolitan area, you likely will either think the country needs to be made great again, or that it has the potential to be great for the first time. How is this possible? If crime is truly decreasing, then why do people still feel so unsafe? If we are all living in the same country, how are our perceptions of this country so…unique? The reality is America has a perception problem, and there are likely many factors that could explain this ‘perception paradox.’ It involves examining the role of media in shaping public opinion, the impact of social media in a misinformation era, and a mix of personal and psychological factors that shape our individual perceptions. At first glance, this may not seem like an urgent issue. But the concept of feelings over facts marks the start of a dangerous and slippery slope.
WIn the legislative world, we often hear first; from the loudest and most passionate advocates on any given topic. As legislative staff, it is our job is to draft and analyze legislation based on how important the issue is to our constituents, how much it may impact or harm the community, and the urgency of the problem. The challenge then becomes who we listen to. Whose voice do we follow on this months-long journey to craft a bill? Is it the voice whispering crime is going down or the one screaming they feel scared to walk alone to the grocery store?
Naturally, many legislators listen to whoever’s voice is louder and more concise amongst the jumble of conflicting discourse. In this case, the public’s perception of fear and crime “won.” Fear has influenced policy decisions over the last few years in almost every major city and jurisdiction as lawmakers across the country make disturbing calls for punitive legislation.
We’ve seen states like Louisiana, Tennessee, and Oregon recently enact legislation that either sharply contradicts severely rolls back criminal justice reform from years prior. In Chicago, we watched a mayoral primary — in which “tough-on-crime” candidate Paul Vallas beat liberal incumbent Lori Lightfoot — highlighting the city’s shift in public attitudes toward crime. Here in the District, a historically liberal city, we saw the recent passage of Secure D.C., a punitiveleaning piece of legislation met with plenty of controversy.
All of this political movement speaks to an uncomfortable theme here in America: evidencebased initiatives are no match for people’s perceptions. So even when crime rates are down, if people still feel unsafe in their communities, the perception of that fear will override everything.
When it comes to youth in the District, it becomes increasingly clear our perceptions shape how we think about, interact with, and support young people. Fear enforces the narrative that restorative justice does not work and fulfills the normative expectation that locking people up, swiftly and for long periods, is the only way to ‘fight back’ against criminal behavior, despite large amounts of data and research pointing toward the opposite. Almost 70% of District residents favor legislation that would create harsher punishments for teens who commit violent crimes, according to the Washington Post. Yet as a policy advisor, I can’t count how many times I’ve heard directly from youth that what they need the most is support, both behaviorally and with mental health and substance use. This is a clear disconnect.
By funding and facilitating intergenerational programs, (programs that promote shared learning among similar age groups and across generations), we can create opportunities for social connection among both our youth and adults. We can reduce prejudices and biases when members of different groups can meet on equal footing. We must start shifting our perspectives and checking our prejudices towards our youth. Our youth are desperately seek support from us.
In a world where fear divides, let’s build communities where understanding replaces fear, and connection replaces correction.
Anaiah Mitchell is a native Washingtonian, legislative policy advisor and social worker in the District.
Can the homeless sleep outside?
MAURICE SPEARS Artist/Vendor
On April 22, the Supreme Court heard the case of Grants Pass v. Johnson, which decided laws that restrict sleeping in public, camping on public property, or similar behavior do not constitute “cruel and unusual punishment” prohibited by the Eighth Amendment. The case raises important questions about the rights and humanity of those who are homeless and the role of local governments in addressing this complex and challenging issue.
While considering this case, the Supreme Court should have taken into account the harsh realities faced by homeless individuals. Homelessness often results from a combination of factors out of an individual’s control, such as poverty, the scarcity of affordable housing, mental health issues, and systemic inequalities. Punishing individuals for sleeping outside does not address the root causes of homelessness and can further marginalize, traumatize, and stigmatize those who are already vulnerable.
The Supreme Court should instead focus on solutions that prioritize compassion, support, and dignity for homeless individuals.
Peace on earth
WILLIE FUTRELLE Artist/Vendor
Practical Education Also
Cultivates
Enlightenment
Ordinarily Nearly Every Action Reveals
Truthful Humanity
Food for thought
SHEILA WHITE Artist/Vendor
If you can run a gang, You can run a company
If you can write a rap, You can write a book
If I made Street Sense
JENKINS DALTON Artist/Vendor
The front page would feature a picture or pictures of current topic issues such as candidates for primaries this season. There would be jobs and housing for everyone. Pictures of apartments, homes for sale, and even shelters for the disadvantaged — refugees and immigrants.
The next section would be weather and time. There are 24 hours in a day, and seven days in a week: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. There are 12 months in total: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December. There are four seasons: Winter, spring, summer, and autumn. The picture would change with the seasons.
The next sections would be religion and education, about the best high schools or colleges — universities too. Then military school, and who qualifies to enter them. Of course, no tears. Then politics. Flashbacks, what it takes to win an American war.
The next section would be “Food and Fun with Street Sense.” There are many restaurants in the DMV (Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia) and most serve all three meals, including snacks. A snack late at night or before daylight can cause sickness.
The last two sections would be vendor stories (tips, deputies, and chiefs), and America and the world. They are on good terms, better than after 1945. Today’s story is work like any other job. Street Sense has information everyone needs. Imagine rewards. Can we beat other newspapers? Maybe in sales, charity, etc.
If you can film a street fight, You can shoot a movie
Don’t just take over a whole block, Take over the whole world
Stop selling yourself short
A rut
DOMINIQUE ANTHONY Artist/Vendor
I have been in a rut before. It was not good. That’s how I went to jail and lost my children, and my middle son got into the system. My oldest went to live with his other grandma, which was a good thing. He finished high school and now he is a student at UMC, a freshman/sophomore in college. I am so proud of my son. He was diagnosed with ADHD and mood disorder at 5. I was so upset my son was in and out of the hospital dealing with his depression and dealing with his mood disorder. I was dealing with my own issues with my HIV, depression, being a mother, and going through different men and trying to find one who will be there for me and my children.
When my ex-fiance passed away from HIV/chronic alcoholism, he was only 27 years old. I want to learn to forgive people who have done me wrong, learn to accept things for better or worse, and learn to pray for people who hurt me. I want to learn to take care of myself.
How to learn to take care of myself:
Learn how to stay still.
Learn to take care of myself, for example, drinking tea.
Listen to music.
Buy something for myself.
Learn to go places.
Talk to someone.
Adventures by the thumb
There was a time in the ‘60s and the ‘70s when people hitchhiked as their mode of transportation. However, this method of getting around was sometimes disapproved of. It could be dangerous. Nevertheless, those issues didn’t stop people — mostly young ones — from sticking out their thumbs.
People weren’t as bad and nasty as they are now — or so it seemed.
When my friend and I were 17 or 18, we wanted to go to a club downtown, so we decided to hitch a ride. We dressed up, headed to the highway and stuck out our thumbs. We got lucky after about 15 minutes.
The driver, a man, said he was headed to downtown D.C. and he would be glad to help us. But when he turned on the highway, he started going down it at about 80 mph. We were so afraid we started to cry. He pulled into a open field and stopped. We grabbed hands, jumped out, and took off running. We made it back to the highway and started back to D.C. Forget the club; we wanted to get home where we would be safe. It took us about three hours to do that.
Talk about an adventure! We almost didn’t make it out. No telling what would have happened if we hadn’t run fast and gotten away.
JACKIE TURNER Artist/Vendor
The beauty of 2024 summertime
CHON GOTTI
Artist/Vendor
In the shimmering haze of 2024’s summertime glow, Where laughter dances and the warm breezes flow. Childrens’ laughter echoes through the golden days, In a world reborn with the sun’s radiant blaze.
Beneath cerulean skies, the playgrounds come alive, With merry-go-rounds spinning and slides to dive, Tiny feet patter on hot pavement’s face, As they chase dreams in this season’s embrace.
Picnic blankets unfurl on emerald-green lawns, With baskets of delights from early dawn, Watermelon slices glisten in the noonday sun, As families gather, stories and laughter are spun.
The splash of cool waters in backyard pools, Where cannonballs disrupt serene summer rules, Floaties and goggles, a rainbow of hues, Reflect the joy of freedom they choose.
Ice cream trucks chime their melodic tunes, Drawing lines of anticipation ‘neath the moon, From vanilla cones to popsicles bright, They bring sweet relief on a sweltering night.
Surfers carve waves with effortless grace, As the ocean’s embrace becomes their place, Sun-kissed shoulders and sandy toes, Breathe in the rhythm only summer knows.
Camping trips under a starlit sky, Where crackling fires paint stories high, Marshmallows roast to a golden delight, In the flickering shadows of the night.
Fireflies twinkle in the soft twilight, Their dance a secret of the warm night, Captured in jars by eager hands, A fleeting magic of enchanted lands.
Across city streets and country lanes, Summer’s canvas paints joyous refrains, From festivals bustling with vibrant arts, To quiet stargazing that stills the heart.
Butterflies flutter in meadows so green, As if painting the scenes we’ve seen. A world of wonder in every hue, In 2024’s summertime, pure and true.
So let’s savor these days, fleeting and bright, Where the sun lingers long into the night, For memories made in this summer so grand, Will forever be etched in the palm of our hand.
Summer season feels
EVELYN NNAM Artist/Vendor
How’s everyone’s summer going? How is it feeling with the weather change and the hotter temperature?
I can say, my experience has been scorching since the summer began. There are days I just stay indoors with the air conditioning to keep myself together. Another way I keep cool is cold, refreshing fruit. I love fresh, cold watermelon chunks! As I take a bite out of the watermelon, the juice fills me up.
I can say, summer is an interesting season. The hot, sunny days and the humidity engulf the air, but summer is still a lovely season.
I love to wear my dress shirts and jean shorts in the summer. I also love wearing my different colored bucket hats. I have about 12 in my collection and I can’t get out the door without wearing one!
I love outdoor events like barbeques, fairs, and pool days. I love times of fun and making memories! A big reason why
I love the summer is exercising in a warm setting. I take health very seriously, so when the summer comes I exercise outside and take in the scenery of nature. I love walking and reflecting on life. I love walking with my daughter; that quality mother-daughter time is how we get to know more about each other.
Overall, I love summer because it is a season of growth and change. I get to do more things outside like eating fruits for a cool snack on a hot day or walking on summer evenings. Summer is not my favorite season, but I am grateful when it comes and makes its presence known.
How do you like the summer? Is summer your favorite season? What do you do to keep yourself cool on a hot sunny day? What’s one thing you love about summer? Take a moment to ask yourself and reflect on these questions and, maybe, ask another person as well.
Thank you for listening.
Trying to break free
JEFFREY CARTER
Artist/Vendor
I feel as though I am stuck and can’t get anywhere in my life. I don’t know what to do with myself. I feel lost, like I’m floating in outer space.
I know what it’s like to be in a rut.
A man with no vision should perish. If you have nothing on your mind, you will most likely be nothing in your society. This may be happening to most of our young people, who are lost because they have no role models to look up to. This is why there is a lot of killing in too many Black communities. Young people are raising themselves, so they don’t know how to live. That would happen a lot less if they had someone to look up to.
Everyone needs someone to look up to.
On heart
ANGIE WHITEHURST Artist/Vendor
A heart has heart
Beating a pulse, full of red love
Touching the outside world, softly gloved
No prints etched, leaving a trail of new fallen leaves
Spring flows through fall into a hearth-heated summer
Seasons to taste an exciting universe
You gotta have heart to help someone
That’s why you are a good person
You feed the hungry
House those living roofless under the sky
Help the shoes that move with pain
Lift the mind to heavenly points
Bursting with the ripeness of honeydew
Deserving of a kiss of innocence, capturing the world
One by one
Yes, in love, a heart has to be the heart of giving
To all mankind
Green to the game
ANTHONY CARNEY
Artist/Vendor
To live is like being in green
Death is like living in green in the very end
Enjoy your green journey and stay green Green is a light to the beginning to the end
Stay green and open your mind!
Imagination
KYM PARKER
Artist/Vendor
When you wake up in the morning
Imagine me at your side
Dancing my dance of happiness
Imagine waking up, saying good morning to God Wake up this morning and know that He loves you
Imagine that dance of love, light, believing, faith, and blessings
A storm may come but God will get you through it
Imagine doing what you want, when you want it
I imagine dancing that dance Freaking and dancing
Imagine your life and imagine yourself A child of God
God is love, perfect, and protection He will never walk away or turn his back on you
Imagine being all that you want and all that you can be
Imagine
What’s a community?
ROCHELLE WALKER Artist/Vendor
I pray for you you pray for me
Let’s get together and share our concerns
I love you you love me
Let’s get together and write our thoughts
I told you you told me How to make this world a better place to be
You are part of me I am part of you
Let’s help each other
Gun control
JENNIFER MCLAUGHLIN
Artist/Vendor
The attempted assassination of Donald Trump means Congress should have a discussion on gun control. It could gain more attention in the upcoming Congress.
Apologizing
ANDRE BRINSON
Artist/Vendor
My time. I am apologizing. SMH. To apologize to someone, right or wrong, is to be the bigger person. We know some apologies won’t be accepted; most of my apologies weren’t. But that’s fine with me. I’m on the right side in my apologies to people. “SMH.”
I have had people come apologize to me after we have had a bad counter with each other. It shocked me. So I said to him, “I am sorry because I had to whip you.” Not by any means to promote violence.
Basically my point is, apologies can go either way. Peace and love — we can do it.
Rest peacefully, my lovely Mom.
Angels, raindrops, and clouds
ROBERT WARREN Artist/Vendor
Looking out to the night sky and the cool breeze coming off the leaves, a big black cloud passed by and I thought I saw the Pure Lights. Those would be the angels pushing the clouds to and fro where the raindrops fall. Only the Lord knows when those winds blow, coming into the sunrise. They hope to offer a prayer before its time as the days unwind into the end of July with heat indexes higher than 100 in our hottest July EVER! Oh, you clouds and raindrops, you never frown, catching a raindrop in that thunderstorm that never lasts too long before the angels move on, pushing the clouds. I see through the window a cool breeze coming off the leaves as the clouds pass by. I wonder how long is the life of a cloud? Does it ever die or does it just keep being pushed by the angels of the Lord, bringing our raindrops of life? Thank the Lord for the raindrops, the clouds, and the angels.
CHRIS COLE Artist/Vendor
FUN & GAMES
Cryptically Crypto
Across
1. Religious offshoot
5. Fed. anti-moonshine org. (abbr./ initialism)
8. Misbehaves (2 wds.) (4,2) (CATSUP anagram)
14. Declare openly
15. China’s Chou En-___
16. Clear soups
17. Hiring director who keeps things in the family? (INEPT SOT anagram)
19. Younger of the tennis star Williams sisters
20. What one who aspires to have their works exhibited in 26-Across has (2 wds.)
22. Dawn goddess
23. The first A of N.A.A.C.P. (abbr.)
24. Letters on a gearshift (abbr./initialism)
26. N.Y.C. cultural center that contains van Gough’s “The Starry Night,” in brief (abbr./initialism)
29. One is easy to form but very difficult to break (3 wds.)
32. Super Bowl souvenir for one designated the M.V.P. (2 wds.) (4,4)
36. Thumb-typist’s missive
37. Years ___ (way back when)
38. Digital currency appearing in 8 of this puzzle’s answers
42. Tavern offering
43. “Beam ____, Scotty!” (2 wds.) (2,2)
45. Samaritan, in everyday parlance (RODEO DOG anagram)
47. Like tater-tots or chicken nuggets (hyphenated wd.)
51. Central points (Lat. pl. ending)
52. Radiate, as charm
53. Boozer
57. Be at the plate
59. Animal tunnels that represent different forms of governmental and societal structures, in Richard Adams’ epic adventure novel “Watership Down” (2 wds.)
63. Quick or skillful in action or thought
65. Short rifles or muskets once used by cavalrymen (RICE BANS anagram)
66. A subtle difference
67. Charlemagne’s realm: (abbr./initialism)
68. Be slack-jawed (at)
69. Ocean bottoms
70. Formal vote in favor
71. Meets
Down
1. Yemen’s capital
2. Iconic civil rights martyr Medgar
3. Native Egyptians
4. Pair of people
5. Et ___ (and others) (Lat.)
6. Australian isl. state know for its endangered ‘devils’
7. Big name in wearable activity-tracking tech
8. Soak up
9. Actor Richard of 50s-60s “The Real McCoys” and several “Rambo” films
10. Craggy peak
11. Kind of trout that’s sometimes called a salmon
12. “Hmm...nah!” (2 wds.) (2,2)
13. Non-commercial TV spots (abbr./ initialisms)
18. First player elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame (2,4)
21. Hoppy brew, in brief (initialism)
25. Banned pesticide (abbr./initialism)
27. ___ tai (drink)
28. PC key (abbr.)
30. Wheel connector
31. Not at all sweet
32. Chess ploy
33. James who wrote “A Death in the Family”
34. Family board game with cheese-shaped tokens
35. Digital readout, for short (abbr./ initialism)
39. Punch-to-the-gut reaction
40. “Where did ___ wrong?” (2 wds.) (1,2)
41. Like some strict diets (2 wds.) (2,4) (CARBON anagram)
44. Snaps
46. Offshore structures (2 wds.) (3,4)
48. Largest city (and financial center) of Switzerland
49. Internet hookups (1-5) (SEDATE anagram)
50. Young woman in a Cotillion gown, briefly
54. Alaska’s ___ Peninsula
55. Klutzy
56. What invariably occurs at the beginning, middle and end of semesters?
57. The Eagles or Byrds
58. Together, in music (2 wds.) (1,3) (Ital.)
60. Like Alexis Carrington Colby of “Dynasty”, or Nurse Ratched of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”
61. Computer tech term suffix with hard or soft
62. Kind of rug
64. Canadian prov. that touches four Great Lakes (abbr.)
This crossword puzzle is the original work of Patrick “Mac”McIntyre. It is provided to us courtesy of Real Change News, a street paper based in Seattle, Washington. Learn more about Real Change News and the International Network of Street Papers at realchangenews.org and insp.ngo.
ILLUSTRATION OF THE WEEK
GRACIAS GARCIAS Artist/Vendor
COMMUNITY SERVICES
Housing/Shelter Vivienda/alojamiento Case Management Coordinación de Servicios
Academy of Hope Public Charter School
202-269-6623 // 2315 18th Pl. NE
202-373-0246 // 421 Alabama Ave. SE aohdc.org
Bread for the City 1525 7th St., NW // 202-265-2400 1700 Marion Barry Ave., SE // 202-561-8587 breadforthecity.org
Calvary Women’s Services // 202-678-2341 1217 Marion Barry Ave., SE calvaryservices.org
Samaritan Ministry 202-722-2280 // 1516 Hamilton St., NW 202-889-7702 // 1345 U St., SE samaritanministry.org
Sasha Bruce Youthwork // 202-675-9340 741 8th St., SE sashabruce.org
So Others Might Eat (SOME) // 202-797-8806 71 O St., NW some.org
St. Luke’s Mission Center // 202-363-4900 3655 Calvert St., NW stlukesmissioncenter.org
Thrive DC // 202-737-9311 1525 Newton St., NW thrivedc.org
Unity Health Care unityhealthcare.org - Healthcare for the Homeless Health Center: 202-508-0500 - Community Health Centers: 202-469-4699
1500 Galen Street SE, 1251-B Saratoga Ave NE, 1660 Columbia Road NW, 4414 Benning Road NE, 3924 Minnesota Avenue NE, 765 Kenilworth Terrace NE, 850 Delaware Ave., SW, 3240 Stanton Road SE, 3020 14th Street NW, 425 2nd Street NW, 4713 Wisconsin Avenue NW, 2100 New York Avenue NE, 1333 N Street NW, 1355 New York Avenue NE, 1151 Bladensburg Rd., NE, 4515 Edson Pl., NE
Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless 1200 U St., NW // 202-328-5500 legalclinic.org
The Welcome Table // 202-347-2635 1317 G St., NW. epiphanydc.org/thewelcometable
Whitman-Walker Health 1525 14th St., NW // 202-745-7000 1201 Sycamore Dr., SE whitman-walker.org
Woodley House // 202-830-3508 2711 Connecticut Ave., NW
For further information and listings, visit our online service guide at StreetSenseMedia.org/service-guide
Storekeeper
United
Requisitions, receives, stores, issues, and accounts for a wide variety of parts, tools, and supplies. Daily tasks include preparing and submitting requisitions as necessary,receiving,unloading,unpacking,andchecking stockagainstcorrespondingrequisitionsandinvoices;and relocating stock to make room for new items.
REQUIRED: Must take online computer based exam. Applicantsmustdemonstratetheabilitytotype30words perminuteforfiveminuteswithnomorethantwoerrors. Applicantsforthispositionmustperformmoderatelifting (15-44pounds).Applicantsmusthavetheknowledge,skill, and ability to operate an electric truck and jack in order to move and unload supplies.
APPLY: tinyurl.com/StorekeeperUSPS Building maintenance worker
The Salvation Army // 2300 Martin Luther King Jr Ave. SE Full-time
This position is responsible for vehicle and equipment maintenance; office furniture set-up and configuration; andtransportationservicesfortheNationalCapitalArea Command.
REQUIRED: High school diploma or GED. A valid driver’s license.
APPLY: tinyurl.com/MaintenanceSalvationArmy Sales associate Pet Smart // 2484 Market St. NE Building 11 Full-time
Provide customer service to patrons, maintain and care fortheanimals,andexecutemerchandising,stocking,and pricing strategies.
REQUIRED: A love of animals.
APPLY: tinyurl.com/SalesAssociatePetSmart
Hiring? Send your job postings to editor@StreetSenseMedia.org
