10 27 2021

VOL. 18 ISSUE 39

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// 3

EVENTS

S I H T G N I N PPE

HA

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 27

UPDATES ONLINE AT ICH.DC.GOV

Safety Technician Virtual Hiring Fair 12:00 p.m.

RSVP at 267m.short.gy/DDOT D.C.’s Department of Transportation is hiring 40 new Traffic Safety Technicians (crossing guards) to help pedestrians get to where they need to be safely.

DDOT will conduct interviews during this session.

D.C. Interagency Council on Homelessness Meetings Emergency Response and Shelter Operations Committee Oct. 27, 1:00 pm // Virtual ***For call-in information, as well as meeting info for unlisted working groups, contact: ich.dmhhs@dc.gov

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NEWS

Displaced homeowners continue to face struggles despite help from the city

BY WILL SCHICK AND SPENCER DONOVAN will@streetsensemedia.org // spencer.donovan@streetsensemedia.org

L

ast Friday, Karl Morrison — one of the 46 homeowners displaced from their properties at 1262 Talbert St. SE because of dire safety concerns — received the keys to his new two-bedroom apartment in Navy Yard.

A housing certificate offered by the city will cover the rent for his apartment, a monthly cost of $2,777, for up to one year.

Housing certificates are different from housing vouchers, according to D.C. officials. People with housing vouchers are not allowed to apply them toward units priced above the “rent reasonable” value, as determined by the D.C. Housing Authority for each neighborhood. Renters who have housing certificates, however, may apply them to properties priced above the “rent reasonable” value while covering the difference on their own. People interviewed for this story used “voucher” and “certificate” interchangeably, as vouchers are often used as a general term for housing assistance.

At an estimated 920 square feet, Morrison said, the twobedroom apartment is far from the amount of space he hoped to have and is several hundred square feet smaller than the threebedroom condo he was forced to leave after an engineering firm declared the property unsafe in late August.

Though he’d been spending nights at a hotel that his homeowners insurance company paid for — the firm required him to meet with an agent weekly to verify that his Talbert Street town house was still unsafe to live in — it ended up denying his claim for “loss of use.”

This headache is just one of many bureaucratic hurdles Morrison and others have struggled to navigate over the past few years since purchasing their properties and being forced to evacuate them. In an attempt to better understand what went wrong with the properties and how the city is helping the affected families, Street Sense Media and The DC Line reached out to the developer, local government officials, real estate agents, and a half-dozen homeowners.

What went wrong with Talbert Street buildings?

Norika Hill remembers the day she closed on her home at 1262 Talbert St. SE, part of a development on a hillside near the Anacostia Metrorail station in Ward 8. It was the proudest day of her life. At 27, she had already achieved a dream she had long strived for becoming the first person in her entire family who had ever owned a place of their own.

“I finally gave my son something that I didn’t have growing up,” she said, explaining that she struggled with homelessness during her childhood.

But by July, four years after she moved in, Hill’s dream had become a nightmare. A single mother, Hill said she was one

of the last homeowners at the complex to encounter structural issues. One day, her 12-yearold son saw a wet spot on the first floor of their town house.

Soon, she began waking up with swollen eyes, a severe cough, and hives all over her body. Her house was damaged by mold. She took her son and left to stay with her uncle.

Ultimately, it became overly burdensome for Hill to take her child to the private school he attended in Northeast D.C. They are now staying at her boyfriend’s home as she searches for a place to use her housing certificate, which the city issued on Oct. 1.

Like many others interviewed for this story, Hill said she wasn’t prepared to meet with the sudden problems that arose.

Almost all of the residents were first-time homebuyers who qualified for the District’s affordable housing programs.

Unlike Hill, Morrison experienced severe issues with his town house for years. Soon after he moved in during the summer of 2017, his elderly mother hinted at the problems he would face.

“She came in and she was like, ‘Well, your floors are crooked,’ and I was like, ‘Really?’” he said, not believing her given that the building was still new.

It was not long until Morrison discovered that his whole house was shifting. Over time, he could no longer open his balcony door unless he had a crowbar to pry it open. His windows stopped shutting all the way.

“It’s like you’re living in a carnival funhouse where everything’s a gag or a joke because nothing works,” Morrison said.

In the letter denying his homeowners insurance claim, State Farm said it hired an independent engineer to review the matter.

“The damage was determined to be caused by improper design and/or construction of the segmental retaining wall which is allowing for soil erosion and earth movement which is resulting in settlement of the building,” the denial states. “Earth movement and the failing of the segmental wall also caused damage to the sewer drain pipes resulting in the drains leaking causing further erosion and settlement.”

A total of 28 homeowners filed insurance claims, but only one has been approved, with seven other claims remaining open, according to an email from the city’s multi-agency task force that is charged with helping displaced residents from Talbert Street SE. All other claims were denied.

In Morrison’s case, the denial letter offered no advice as to where else he could turn.

ANC 8A06 Commissioner Robin McKinney is a Talbert Street homeowner and serves as her neighbors elected representative.

PHOTO BY RODNEY CHOCIE / CHOICEPHOTOGRAPHY.COM

Claims something below the foundation caused the buildings to deteriorate The rapidly deteriorating condition of the properties on Talbert Street is the subject of a lawsuit filed against the city, the homeowners association, and the developer earlier this year.

However, in August, a D.C. Superior Court judge ruled that the city — which had provided funding through the Housing Production Trust Fund as well as approved construction and occupancy permits — and the homeowners association were not legally liable for what happened at the property. Further, Stanton View Development LLC and River East at Anacostia LLC, the developers, filed for bankruptcy, so the claims against them are now on hold.

An engineering report prepared by Falcon Group — a firm hired by the homeowners association to determine what went wrong at the property — also identifies the soil’s composition as a factor in the poor stability of the building’s foundation.

“The building failure has been caused by soil subsidence that can be related to loose compaction and slippage of soil toward the bottom of the slope,” the Falcon Group report says. “The exact zone and location of soil failure cannot be determined until this subsurface investigation is conducted.”

One of the owners of Stanton View Development LLC, Don Lee, declined a request for comment. The other owner, Jerry Vines, did not respond to phone or email contact. (River East at Anacostia LLC shares the same ownership.)

A former Stanton View business development manager, Vaun Cleveland, also declined to discuss the project. He worked at the company from October 2014, just before the first construction permit from the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) was issued, until February 2016, about 10 months before final inspections were completed by a third-party inspector, the Institute for Building Technology and Safety (IBTS). Cleveland next worked for then Ward 8 Councilmember LaRuby May, according to D.C. Council

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personnel records. May, an attorney, is representing a group of nine Talbert Street homeowners in their suit against the city — her sister LaDonna among them.

A different point of view: What a former employee for the developer has to say One former Stanton View employee, however, agreed to an interview with The DC Line and Street Sense Media. Kimmel Daniel, the former vice president of construction, has worked in construction for 20 years. He said that he has never once come across problems like those that ensued at 1262 Talbert Street SE. “To me, it’s got to be something dealing with what’s under the actual foundation itself,” Daniel said. “Because we looked at the footers and we looked at the foundation walls, and they looked like they were built properly.”

Daniel, who worked at the company from 2016 to February 2021, said the foundation and retaining walls were already built by the time he arrived at Stanton View.

It was only after homeowners moved in, Daniel said, that the company became aware of the unusual settlement that led to cracks and deterioration of the homes. The company learned of the issues upon receiving calls from the new residents two to three months after they moved into their houses in 2017, according to Daniel.

After being notified of cracks opening up in floors and walls, Daniel said the company took immediate action and hired structural engineers to evaluate the conditions of the properties. He said the company proceeded to follow the instructions they were given to fix the homes, only to see the problems resurface later.

In their lawsuit, however, multiple families made claims that the developer did not immediately respond to all requests for maintenance and repeatedly claimed the issues homeowners saw were the result of the normal process of settling.

Further, the engineering report by Falcon Group characterizes the corrective work done by Stanton View as “band-aid repairs” that “did not address root causes of the issues, and because of their superficial nature, could not repair the building to industry standards.”

Daniel pushed back on that assessment, claiming the company followed the appropriate procedures and passed all city-required inspections that evaluated its work.

In a previous article, The DC Line and Street Sense Media reported that DCRA said third-party inspectors from IBTS were responsible for construction inspections at the site. Since soil conditions are “not included in the standard regulatory inspections

by IBTS,” the agency said the company was not at fault.

Public data from DCRA shows that the vast majority of inspections in the city are conducted by third-party inspectors without direct agency oversight. For fiscal year 2021, 85% of the 67,797 inspections citywide were completed by thirdparty inspectors. Only 655 of those inspections had “DCRA third party oversight.”

When asked, Drew Hubbard, the interim director of the Department of Housing and Community Development and head of the city’s Talbert Street task force, said that all third-party inspectors “use the same code requirements as DCRA inspectors” and that “each inspector is certified by the International Code Council to perform inspections.”

Hubbard — whose agency administers the Housing Production Trust Fund — also said DCRA sent inspectors on multiple occasions to investigate the property after it was constructed and that their findings “verify the report of a suspected structural issue.” DCRA ordered the homeowners association to investigate and correct the structural issues, which led to the hiring of Falcon Group.

While Daniel said that Lee would have the documentation on hand to prove that Stanton View did the work it promised, Lee did not agree to share any information with the press.

What’s being done to help the displaced families?

After learning of the Falcon Group’s initial findings released in August, which advised families to evacuate from their homes,

A large crack in the ground level of Robin McKinney’s Talbert Street condo.

PHOTO BY RODNEY CHOCIE / CHOICEPHOTOGRAPHY.COM

the District formed its task force to assist them. So far, the D.C. government has provided the homeowners with immediate cash assistance payments of $7,000 each and the one-year housing certificates. Additionally, the task force says that homeowners will have their loan balances forgiven, but so far has not said when they no longer need to make their mortgage payments.

When asked specifically when the homeowners might be able to stop paying on their mortgages and when the balances will be forgiven, Hubbard said, “We are in the process of forgiving soft second Housing Production Trust Fund (HPTF) loans and Home Purchase Assistance Program (HPAP) loans on individual units.”

Even with this help, many of the homeowners say the level of support and communication has been insufficient, given the high emotional and financial costs associated with losing their homes and having to relocate.

In response to concerns about not being able to afford rental homes within the price limits of what the city determined as “rent reasonable,” the District raised the value of the certificates by 50%, but only for properties in Ward 8. The homeowners can rent properties in other wards and even in Maryland or Virginia, but they would have to cover any costs the housing certificate doesn’t.

Easier said than done, struggling to find a new home A year ago, Ciera Johnson gave birth at her home on Talbert Street. Despite her firm emotional attachment to the house, it was also the source of much heartache. As time went on, the walls began to fracture, inducing an almost unbearable amount of stress, especially during the postpartum period.

“I felt like my home was going to fall on me and my newborn baby,” Johnson explained.

Desperate for indication of what to do, Johnson said she sought guidance through prayer.

“And lo and behold, some piece of drywall fell on me. And I was like, well, ‘This is my sign; I’m getting out of here,’” she said.

Johnson and her husband reluctantly packed up their belongings and moved in with her in-laws in Maryland, sharing their two-bedroom apartment. Though Johnson is eager to move into a new home, she said that it has been difficult to look for a place while living outside of the city. Plus, her husband works full time.

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For Johnson, much of the struggle has to do with trying to find a home comparable in size and amenities to the one on Talbert Street.

“I don’t want an apartment,” Johnson said. “That’s one of the reasons why I bought my own place.”

Multiple real estate agents interviewed for this story, however, said that finding a rental home with more than two bedrooms anywhere in the District would be challenging.

“There’s a huge shortage of houses available for rent across the city,” said Stephanie Cooper, a real estate agent with Real Living At Home who has 20 years of experience in the local market.

Cooper said she has been flooded with calls from renters in recent days who say they’re having a rough time finding houses for rent. She said Anacostia especially has a low inventory of multi-bedroom houses.

“There’s more demand than supply unless you’re looking for an apartment,” she said.

Lindsay Dreyer, an agent with City Chic Real Estate, gave a similar assessment.

“The three-bedroom market has gone insane and I think that is spillover from people who need to move up into something bigger, but they can’t find something because the housing market is so hot,” she said.

Both Dreyer and Cooper also pointed to potential challenges for former Talbert Street residents who use city-provided housing subsidies. They said people dependent on housing assistance can often face illegal discrimination from landlords who might search for legal “loopholes” to prevent them from renting.

While Talbert Street homeowner Norika Hill said she found a suitable apartment in Southwest D.C. for $3,100, her certificate will only cover $2,800. With an additional $250 expense for parking and the burden of paying student loans, Hill said she was initially concerned about overextending herself financially.

After some negotiating, she said, her housing counselor told her the city will cover her parking expenses if the landlord approves her application.

For Hill, this uncertainty over where she will be living has provoked past traumas, such as when she experienced homelessness while growing up.

“It’s so hurtful, like when I go back into reliving what happened to me as a child,” Hill said. “It’s so, so painful.”

Other families interviewed also presented concerns about covering ancillary costs related to housing, including pet fees, storage, and parking. In an email this week, the city’s multiagency task force said that nine families are in new homes, and 17 others have been approved to move into new houses.

They also said that two of the 46 homeowners “have not submitted requested documentation” to receive their $7,000 cash payments.

Uncertainty over what’s next ANC 8A06 Commissioner Robin McKinney, who owns and still lives in one of the Talbert Street homes, wants answers for both herself and her constituents: When will they have a full update? Who will be responsible for rent once the District’s one-year housing certificates end? Will their homes be repaired so the owners are able to return?

The city said what happens to the town houses is up to the homeowners association to decide. That will likely depend on the engineering company’s forthcoming final reports and the cost to make the necessary repairs for the buildings to be habitable again.

While dealing with this uncertainty, McKinney said she located a place in Ward 7 for $3,000 per month, but that it’s above “rent reasonable.” McKinney, who cares for three children at home, said she would have to find a part-time job to meet the expenses not covered by the city.

“I can advocate as the ANC commissioner, but, at the end of the day, this is my home, too,” McKinney said. “I cry at night, too, like my neighbors do. I’m afraid like my neighbors are afraid.”

This article was co-published with The DC Line.

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NEWS

DC housing assistance program for people affected by COVID-19 stops accepting applications this week

BY MICHELLE LEVINE AND ERIC FALQUERO Editorial Intern, Editorial Director

D

.C. residents have until 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 27, to apply for the city’s COVID-19 rent and utility assistance program.

STAY D.C. — which stands for Stronger Together by Assisting You D.C. — launched on April 12 and had awarded about $155 million in rent and utility assistance to 23,000 people as of Oct. 14, according to a press release from Mayor Muriel Bowser. The money comes almost entirely from the federal government’s Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) program, but those funds are running out.

The mayor announced the deadline on Oct. 14, providing just under two weeks for any final applicants to seek assistance.

But activists and progressive groups such as Empower D.C. — backed by an advisory neighborhood commission and at least two D.C. Councilmembers — are fighting to keep the program open, describing an extension as essential to preventing a wave of eviction filings and keeping people who are behind on their rent in their homes.

“What we’re hearing on the ground from service providers is that the people who we haven’t reached yet with STAY D.C. are the most low-income, most vulnerable residents in our city,” Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George said during an Oct. 19 legislative meeting. “Our legislative options were limited today because of the late notice of closing STAY D.C. And we also haven’t heard a plan from the executive.”

Based on the number of applications in process, the Bowser administration projects that all $352 million that was allocated will be used. As the program’s expiration date nears, STAY D.C. is experiencing an influx of applications, according to John Falcicchio, the deputy mayor for planning and economic development (DMPED).

“Just last week we had over 4,000 applications from residents,” Falcicchio said in an interview on Monday. “And we think that that demand will keep up as we enter into this week.”

During the Oct. 19 legislative meeting, Lewis George urged Mayor Bowser to “reprogram” local funds to either keep STAY D.C. going or invest more in the local Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP). Under District law, a reprogramming proposal — which, if approved by the council, essentially shifts money from one purpose to another — can be initiated only by the mayor, not the legislature.

Lewis George noted that the District had reported $311 million in unexpected revenue for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. The next day, ANC 2A passed a resolution similarly urging the mayor and D.C. Council to find additional money, potentially by tapping the city’s reserves, to continue providing the same level of rental assistance. The neighborhood commission — which represents Foggy Bottom and the West End — also requested that the STAY D.C. portal continue to be used for those applications in order to “properly assess” the scope of pandemic-related rental assistance needs.

Requesting more federal funds When announcing the STAY D.C. application deadline, Bowser simultaneously asked the U.S. Department of Treasury to expedite the reallocation of ERA funds and provide more funds to the District based on the demonstrated need locally. Data

Street Sense Media artist and vendor Reginald Black, who co-facilitates the FACE advocacy group, speaks at an Oct. 20 demonstration.

PHOTO BY MICHELLE LEVINE

from the Treasury Department showed that D.C. ranked ahead of all 50 states in distributing funds as of the end of August.

This is a marked improvement from when the program launched in April. Few D.C. tenants received support in the first two months and, as Street Sense Media previously reported, the program seemed to be distributing funds too slowly to retain the District’s full share of federal funding. Part of the congressional legislation that provided the ERA funds stipulated that if states did not spend enough by the end of the fiscal year, the Treasury Department could shift the remainder to other jurisdictions that were more efficiently distributing benefits and still in need.

The Treasury has not yet announced how much money will be reallocated or when, Falcicchio said.

D.C. officials had hoped to hear by mid-October, but Falcicchio said they’ve been told only to expect an announcement by Nov. 15. According to a Treasury spokesperson, the agency is giving priority to other cities and localities within the same state when redistributing rent relief money. Treasury will then move money not shuffled within the same state nationwide, prioritizing local governments on track to use all of their federal rent help. Until then, the District can only continue to work with the money on hand for the program, Falchiccio said.

Only $10 billion of the $46 billion Congress allocated for the ERA program, albeit to be spent over multiple years, has been disbursed, HuffPost reported this week.

If the District chooses to spend local money, it could potentially recoup that cost later with reallocated federal emergency rent funds, according to the Treasury spokesperson.

The deputy mayor’s office says there is no plan to do so, however.

When asked if the Bowser administration is considering ways to shift money and continue operating STAY D.C., given the potential for reimbursement, Falcicchio noted that there is no certainty the District will receive any reallocated funds or how much to expect if they do ultimately get more federal dollars. A spokesperson for DMPED also noted that local officials have already invested substantial D.C. taxpayer dollars

on rental assistance. “The District has before and throughout the pandemic used a combination of federal and local funds to provide rental assistance,” the spokesperson wrote in an email.

Similar to the wording on a banner at the top of the STAY D.C. website, DMPED emphasized that people in need of rental assistance can apply to the city’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program — which tends to run out of money every year but received a huge boost in support this year thanks to federal relief funds.

The U.S. Treasury wrote to local governments this week with more information about reallocation and other ways places like the District can finance help for residents and landlords.

“We recognize that grantees that are rapidly depleting their current ERA resources may be concerned about near-term funding needs,” the letter said. “In addition to the funding from the ERA program, the American Rescue Plan’s State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (SLFRF) can also be used to help prevent evictions and help provide stable housing for vulnerable populations.”

The District was allocated $1.8 billion through SLFRF, half of which was disbursed earlier this year, with the other half expected around May of 2022. It must be spent by December 2024. According to an interim report that D.C. was required to file in August on its spending, $5.5 million was budgeted for the Emergency Rental Assistance Program throughout those years.

When asked if SLFRF funds might be shifted around to help extend STAY D.C., the deputy mayor’s office said only that the approved FY 2022 budget, as approved by the D.C. Council in August, already “accounts for all federal and local funding available to the District.”

Access for people in need Treasury’s original guidance to state governments was simple: Distribute rental assistance as quickly as possible without the usual deference to fraud prevention measures. Instead, the

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feds told states to require minimal application paperwork and said they would support unprecedented automatic approvals.

For example, the Treasury suggested approving applications from lower-income census tracts in one fell swoop. In order to deploy emergency help quicker, Treasury advised, states needed to simplify resident and landlord application forms.

The District did not adopt that simpler application approach for individuals, but did update the program to allow landlords — “housing providers” — to apply on behalf of their tenants and for multiple tenants at once. Like nearly every other state and jurisdiction, D.C. required multiple documents proving place of residence and income. In the District and across the country, some of the biggest hassles arose in instances where utilities were paid by a third party, pandemic-related income loss was hard to prove, or large numbers of tenants relied on informal rent agreements.

Since soon after the launch of STAY D.C., Ward 1 Councilmember Brianne Nadeau has requested biweekly reports on the program’s performance and published them on her website. The most recent data set shows that 9,681 applicants have been denied. Missing documentation was the No. 1 reason for the denials, with 4,020 of those applicants lacking proof of income and 3,273 others missing a lease agreement or attestation of rental obligation. Together, that accounts for 7,294, or 75% of all applications that were denied.

Data also shows that wards 7 and 8 have about as many applicants as the rest of the city combined.There were 20,209 applicants from Ward 8 compared to 2,074 applicants in Ward 3.

Darick Brown, Street Sense Media director of programs, said a great benefit of the STAY D.C. program is expanded access to utility assistance, which ERAP does not provide.

He described one case management client whose utility debt was completely eliminated by the program and another who was racing to gather and upload their documentation before the Oct. 27 deadline.

One barrier Brown has noticed while assisting clients with their applications is a request for tax documents. If those could not be uploaded, the applicant could not progress through the portal and submit the application. He said a handful of clients had not earned enough income to merit filing taxes in recent years. Some of those affected were able to work with Community Tax Aid to obtain the proper documents and move forward, but others were not.

U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford with Street Sense Media artist and vendor James Davis. PHOTO COURTESY OF JAMES DAVIS

the National Organization for Women called for equal access to housing and advocated for those who are experiencing homelessness or face future evictions. A group of Street Sense Media vendors participated as members of the Focus Attitude and Commitment to Excellence (FACE).

“Homelessness itself is not a place for human beings — shelters are for animals and we’re not animals. … That’s ridiculous, redundant and repulsing here in this country of the land of the free,” said Don Gardner, a Street Sense Media vendor who currently lives in a homeless shelter.

Gardner’s experience and outrage is nothing new, according to elected officials and other speakers at the rally.

“I can assure you that I’ve been working on homeless issues for more decades than I’d like,” said U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a Democrat whose district includes most of central Houston.

Rep. Maxine Waters, a Democrat representing part of Los Angeles, described her own experience growing up with 12 siblings and witnessing homelessness and poverty firsthand.

Protests pick up as evictions resume

Demands for more local investment in rental relief

Meanwhile, evictions are again occurring in the District. They began to resume in phases this past summer, as previously reported by Street Sense Media and The DC Line. Until Oct. 11, only evictions that had been filed before the pandemic-related eviction moratorium could be carried out. But new evictions can be filed as of Oct. 12. So far, tenants who either received benefits from STAY D.C. or were in the application process have been exempt from being evicted while the application was being processed. With STAY D.C. applications closing this week, that exemption will come to an end.

As of Oct. 12, there were 240 evictions scheduled to occur throughout D.C. between Oct. 13 and Nov. 17. A full list of scheduled evictions is regularly published by the Office of the Tenant Advocate.

As evictions pick up locally and nationally, approximately 40 people rallied outside the U.S. Capitol on Oct. 20. Several members of Congress joined them.

“We are the wealthiest nation on Earth where billionaires compete to spend their money and go to space. We should be able to provide the unhoused with housing right here in America,” said U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford, a Democrat whose district includes a quarter of Las Vegas.

Protesters with the National Coalition for the Homeless and

Another rally — this one locally focused — took place this past weekend. Organized by the group Cancel the Rents, participating tenants gathered outside of the John A. Wilson Building — where the D.C. Council meets and the mayor has her offices — to protest the application deadline for STAY D.C. According to a press release, the group wrote to the D.C. Department of Human Services when the Oct. 27 deadline was first announced, demanding that the STAY D.C. application be made more accessible.

Residents frustrated that they aren’t seeing any progress are not alone. Groups such as Empower D.C. and D.C. for Democracy have urged members to apply before the deadline while calling for an extension. “Unconscionable that @ MayorBowser is shutting down STAY DC two days from now. Having a pending application there is the only thing protecting tenants from being evicted for nonpayment,” D.C. for Democracy tweeted this week.

On Tuesday, Democratic mayoral contender and At-large D.C. Councilmember Robert White urged Mayor Bowser — his presumed opponent as long as she runs for a third term — to extend the program by using local funds. “Our priority must be ensuring D.C. residents have safe and stable housing,”

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White tweeted, echoing the message in a campaign email sent out earlier in the day. “By not immediately moving money to ensure STAY D.C. is kept open, we are seeing that this administration does not share this priority. We need a mayor who will do whatever it takes to keep families housed.”

Lewis George made similar arguments at the Oct. 19 legislative meeting.

“In a city that already has an affordable housing crisis, a displacement crisis and a homelessness crisis, I think this is a dangerous way to move forward and we need to change course,” Lewis George told her colleagues.

In a subsequent email to Street Sense Media and The DC Line, Lewis George said her office has reached out multiple times to the mayor in hopes of redistributing local funds to benefit STAY D.C. but has not received a direct reply.

“So far there has been no response from the Executive,” Lewis George wrote. “This is also why the Council boosted funding for emergency rental assistance (ERAP) from the Mayor’s proposed budget, but even with these additional funds ERAP will not get us far. I am speaking to other councilmembers to explore our options and find additional ways to call on the mayor to invest funds to prevent the eviction of thousands of our neighbors.”

Falcicchio disputed this characterization, saying that the questions raised by Lewis George have been addressed. The deputy mayor’s office provided written responses sent to Lewis George and At-large Councilmember Elissa Silverman on Oct. 21 regarding several questions about the STAY D.C. deadline.

In those responses, DMPED said there are no specific plans to reprogram funds at this time but that the office will monitor demand for local programs closely. In the same message, DMPED said recent demand for STAY D.C. has averaged about $10 million per week.

Lewis George intended to ask more detailed questions during a weekly council-executive call, but the Oct. 22 call was canceled by the Bowser administration.

Falcicchio reiterated on Monday that, absent an update from the Treasury Department on whether the District will receive additional federal funding, the appropriate course is to determine the need for funds before deciding to reprogram local funds.

The deputy mayor said the most important thing tenants can do right now is continue to fill out applications so that their needs can be addressed. Applicants who do not meet the Oct. 27 deadline will be directed to pre-pandemic programs such as ERAP for rent and utility assistance, he added.

Barring any last-minute action from Bowser or the U.S. Treasury, applications close at 7 p.m. For help with filling out an application, the D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development operates the Housing Resource Center at 1800 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. SE that is open from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on weekdays. For Spanish speakers, assistance is available from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Mayor’s Office of Latino Affairs, located in Suite 206 at 2000 14th St. NW. Appointments at both agencies can be made online or by calling 202-442-7200.

After the Oct. 27 deadline, the mayor is directing anyone in need of rental assistance to apply for the Emergency Rental Assistance Program at https://erap.dhs.dc.gov. Tenants and housing providers who submit an application prior to the 7 p.m. deadline will be able to contact the STAY D.C. program administrators and are entitled to receive up to two extra reviews within 60 days “if a funding decision is not able to be reached on their application,” according to DMPED. Housing providers will have five calendar days to respond to applications submitted by their tenants.

James Davis and Gordon Chaffin contributed reporting.

This article was co-published with The DC Line.

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NEWS

Government subsidies to DC affordable housing developers could change after harsh report

BY ALLY SCHWEITZER DCist

This article was first published by DCist on Oct. 12.

A

searing audit of D.C.’s most important affordable housing funding source has reignited concerns about opaque decision-making and a lack of accountability at the city’s Department of Housing and Community Development, and a member of the D.C. Council’s housing committee now plans to introduce legislation to tighten oversight of the agency.

The recent report from D.C.’s Office of the Inspector General says the housing agency, under the recently retired director Polly Donaldson, failed to meet a legally mandated goal to direct at least 50% of the city’s annual Housing Production Trust Fund dollars toward creating and preserving homes for the city’s poorest residents. During the 2021 fiscal year, DHCD allocated just 27% of the trust fund to extremely low-income housing, according to a breakdown the agency submitted to the D.C. Council. The share was 18% in 2020, and 13% in 2019.

Extremely low-income housing refers to homes affordable to a four-person household earning no more than $38,700 per year, or 30% of the region’s median family income. The audit concludes that over four years, DHCD allocated nearly $82 million intended for extremely low-income households to higher-income housing instead.

The D.C. Council previously required the trust fund to reserve at least 40% of its dollars for extremely low-income housing; lawmakers increased the target to 50% in 2019. Today, 40% percent of the funds must support homes for very lowincome households earning up to 50% percent of MFI ($64,500 for a family of four) and 10% are set aside for low-income households earning up to 80% of MFI ($103,200).

A spokesperson for DHCD says the report “ignores [the] tremendous success” of the Housing Production Trust Fund.

D.C. development subsidies for the poorest residents • • • •

Legal Mandate: 50% FY2021: 27% FY2020: 17% FY 2019: 13%

“Since 2015, the Bowser Administration has invested over $1 billion in the production and preservation of affordable housing. We have delivered over 14,250 units of affordable housing and there are another 12,300 in the pipeline or under construction,” spokesperson Richard Livingstone writes in a statement. “The overwhelming majority of those units are for families making 50% of the Median Family Income or below, surpassing statutory requirements for very lowincome households.”

An earlier review of the fund’s performance, undertaken in 2017 by the Office of the District of Columbia Auditor, also found underspending on extremely low-income housing during the final year of former Mayor Vince Gray’s administration in 2014. The agency exceeded its then-40% benchmark in the 2016

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser asked developers for affordable housing proposals at a press conference on Sept. 30, 2021.

PHOTO BY SPENCER DONOVAN

fiscal year, according to data DHCD submitted to the Council.

One reason DHCD has often failed to reach its targets for extremely low-income housing, the latest audit says, is that Donaldson has exercised broad discretion in selecting projects for funding, rather than following recommendations from the agency’s Development Finance Division, which scores projects’ viability based on publicly available criteria.

The housing department defended Donaldson’s discretion in written responses to OIG. “The agency’s organizational law allows for this discretion, and there is absolutely nothing wrong, as a policy matter, with considering more holistic goals — such as advancing neighborhood diversification and making high-amenity neighborhoods accessible to low-income people,” the agency wrote. DHCD described the 50% target for extremely low-income housing as “aspirational.” “Make no mistake: the Administration desires both to comply with the letter and spirit of the law and to help residents most in need, but housing those at the 0-30% poverty levels is a lot tougher and more complicated to implement than just setting a big goal,” it wrote.

Donaldson announced her retirement from the Department of Housing and Community Development one day after the Office of Inspector General submitted a draft of the audit to the agency on Sept. 9. It’s not clear whether the two events are related. Donaldson left the post at the end of September; Drew Hubbard, the department’s former deputy director, became interim director Oct. 1.

Since the audit’s release, the chair of the D.C. Council’s housing committee — which oversees DHCD — has not announced any new efforts to improve performance at the agency. In an interview with DCist/WAMU, D.C.

councilmember Anita Bonds (D-At Large) says the audit raised important issues, but the 50% goal — which she herself proposed in 2019 legislation — is more of a guideline than a firm requirement.

“It would be great if we could hit that goal... [but] the law didn’t include any penalties,” Bonds says.

One of Bonds’ colleagues on the housing committee, Council member Elissa Silverman (I-At Large), is taking a more assertive approach.

“The goals aren’t aspirational, they’re essential,” says Silverman. “If there’s an issue with [meeting them], then DHCD needs to inform all of us that there’s a problem, and we all need to get together to try to come up with a solution.”

Silverman plans to introduce two bills in the coming weeks that staff say would improve accountability and transparency at DHCD. One would require the agency to update the council each year about the affordability level of projects for which it has obligated funding, with information about which developers are getting awards, and which were rejected and why. (Silverman introduced a similar bill in 2019.) The second bill would require the agency to seek a waiver from the council when it can’t meet its benchmarks for funding extremely lowincome housing or other affordability bands. Currently, seeking a waiver is optional.

After allocating at least $100 million to HPTF every year since 2015, Bowser boosted its funding to $250 million in the 2022 budget, a historic high. Bowser set a goal in 2019 to create 36,000 new housing units citywide by 2025, with a third of them priced for lower-income residents.

But especially as land values and costs rise, the housing agency has said it requires more local housing vouchers to make many deeply affordable housing projects viable. In its written responses to OIG, DHCD said funds from the city’s Local Rent Supplement Program — which makes up the difference between market rents and what a tenant can pay — have been unpredictable in the past, making it tougher to guarantee the financial sustainability of extremely low-income projects. But the department acknowledged that D.C.’s recent investments in the program — celebrated by affordable housing advocates — are likely to get more deeply affordable projects across the finish line.

“It has been an incremental process over the years to target the 50% and below MFI bucket, and we are now at the next stage where we can align our HPTF production resources with essential project operating resources to better target the 30% and below MFI bucket for the first time,” the agency wrote.

The D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute, a progressive think tank that has advocated for stricter oversight of the trust fund, says D.C.’s recent investments into affordable housing could help the housing department finally overcome historical challenges it has faced in meeting the needs of the city’s lowest-income residents. But the influx of funding doesn’t let DHCD off the hook for running roughshod over what’s supposed to be a public and transparent project selection process, says DCFPI policy analyst Eliana Golding.

“We look to our our government tools to be effective, efficient, and accountable. And we also know that they’re using our tax dollars,” Golding says. “So I think there’s a higher standard of reporting that needs to be accomplished by DHCD in order to really satisfy the demands of constituents and of lawmakers.”

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

ART

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PHOTO BY JEFFERY MCNEIL

Wingo’s has been a DC institution for 20 years!

floors of indoor dining, a bar, gaming, take out, and events from comedy to watching your favorite football games.

Wh a t m a k e s Wi n g o ’s unique from other bars is the diversity of customers. On any given day, you can encounter everyone from local residents, to college students, to tourists.

Many regulars come in every day to order their favorite wings or just drink a beer and tell fascinating stories. Since Wingo’s is near Georgetown University, don’t be surprised if a famous alumnus sits down to dine here.

While customer service is

BY JEFFERY MCNEIL Wingo’s key to growth and success, this could not happen Artist/Vendor if he could not retain qualified and loyal staff. I’ve worked in many restaurants, and many failed because of poor management and turnover. Many of his staff have been with Wingo’s from the beginning and are committed to making sure they put out high-quality food.

Another trait is Mike’s management style. He and his lieutenant, E Altangerel, have a hands-on approach but are not corporate or authoritarian. It’s hard to complain about being overworked and fatigued, when you see the management working sometimes twelve hours a day as well as making sure employees are paid and satisfied.

While there are many imitators and pretenders, nothing compares to Wingo’s wings. They have 24 varieties, ranging from mild to (if you’re adventurous) nuclear. And you can order regular or boneless. If you’re a vegetarian, you won’t be disappointed thanks to a variety of salads and vegan burgers.

If you don’t like sitting at home eating wings, you can sit at the bar or dine in. Every day they have drink specials

Come on in!

Eat the best wings in the District

T

wo years ago, I lost my job working at LA Fitness.

Little did I know as one job ended; I was entering a new beginning. I was out of work for several months, when an acquaintance told me about a restaurant located near Georgetown University in Glover Park on Wisconsin Ave named Wingo’s.

I’d heard of Wingo’s but knew little about the owner, Mike Arthur. While I heard rave reviews from neighbors and friends, I knew little about the owner or the restaurants’ origins — it began as a dream out of a college dorm at Michigan State.

In 2000, he opened his first store on O St. NW in Washington, D.C., as a traditional carryout and delivery. Eighteen years later, Wingo’s expanded to casual indoor dining and a sports bar.

As Wingo’s success grew, tragedy struck in 2018. A fire destroyed his original store on O Street. But a few months after burning down, a new Wingo’s emerged on Wisconsin Ave. in August 2018. The completely renovated space has two

Photo by Jeffrey McNeil

from Wine Wednesday to happy hour. They also have $5 half smoke specials.

While Wingo’s is a sports bar, there is something for the family with video games for the kids, listening to your favorite song using the Touch Tone jukebox, as well as a gaming machine if you want to try your luck.

By the end of the year Wingo’s plans to reopen the O Street location as well as a new store in Adams Morgan. Young or old, whether you are a casual sports fan or want to bring the family, there is something for everyone.

What makes Wingo’s unique even though it is located in a high-volume location, it still has a small hometown feel.

Come visit this D.C. institution, you won’t be disappointed.

Photo by Jeffrey McNeil

Photo by Jeffrey McNeil

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OPINION

Stop the senseless killing Photo by Eric Falquero

BY MORRIS GRAHAM

It is very obvious that our nation's capital is in a public safety crisis. As crime and murder increase due to gun violence, the question is why? Why have so many human beings lost the value of life and humanity? To top it off, many innocent children have become victims. They have lost their right to grow up. Their parents, friends, and families have also lost their opportunity to be a part of that process.

Perhaps the stress of financial hardship that many are facing during this pandemic is contributing to the violence. Or maybe even the fact that many children have not been in school and parents are at home from work. Whatever it may be, the tensions are high.

We have to come together as a nation and community to truly put solutions in place that will END gun violence that is now killing our children and other innocent people.

As a community, we have to bombard our local law enforcement and public officials with demands to create a safer city.

What do you think can be done to make high-crime neighborhoods safer? Perhaps increase the police presence, and make sure police interact with the public to bridge the gap. All officers are not guilty of police brutality, just like all people are not innocent, and we must learn to separate the bad from the good.

We have to find a healthy balance. There has to be more positive communication and engagement between the public, our local community leaders, and law enforcement.

Understanding one another is key to being able to process what we all go through.

To that end, it would be good for government agencies to conduct a city-wide survey asking residents for ideas they feel would help protect them and their families. Doorto- door outreach is vital as well. Whatever it is, something needs to be done NOW. Morris Graham is an artist, vendor, and vendor program associate with Street Sense Media.

REAL SCARES FROM THE STREETS:

We are the haunted, not the horrors Some people seem “crazy,” but we may well be the delusional ones, Tim Busby writes.

PHOTO COURTESY OF BRI / FLICKR.

BY STEFANI ECHEVERRÍA-FENN

Science has now proven that trauma can be passed down intergenerationally; that rats whose mothers were exposed to stressors like water can epigenetically inherit a special fear of water. Before we had this science, nearly every culture on Earth had ghost stories. Nearly every culture on Earth intuitively understood that unresolved traumas will continue to haunt and walk among us for as long as we refuse to reckon with them. That painful history must be acknowledged, not simply buried, or we will wake up in the middle of the night terrified and haunted.

I started #37MLK—an encampment in North Oakland—because I am haunted in the daylight too. I escaped long-term homelessness by the skin of my teeth 10 years ago. In 2010 my Oakland neighborhood (Ghost Town) was still cheap enough to rent a one bedroom for $800, no credit check required. I still live in that place, haunted by the fact that if I were only 10 years younger, I’d still be homeless. Post-gentrification, identical units to mine now start at $2,500; an unthinkable sum for folks transitioning out of houselessness. The spectre of my slum landlord hovers, trying to push all of us long term tenants out so he can raise the rent.

More than anything though, I am haunted not by ghosts but by the memories of what it felt like to be a ghost myself. All those years as a homeless disowned queer youth, I felt myself a phantom—completely invisible to the housed as they hurried by me on the sidewalk.

Never truly seen as human, only a threat going bump in

the night whenever I dared cry out that something was from. We offer this land back to the living Ohlone people terribly wrong. whose ancestral spirits still walk this land, their burial After I was housed, after I began a new life as a fancy shell mounds harmed terribly by the nearby Emeryville Berkeley PhD student, I was expected to just forget about malls. it all. Forget about the street communities that sustained We are the communities haunted by these histories that me when no one else would. Ghosts do not forget though, polite society would have us forget, and if we are ghosts, that’s how they come to be. we are holy.

Ghosts refuse to leave homes quietly for the convenience Stefani Echeverría-Fenn is founder of #37MLK and The of new owners. We at #37MLK are the ghosts that rich Sportula: Microgrants for Classics Students. This article was landlords will never be able to exorcise. Who refuse to be originally published in Berkeley, California’s Street Spirit, and shipped out of our communities and our block, but stay is reprinted courtesy of the International Network of Street here haunting the powerful; our very presence refusing Newspapers. to let them forget their own histories of violence. It is white violence that first called Black people spooks, and the legacy of white supremacy continues to haunt - Have an opinion about how homelessness is being addressed in our community? t h i s b l o ck . We - Want to share firsthand experience? obtain the old - Interested in responding to what someone else has written? records of racist real estate redlining Street Sense Media has maintained an open submission policy since our founding. on this block. We We aim to elevate voices from across the housing spectrum and foster healthy debate. stay around the very buildings Please send submissions to opinion@streetsensemedia.org. unscrupulous landlords evicted us

Join the conversation, share your views

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

// 11

ART

STREET SENSE MEDIA (newspaper)

BY QUEENIE FEATHERSTONE Artist/Vednor

S=Such a great newspaper T=Touches the lives of many R=Remains in print E=Everyone is important E=Earns its readers trust T=Teaches in a special way S=Seeds success into the lives of the less fortunate E=Everyone is loved as family N=Never gives up on others S=Same foundation from the start E=Ending homelessness a must M=Maintains its worth E=“Extra, Extra read all about us” D=Delivers on time I=Intends to make housing a human right A=Award-winning publication

Happy about Street Sense

BY COREY SANDERS Artist/Vendor

It’s really not much to be happy about when you are homeless, but I myself have one thing to be happy about and that’s Street Sense.

When I became homeless, I thought no one would care and I would be on my own in this venture. But that wasn’t the case at all. The staff at Street Sense from day one have been so helpful and encouraging. They really, really care about all of us and I am happy the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth aligned myself and the rest of the vendors with them. The people here are beautiful and I would really encourage all readers if you have time out of your day to stop by and check it out. Promise you it will be a wonderful experience that will put a smile on your face.

Sincerely, Mr. I & F NW.

PHOTO COURTESY OF RISHABH SHARMA / UNSPLASH.COM

My survival (system of survival)

My Dream

BY SAMUEL B. FULLWOOD Artist/Vendor

BY CARLTON JOHNSON, a.k.a “INKFLOW” Artist/Vendor

You’ve got to not just want it, but feel it.

Your body, thoughts, mind, and soul must be tuned and trained. For, there are many obstacles and paths to choose (obstacles) (society laws) that have to be met. Paths that can lead to nowhere, but frustration and failure. Your patience must be open in order to hear other thoughts, comments, and doubts that you can and can’t do something.

Use this and construct your system of survival. Everyone has this ability, no matter the level of society, regardless of what you’ve been through or taught. It’s inside you. It’s our gift from the almighty Free Wheel *(Remember)* Growing up when you expressed yourself and society sees promise, it tries to mold you.

Then begins the obstacles and paths giving you ideas of encouragement trying to mold you into them or their way. Thoughts about how and when you question or tell them

that’s not the way or path you are thinking or feeling. They call you rebellious and shut you out for saying your ideals. It’s their way or no way.

I’ve learned life is full of surprises, Kufe gives you as many chances as you want. They are always there. Just look back, understand, and remember the obstacles and paths that intertwined. This is a lesson to use to avoid frustration. Failure is a blueprint of “do” and “don’t” that you can use to succeed in your system of survival. *REMEMBER* This is you, and it only goes as far as you want it to. I’ve learned that some people just don’t want to be successful, comfortable, secured, and happy.

I walk in the time of the Shadow of Darkness, feeling the times of homelessness, feeling the times of needing something to eat, a place to sleep; Living the advocate's life on the streets of Washington, D.C. Tell me: Where do I go?

When is it time to eat?

Where do I sleep?

I just want to be off the streets —the streets— of the nation's capital of D.C. Helping the homeless, my job on the streets.

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ART

The power of a thankful heart BY: REV. JOHN F. LITTLEJOHN Artist/Vendor

Here’s one definition of “thankful.” The MerriamWebster Dictionary defines thankful as “expressing of thanks.” In the King James Holy Bible, New Testament, 1 Thessalonians 5:18, it says: “In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

It is not always easy to “give thanks,” but this is the very thing we must do in order to see God’s will accomplished in our life. This is how we move into higher realms of faith for ourselves, and for our communities, and our neighborhoods, and our states, and cities, and our nation, and world. Thanksgiving has great power to bring joy and to break the power of the enemy.

Whenever you give thanks to God, despite the most difficult circumstance, the enemy loses a big battle in your life. When you give thanks in the midst of difficulty, you bring pleasure to God’s heart. He is looking for “Baptists,” or “Christians,” or “Catholics” — or any other religious denomination — who live in a realm of praise and thanksgiving where the enemy no longer has the ability to hold or manipulate that person. Satan is defeated when we have a thankful heart because thankfulness during difficulty is a sacrifice that is pleasing to God. Are you thankful? Are you thankful for your present circumstances? Are you thankful for your salvation, your family, and friendships, and marriage, and your health, and your job, and your homeliness, and your clothes, and your food, and your life? Are you thankful for your home, and your apartment, and your car, and your truck, and the list goes on and on. Amen.

Hallelujah!

Thankfulness is key to your life. It is the key that changes your situation around. Because it changes you, your outlook, and your attitude. There is power in a thankful heart.

Did you know that God loveth a cheerful giver?

It is truly a blessing when we can give cheerfully to those in need. And when we can receive cheerfully from those who just might have more than they need.

Give and it shall be given back to you. It’s better to give than to receive.

God gave His one and only begotten son Jesus Christ that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish in hell, but have everlasting life in Heaven.

Begin to thank God for the blessing he has given you instead of dwelling on the negative. Discontentment dries up the soul. Think positive with contentment and thankfulness at all times.

The King James Holy Bible, in the Old Testament, Psalm 100, talks about thanksgiving. The Bible says: “1 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.

2 Serve the Lord with gladness: come before His presence with singing. 3 Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. 4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name. 5 For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting; and His truth endureth to all generations.”

To love God is to love His will. It is to want quietly for life to be measured by one who knows us through and through. Amen. Hallelujah.

What will you choose today?

BY MICHELE ROCHON Artist/Vendor

Choose to set the tone for everyday It doesn’t have to be a sad day every day unless you choose not to see God’s beauty Your perspective can take what appears to be a disaster and make it your miracle What are you choosing to see today?

I choose to find babies or little children to watch walk past me!!

I choose to enjoy art work that surrounds my environment I choose to reflect on former joyous or happy moments!!

Since 2014, I have chosen to say I am doing excellent, everyday is not perfect but I choose to frame my world with words that uplift, inspire, encourage, edify and enlighten others!!!!!

What are you choosing today Make every day sunny even if it’s raining!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jaunty J.H. A ephemeral copy of a family photo of John Henry Michael.

BY FREDERIC JOHN Artist/Vendor

Dig we did Like the intrepid Tardigrade, An armor-clad miniature warrior: Dig till we dug the gold!

Or George Shaw’s discovery— The “stitched” platypus of 1799 “Who fixed those spurs, claws, and duckbill?

Well, God sayst, I will!”

We watered the petit trianon Of JH’s evergreen terraces; “Why, any bloke who’d scoff at such, Could only b’classed a Pharisee!”

He strode with folded arms, In canary-yellow cashmere Sweater and shorts— Never the quitter, moving twixt Surveyor, Juanty’general-of-the-works, Then down into the trench with his Intrepid adjutant — Moi! J’s greatest riches / were not the temporal Holdings, nay— Instead, we mark his wisdom, vastly Enfolding, All of us: Family, friends, clients, and staff— From Cuzco to Pluto. Ever gems, never chaff!

(Gone to thy great reward, yet alive in our mem’ry. Rest in peace.)

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

Find joy in your daily routine

FREE GAME:

A good man

BY MARCUS GREEN Artist/Vendor

BY MARCUS MCCALL Artist/Vendor

A good man is one Of the most Under respected Under-appreciated!

Undervalued and Under-recognized!

Some people are Still mad at you Because you survived After they threw you Under the bus But the bus ran over their lies.

PHOTO COURTESY OF BOOPATHI RAJAA via UNSPLASH.COM

Ain’t no need of crying

BY JULIE FULLWOOD Artist/Vendor

Ain’t no need of crying “When it’s raining” Cause crying only adds to the pain Ain’t no need of worrying about your problems Cause worrying only adds to the pain If when you feel like you’ve been Caught up in a hurricane you just wait On the sunshine after the rain “Oh!!” But let me tell you Life’s got ups just like its Got downs Ain’t no need of crying “When it’s raining” Your crying may only make a flood Have a little faith in yourself That’s all you need, to do you some good.

// 1 3

Sometimes people try to steal your joy; and it’s a hurting feeling. Family members, friends, associates, and enemies all do it. The best thing is to find a common ground and judge. If you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say nothing.

Joy is working off the stress with a nice bicycle ride, hugging your woman, or walking your dog.

Joy is working eight hours. Manage your life to be the fullest. What I know now is time is short, so everything has its purpose.

As I said, some people whom I love are not loyal. It seems like I need their approval but that’s not so. You see, I’m my own man and always will be. To regroup, I need to walk alone. I’m feeling emotional but also freed up. Family is the worst at helping out, 100%. When I get where they are, then I must adjust my relations.

I still care for my family, but I will never be the same. I wish them the best things. I must move alone and keep it positive. Things are looking up and life goes on. Thanks for your support.

God bless.

A Balloon Trip:

The wonders of the forest

BY BRIANNA BUTLER Artist/Vendor

I'm taking a ride on an orange, blue, and white hot air balloon.

Through the beauty of green trees and purple flowers creating the earth it soars, the wind is glistening on my body making me feel fine. There I see an eagle drop down with spreading wings leaning on some silver trout.

A mother with two small birds walking and playing through the mellowy forest. I am amazed to see a large rack of a moose eating grass.

His stride is like a king walking across his domain after he conquered it.

I love the clear water and just want to drink it up. I'm thinking it would be nice to swim and canoe through it too.

This refreshing, vibrant journey I will love to do again some time.

What love is

BY REGGIE JONES Artist/Vendor

Someone to walk with, someone to talk with.

Someone to eat with, someone to build with.

Someone to share with.

Someone that is there, no matter what you go through they are there to tell you, “Things will be OK, Baby” and not to worry. Someone to help you with things you may need assistance with.

Someone to make love to. Someone that is honest and loyal to you. Someone to grow old with. Someone to hold hands with. Someone to die with. And that is what love is.

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© 2013 KrazyDad.com

Fill in the blank squares so that each row, each column and each Sudoku #8 all of the digits 1 thru 9.

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puzzle’s answers: tinyurl.com/SSMcross-10-27-2021

<< LAST EDITION’S PUZZLE SOLUTION

1. Arms down?

6. Slender-waisted stinger 6. 10.

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Adaptability is not imitation. It means power of resistance and assimilation.

-- Mahatma Gandhi

2 8 7 1 9 4 6 5 3 9 7 8 4 2 1

Find the solution at https://onlinecrosswords.net/2344

1. Arms down?

5 3 Sudoku #6 6

This is the Daily Crossword Puzzle #3 for Oct 22, 2021 Across Across

8

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OnlineCrosswords.net

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© ONLINECROSSWORDS.NET

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Author Gene Weingarten is a college dropout and a nationally syndicated humor columnist for The Washington Post. Author Dan Weingarten is a former college dropout and a current college student majoring in information technology. Many thanks to Gene Weingarten and The Washington Post Writers Group for allowing Street Sense to run Barney & Clyde.

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All services listed are referral-free Academy of Hope Public Charter School 202-269-6623 // 2315 18th Place NE aohdc.org

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D.C. Coalition for the Homeless 202-347-8870 // 1234 Massachusetts Ave., NW dccfh.org

Father McKenna Center // 202-842-1112 19 Eye St., NW fathermckennacenter.org

Martha’s Table // 202-328-6608 marthastable.org 2375 Elvans Road SE 2204 Martin Luther King Ave. SE

Miriam’s Kitchen // 202-452-8926 2401 Virginia Ave., NW miriamskitchen.org

My Sister’s Place // 202-529-5991 (24-hr hotline) mysistersplacedc.org

N Street Village // 202-939-2060 1333 N St., NW nstreetvillage.org

New York Avenue Shelter // 202-832-2359 1355-57 New York Ave., NE

1-888-793-4357

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 // 202-333-4949 3655 Calvert St., NW stlukesmissioncenter.org

Thrive DC // 202-737-9311 1525 Newton St., NW thrivedc.org

Unity Health Care 3020 14th St., NW // unityhealthcare.org - Healthcare for the Homeless Health Center: 202-508-0500 - Community Health Centers: 202-469-4699 1500 Galen Street SE, 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, 555 L Street SE, 3240 Stanton Road SE, 3020 14th Street NW, 2700 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE, 1717 Columbia Road NW, 1313 New York Avenue, NW BSMT Suite, 425 2nd Street NW, 4713 Wisconsin Avenue NW, 2100 New York Avenue NE, 2100 New York Avenue NE, 1333 N Street NW, 1355 New York Avenue NE, 828 Evarts Place, NE, 810 5th Street NW

The Welcome Table // 202-347-2635 1317 G St., NW. epiphanydc.org/thewelcometable

Whitman-Walker Health 1701 14th St., NW // 202-745-7000 2301 MLK Jr. Ave., SE // 202-797-3567 whitman-walker.org

Patricia Handy Place for Women 202-733-5378 // 810 5th St., NW

Samaritan Inns // 202-667-8831 2523 14th St., NW samaritaninns.org

BEHAVIORAL HEALTH HOTLINE Línea de salud del comportamiento

Laundry Lavandería

Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless 1200 U St., NW // 202-328-5500 legalclinic.org

For further information and listings, visit our online service guide at StreetSenseMedia.org/service-guide

// 1 5

JOB BOARD

HELP! WE’RE LOOKING FOR

volunteers Become a Street Sense Media volunteer and help further our mission to empower people experiencing homelessness by amplifying marginalized voices and meeting the information needs of people in poverty.

Our editorial team seeks volunteers skilled in either Adobe InDesign or the WordPress CMS to help expand two teams for publishing our content in print and online, respectively.

If interested, please contact our editors, Eric Falquero and Gordon Chaffin: editor@streetsensemedia.org 202-347-2006 (x 201) For more information about these opportunities and other volunter positions, visit StreetSenseMedia.org/volunteer

Halloween reflections

BY ROCHELLE WALKER // Artist/Vendor

It is Oct. 31, Halloween night. All the witches and ghosts and demon spirits are in the house. A knock comes on the door: Trick-or-treat. I will give you a treat if you do a trick. A real live orange pumpkin man lights up and someone says, “Happy Halloween.” Welcome to our musician show. All the children get scared, they say don’t scare me, just give me the candy, cookies, sweets, and Halloween apples.

We can play a game. Hide and go seek. You go find the apples. Halloween can be education, too. Their Halloween costumes were doctors, lawyers, police, and firefighters. It’s Halloween night, the harvest moon is full, but all the children disappear.

When the parents come, all the children are gone. Treat or tricks.

BY DANIEL BALL // Artist/Vendor

Yes, I love Halloween every year.

I like to imagine me and Sybil will both dress up like Batgirl and Batman one year.

Or that my friend Thomas and I will play spooky tricks on people.

Growing up, when I went out at night to get my Halloween candy, there wasn’t any violence that night ever in the state of Maryland.

I used to say Halloween was a very, very spooky night. Now, let us go trick or treat everybody!

And, I love all of you that I get to know through Street Sense every day.

BY JACKIE TURNER // Artist/Vendor

Most people think that Halloween is a pagan holiday. But, Halloween started with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain.

In that festival, people made bonfires and wore costumes to ward off ghosts, according to History.com. Later, All Saints Day incorporated some of the traditions of Samhain — even before it was known as All Hallows Eve, later Halloween. The Europeans had October Fest, which was a festival of harvest.

Lots of people enjoy Halloween, especially children. But adults love to dress up, too.

When I was a kid I made it a three-day holiday. The first night trick night, the second beg for candy, and the last fell on the real holiday. This worked out well until my mother found out and made it a one-night affair.

BY LATICIA BROCK // Artist/Vendor

Ghosts and goblins, tents and rents, Scary masks cover our politicians, who bulldoze residents, and remove their tents.

How can we help our unhoused find a solution?

Candy from strangers, who are under the costume.

Government meetings being held over Zoom.

Permanent supportive housing or rapid re(housing)?

Been in the street so long, caused a major tragedy.

Trash is a mess when sleeping in the streets.

The shelters are bad, bed bugs in the sheets.

Soup from the food trucks, applesauce in pouches.

People denied government vouchers.

Feeling safe sleeping in the streets, fear of being housed in Southeast.

Danger is bad, my mental health is sad.

I’d rather die in a sleeping bag, shouting and screaming, and causing a scene.

I wish I could be, the mayor for Halloween.

PHOTO BY JEFFERY MCNEIL

BY DARLESHA JOYNER // Artist/Vendor

I enjoy and look forward to Halloween.

It’s one of my favorite holidays. Free candy! And seeing the joy of kids running around, being excited about getting candy, their reactions to the houses and costumes.

It’s got a little spook to it. Markquelle will be excited this year. No stroller! But I may try to find one, because he’s gonna fall asleep. He’s gonna wear The Hulk costume. He said he’s gonna be “Smashin’ through the streets.”

From your vendor, OCT. 27 - NOV. 2, 2021 | VOLUME 19 ISSUE 39 NO CASH? NO PROBLEM. WE HAVE AN APP! SEARCH “STREET SENSE” IN THE APP STORE

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