DC officials consider reviving controversial encampment pilot

ANNEMARIE CUCCIA

As the federal government moves to close all encampments on its land, D.C. is considering re-launching its own controversial encampment pilot program.

The city may expand the Coordinated Assistance and Resources for Encampments (CARE) Pilot Program, which theoretically pairs encampment residents with housing after an encampment has been closed, Deputy Mayor of Health and Human Services (DMHHS) Wayne Turnage testified at a Health Committee hearing on Feb. 16. But concerns about the hundreds of people who are eligible for but still waiting on a housing voucher mean the program, which many homeless advocates criticized when it first launched, is currently on pause.

Since October 2021, the city has closed 22 encampments, evicting 142 people, according to numbers DMHHS presented to the D.C. Council. The District paired 84 of those residents to a housing subsidy or temporary program, though it can take up to 9 months for someone matched to housing to actually move into an apartment. D.C. operated the CARE pilot program at two of those sites and at two encampments on federal land, housing 100 out of 139 people displaced.

But advocates for people experiencing homelessness argued the program wasn’t as successful as those numbers indicate. Not everyone who was evicted from the sites moved into housing, and some encampment residents weren’t included on the official list of people who lived at the site and were thus not offered housing. And, they argued, forcing residents to find housing by an arbitrary deadline traumatizes those who don’t move out in time.

“Constantly treating people like physical trash that you don’t want to be seen does not inspire hope for them to participate in the support systems,” Kelly Andreae, executive director of the Georgetown Ministry Center, which provides outreach, said at the hearing.

People living in the recently-cleared McPherson Square shared similar stories. Though the city did not use the CARE pilot at that encampment, both the city and the federal government repeatedly told residents everyone eligible would be connected to housing before the closure. Only 20 out of 47 eligible residents moved into temporary housing before the eviction.

“They keep saying I’m here to help you but they never come, and then they just come and tell you get out, you’re worthless, you don’t belong,” Umi, a former McPherson Square resident said at the hearing.

Currently, about 325 people live in encampments in D.C., according to Turnage, who oversees the city’s encampment response team.

CARE Pilot could return

When the CARE Pilot Program initially launched, the city promised to offer unhoused people living in encampments a chance to move into a subsidized apartment before closing them. The city used the CARE pilot at four encampments in late 2021 and early 2022: NoMa, New Jersey and O St Park, 21st and E St., and 25th and Virginia Ave. All told, the pilot ousted 139 residents, 111 of whom DMHHS said spoke to outreach workers.

The pilot program moved 100 people into homes Turnage said, first on a temporary basis with city money, and then through either federal or local time-limited or permanent subsidy programs. According to DMHHS, about two-thirds of the pilot program participants entered or are expected to enter Permanent Supportive Housing, Targeted Affordable Housing, or Rapid Re-Housing. COMMENT TK about others.

In the hearing, Turnage said the city initially planned to expand the pilot, but held off given how hundreds of people received housing vouchers but have yet to be able to use them to move into housing. But even if the city can handle the voucher backlog, there’s the question of if people living in encampments should be prioritized for vouchers over others experiencing homelessness.

“We cannot ignore the 1,400 or so people who are living in the shelters,” Turnage said at the hearing. “If we give everybody priority for housing who are living in encampments … what message are you sending to the people who are living in shelters who have been waiting for housing for years?”

He also worried the policy could lead people to move to encampments as a way to get housing faster.

“We have to accept the reality that because of our porous borders, there will be people who will come to the District and live in an encampment with the expectation that they are going to be housed because of the publicity,” he said.