VOL. 19 ISSUE 34
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JULY 13 - 19, 2022
Real Stories
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Real Change
Attorney General sues DCHA for ‘failing’ residents with disabilities
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EDITOR’S NOTE
AT A GLANCE
Why we’re republishing a story we produced last year
Cover of the Aug. 25, 2021 edition of Street Sense Media.
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Last year, several disability rights advocates informed us there were a large number of people with disabilities waiting to receive accommodations while living in public housing. We decided to research this issue and learned that there were just over 250 households living in D.C. Housing Authority (DCHA) managed properties waiting to move into units that were compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The oldest pending request for an ADA-accessible unit, we learned, dated back to March 2010. This was not an easy story for us to report. After nearly a month of trying to secure an interview with DCHA, we finally decided to publish the story based on answers we received from the agency via email. While incomplete, the answers we were able to obtain painted a bleak picture of the situation. As they told us via email, they simply did not have enough ADA accessible housing units to provide to their residents with disabilities. “DCHA’s aging portfolio does not include a sufficient number of readily available units to respond to the full demand for approved reasonable accommodations,” a public information official from the agency said. We finally published the story last August and were the first local outlet to break the news on this issue. Last month, we learned that the attorney general is pursuing a lawsuit against the city for the exact issues we spotlighted in our reporting last year. On page 7, you’ll find our story about the new lawsuit. And on pages 8-9, you’ll find our story from last year. -Editor-in-Chief, Will Schick
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NEWS
Raising awareness about camps, sweeps and displacement in the United States INSP NEWS SERVICE
Artwork courtesy of the Western Regional Advocacy Project and the San Francisco Poster Syndicate
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n recent months, cities and states across the United States have dramatically increased their efforts to sweep and displace homeless encampments and to criminalize people on the streets. In Tennessee, new legislation has made camping on public lands a felony with a possible jail sentence of up to six years in
prison. A series of posters as part of the nation-wide campaign ‘Housekeys Not Sweeps’, led by the Western Regional Advocacy Project (WRAP), is raising awareness and combating criminalization efforts and anti-homeless legislation occurring across the country. “Houseless people often live in communities or ‘encampments’ for their safety and well-being. Belongings and community are necessary for survival, but private and public agencies have deemed both these things illegal and are aggressively and violently policing, sweeping, harassing, and attacking our houseless neighbors,” says Paul Boden,
WRAP’s executive director. “They are evicted from their encampments and their life preserving belongings are repeatedly stolen.” The campaign notes the effects of the sweeps are many, including mass incarceration, harm to people’s mental and physical health, and additional barriers to receiving housing and economic stability due to convictions and arrest warrants, disqualifying individuals from receiving public housing assistance. “Cruel and discriminatory police enforcements cause serious harm and are an incredible waste of resources that would be more effectively spent on solutions to houselessness, such as treatment and housing for poor people,” Boden goes on. “Clearly our government is not choosing real solutions to homelessness, like human rights, livable incomes, healthcare, jobs, and a reinstatement of federal affordable housing funding.” “In international human rights law, providing shelter to people who are homeless is the absolute minimum standard
for any country, regardless of resources. There’s a cruelty here that I don’t think I’ve seen,” says Leilani Farha, the former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Housing. Tens of millions of people have experienced homelessness in America during the past 40 years due to the lack of federal investments in social housing and corporate welfare, the privatization of affordable housing, skyrocketing rents, and the lack of living wage jobs. Currently, more than one million people experience homelessness in the United States, including a high rate of children and families. Find out more about the campaign by visiting wraphome.org Courtesy of the International Network of Street Papers
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Watchdog group finds profits soaring for real estate company facing several lawsuits HOLLY RUSCH Editorial Intern
The Equity Residential homepage. Photo by Will Schick
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quity Residential — a real estate company that has already faced three major lawsuits involving tenant mistreatment in the past five years – has raised rents and touted pricing power as its own income soared, according to watchdog group Accountable. US. The findings, released June 14 from Accountable.US’s report on the 10 largest publicly traded real estate and property companies across the county, showed that Equity Residential hiked rents even as their 2021 net income jumped by nearly 45% to $1.3 billion. The company boasts some 14,851 units in the Washington, D.C. area. The jump in income comes as rent prices have increased across D.C. over the past several years, while the COVID19 pandemic created housing instability across the country. As of 2020, there were nearly 40,000 households in D.C. for whom paying more than $750 a month in rent would create a financial burden greater than a third of their income, the Washington Post reported. At the time, the city had fewer than 800 apartments with rent at that price. Overall, rent in D.C. is up 1.5% since 2019 — making the average rent price $2,046, according to the Washington Post. Findings showed that during this time, these national property company’s combined profits surged more than 50% to nearly $5 billion. “When you see the nation’s largest apartment companies leaning into inflation and banking nearly $5 billion while
their top executives’ pay soars by over 22% from last year, it’s obvious the punishing rental prices on our most vulnerable populations are driven by corporate greed,” Kyle Herrig, president of Accountable.US, said in a statement about the group’s report. In Equity Residential’s Feb. 1 earnings report, Mark J. Parrell — the company’s president and CEO — was quoted lauding their low resident turnover rates and rent increases. “Robust demand in the fourth quarter drove high occupancy and the lowest resident turnover in our history, allowing us to continue to increase rents. We expect operations and cash flows in 2022 to accelerate further as we write new leases at significantly higher current market rent levels and benefit from continuing deep demand,” Parrell said. Equity Residential Management recently lost a $2 million lawsuit from the D.C. Attorney General’s Office for illegally overcharging residents for rent at a D.C. complex, and the company stands at the fifth largest property ownership group in the country, with over 80,000 apartment units across the U.S. The company’s net income increase comes as they’ve faced two other West Coast lawsuits: one in 2022, when they were sued for allegedly overcharging prospective tenants for background checks, and one in 2017, when they were sued for “dubious” late fees. Both lawsuits are currently still pending. In a statement to CBS regarding the Accountability.
US report, a spokesperson for Equity Residential said that increasing rents reflected a natural rise after the pandemic originally initiated a decline in housing prices. “Our portfolio attracts an affluent renter that is not rent stressed. Our residents pay us, on average, approximately 19% of their income in rent,” spokesperson Marty McKenna said in an email to CBS. Groups like Accountable.US, however, find rising rent prices disingenuous. “Big apartment companies have joined the long list of industries using inflation as a cover to charge working families far beyond any new cost of doing business,” Herrig’s statement on the report said. “People can choose not to spend money on clothing or a new car, but they have no choice in paying rent and keeping a roof over their heads.”
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NEWS
DC Council chair introduces bill to reform rapid rehousing program AMANDA MICHELLE GOMEZ DCist
Chairman Phil Mendelson introduced a bill to reform rapid rehousing after calls from homeless advocates. Photo by Chelsea Bland/AFGE
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.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson is trying to reform a short-term housing subsidy program that people experiencing homelessness and their advocates have long criticized for failing to provide participants enough support to secure stable housing. Mendelson and seven of his colleagues introduced legislation last week that would make the temporary rental subsidy more generous, as well as link the program’s participants to permanent housing. The move comes after over 50 organizations and experts called on the Council to reform the city’s rapid rehousing program. According to Amber Harding of The Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless (a group calling for the overhaul) only 3% of families in rapid rehousing can afford rent without further assistance once their subsidy expires. “Cutting D.C. residents from rental assistance for hitting a time limit when they cannot afford market rent on their own is unfair, unjust, and will lead to increased evictions and homelessness – disproportionately harming Black residents and other communities of color,” says an open letter to the Council on behalf of dozens of organizations and experts dated April 7. The letter not only called for reform, but to increase permanent affordable housing vouchers. The rapid rehousing program moves individuals or families experiencing homelessness from a shelter to apartments, covering a portion of their rent for roughly one year, with an opportunity for extension. The goal is to provide participants some stability as they address issues like employment or health care, so they can be in a position to pay their rent in full by the time their subsidy is terminated. While some government officials have defended the program for immediately lifting people out of shelters, others have noted its shortcomings — namely, it does not keep many people out of homeless shelters or housing instability permanently. According to a City Paper analysis
of the 2019 Point-In-Time count, 42 percent of families who left the District’s homeless services system, but later required assistance once again, had used rapid rehousing subsidies. “The goal with our homeless services is that we either get people placed into subsidized housing or we get them back on their feet. But not that we perpetuate a cycle of homelessness. And rapid rehousing, basically as it’s been used, is part of the cycle,” Mendelson tells DCist/WAMU. His bill would reform the rapid rehousing program for individuals and families in several ways: • Ensure people pay no more than 30% of their income toward rent, as opposed to the 40 to 60% they sometimes pay now. • Make case management an optional, not mandatory service. • Require Mayor Muriel Bowser’s administration to determine if participants are eligible for longerterm housing, including the Permanent Supportive Housing program or Targeted Affordable Housing, within the first six months of enrollment. • Prioritize participants for Targeted Affordable Housing, which provides people with a permanent subsidy and case management. Participants who are enrolled the longest in rapid rehousing and thus have their subsidy near ending would be prioritized first. Right now D.C. government does not systematically refer rapid rehousing participants to permanent housing programs, even if they may be eligible. A bridge between the temporary subsidies and permanent vouchers has long been a recommendation by local experts, according to Harding. She says that is how rapid rehousing works in other jurisdictions with high rents. That’s in part why she’s confident about the bill’s results. “I do think it will reduce shelter re-entries,” says Harding via email. “I also think it will significantly reduce the number of families who get evicted because their subsidy ended prematurely, the number of families (primarily Black
families — 97% of families in rapid re-housing are Black) who get displaced completely from D.C. when their subsidy ends because they cannot afford rent in D.C. without a subsidy, and the number of families who return to abusers or sleep in unsafe settings rather than go back to shelter (or who get denied shelter when they try).” The Bowser administration has relied on rapid rehousing in order to meet the mayor’s goal of ending homelessness by 2025. The number of people participating in rapid rehousing has increased since Bowser took office. In February 2016, over 1,080 families had rapid rehousing subsidies and currently, 3,400 families do. Mendelson says he and his staff worked with the DC Interagency Council on Homelessness and other nonprofits that support people experiencing homelessness to write the bill. Meanwhile, the mayor’s team did not respond to a request for comment on the bill. Calls to reform rapid rehousing took shape after the Department of Human Services lifted the pandemic-related pause on termination notices and told the Council an estimated 913 families would be notified of their subsidy ending by September. The vast majority of those families would not be able to afford rent without rapid rehousing. Mendelson tried to reform rapid rehousing during the last budget cycle but ultimately was unable to in part due to the associated costs. The chief financial officer said reform could cost more than $100 million — a figure the chairman disagrees with, saying “that’s just an effort to thwart what we are doing.” His office says roughly 350 of the 913 families that received termination notices would be protected by Targeted Affordable Housing vouchers funded in the fiscal year 2023 budget. Mendelson expects a hearing on the bill by the end of the year. This article was originally published by DCist
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DC Attorney General sues housing authority over accessibility violations; advocates cite systemic failures HOLLY RUSCH Editorial Intern
The D.C. Department of Housing Authority. Photo by Will Schick
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he District’s Office of the Attorney General (OAG) is suing the D.C. Housing Authority (DCHA) over accessible housing violations, D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine announced June 16. Last August, Street Sense reported that 255 households were still on the waitlist for Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)-approved housing in DCHA-managed properties. Now, the tenants who’ve been waiting years to receive reasonable disability accommodations are at the forefront of the lawsuit against the District’s largest affordable housing provider. These households are people already residing in DCHA properties but waiting on ADA-compliant units. accommodations. The waitlist for public housing is much longer — currently, there are 40,000 people on the waitlist for housing, which has been closed since 2013. Racine is suing the DCHA for forcing tenants with disabilities to live in “housing that the agency itself has determined does not meet their needs” and trapping them within a disorganized and unresponsive bureaucracy, a press release from the OAG said. The OAG is seeking a court order to stop DCHA from violating the law, restitution for tenants harmed by unlawful conduct, or other forms of relief, according to the lawsuit. Now that the case has been filed, the OAG’s office will wait for the DCHA to file a motion to either dismiss or answer the allegations. DCHA is an independent government agency that functions as the only centralized space for extremely low to moderate-income D.C. residents to apply for help with housing without eligibility requirements. In a press release,
the OAG claimed that the agency failed to provide them with basic information or a concrete plan on how they will address ongoing accessibility issues. Sheila Lewis, DCHA’s public affairs and communications director, told Street Sense that they are unable to comment on active litigation or individual allegations. According to Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner and disability rights advocate Tiffani Johnson, the lack of accessible housing for individuals with disabilities is created by systemic failures within DCHA’s processes. Those who qualify for accessible housing tend to stay at the bottom of the waitlist for long periods of time because they have to wait for someone residing in an accessible unit to move, no longer become eligible, or die, Johnson said. “So either they pass away while they’re living in the accessible unit that they were luckily able to receive, or they pass away before they were even able to move into an accessible unit,” she continued. Johnson referenced a case cited in the lawsuit, which states that one DCHA tenant approved for wheelchairaccessible housing in 2017 died in late 2021 in a non-accessible apartment, still waiting for replacement. Along with DCHA’s failure to provide legally-mandated accessible housing, the lawsuit also pointed to the entity’s disorganization and lack of communication resulting in tenants being improperly removed from waitlists and critical accommodations records being lost. According to Johnson, although the waitlist for housing is now closed, those who are on the waitlist and qualify for accessible housing are often unable to update their information on time due to frequent moves and address changes.
“At the time to recertify, the information is sent to the last known address. But if you’ve moved three times since the last time you were even able to recertify, what good does that do? You’re immediately kicked off the roll. And then you can’t reapply because the waiting list is closed,” she said. The system to create and access affordable, accessible housing is convoluted and difficult to navigate, according to Rachael Gass, commissioner vice chair of the D.C. Commission on Persons with Disabilities. “The issue is demand will always be greater than supply,” Gass said. “So this comes down to the process of how and what is approved at the developer level.” According to Gass, in order for accessible housing to be approved, developers, zoning committees and local government entities must be held accountable earlier on in the process and policy loopholes — including historic preservation laws — must be closed. “Where we are now is what we’ve ended up with: not enough units, or you end up inaccessible non safe units,” she said. “A lot of that is what you’re seeing with this lawsuit — there’s high demand and we’re not demanding enough.” To solve the DCHA’s accessible housing crisis, both Gass and Johnson advocated for setting the standard higher in the future. “It won’t ever be enough, unless what we do is set goals that are even larger,” Gass said. “That’s kind of what I’m hoping we can accomplish is that we can pressure everybody and say, ‘hey, we can set more ambitious goals,’ where every single building has had an entire floor, so it’s not one or two units. It’s an entire floor of units.”
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NEWS
255 households are on the waiting list for ADAcompliant housing in DCHA-managed properties WILL SCHICK Editor-in-Chief
This story was originally published in the Aug. 21 edition of Street Sense.
The sign for the DCHA headquarters in Northeast D.C. Photo by Will Schick
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arlena Childs has had enough of conditions at the Kelly Miller complex, a public housing property in LeDroit Park managed by the D.C. Housing Authority (DCHA). She’s tired of the bedbugs, the near-constant ringing of fire alarms, the periodic sounds of gunshots that send her careening to the floor. She’s had enough of mice coming in and out of her home — she had caught 83 by June, midway through her third summer in the apartment. To make matters worse, Childs says her building’s boiler releases toxic-smelling fumes, and the stairways throughout the complex don’t have nearly enough railings. She has a disability that makes it hard for her to walk down stairs. Other residents at DCHA properties expressed similar concerns when they joined Childs in testifying about the conditions of their homes at a July public hearing of the D.C. Council’s Committee on Housing and Executive Administration. Many talked at length about how difficult it is to reach administrators for help with both routine and sudden maintenance needs. For people with disabilities like Childs, navigating DCHA’s complex bureaucracy can be doubly difficult — all the more so because of a lack of accessible housing, according to accounts shared by disability rights advocates and residents of DCHA’s properties. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) notes that, under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, entities that receive funding from the federal government may not discriminate against people who have disabilities and must provide them with equal access to programs or activities. In 1988, the Fair Housing Act expanded those protections to include all housing providers regardless of source of funding. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), passed in 1990, broadened protections for people with disabilities into areas such as employment and education. The landmark law also laid out updated standards for accessibility within government properties.
There are 255 households living in DCHA properties who are waiting for ADA-compliant housing, according to the agency. For over a month, Street Sense Media and The DC Line attempted to secure an interview with someone at the housing authority to discuss the issue of accessibility in its public housing portfolio. Despite repeated requests by phone and email, DCHA did not agree to an interview for this story, stating at times that the agency’s interim director was the sole person authorized to speak on the record to the media, and at other times that scheduling conflicts prevented anyone from its ADA Section 504 office from doing an interview. The agency agreed, however, to correspond over email and selectively responded to questions. It did not answer questions related to the number of ADA-accessible units in its current housing inventory, or about how much of the $50 million allocated for housing repairs in D.C.’s fiscal year 2022 capital budget will go toward adding more ADAaccessible units. Housing and disability rights advocates have long faulted DCHA for a lack of responsiveness to requests for information as well as to residents’ needs. The failings, they say, make it even more difficult for people with disabilities and seniors to live in public housing as well as to navigate the system itself.
People with disabilities have a right to ‘reasonable accommodations’ Approximately 1 out of 4 people in the United States has a disability, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Abby Volin, an attorney adviser with the D.C. Office of Disability Rights, said it’s not only important to understand that people with disabilities encompass a large range of
people; it’s also critical that they themselves know their rights and how to assert them. Under ADA and other federal laws such as the Fair Housing Act, people with disabilities are supposed to be afforded what are known as “reasonable accommodations.” The term “reasonable accommodations” is not specific to housing and can encompass any form of assistance that is meant to help ensure that a person with a disability can participate in an activity or program just like anyone else. This includes a person’s ability to access a public space or their job and place of work. “The point of the ADA and reasonable accommodations is not to bump somebody higher in the line. It’s to help them get in the line to make sure that they have equal access to the programs, activities, [and] services — just as anyone else does — and to prevent discrimination,” Volin said. In housing, the term generally refers to the modifications made to a property that make life easier for the person living there. For instance, a reasonable accommodation for a person with a mobility-related disability could include the installation of grab bars next to a toilet or the conversion of a shower into a roll-in shower. While these accommodations do not eliminate the need for homes that meet the full set of federally established standards for accessibility, they may make homes more habitable for people who have disabilities. An ADA-accessible home for someone who uses a wheelchair, for instance, would also have lower cabinets and countertop surfaces. In data shared with Street Sense Media and The DC Line, DCHA said the oldest pending request it has for an ADAaccessible unit dates to March 31, 2010. HUD guidelines require public housing authorities to supply a sufficient number of accessible units to provide equal access to dwellings for all people seeking housing assistance. In the absence of fully accessible units, housing authorities like DCHA are charged with making reasonable accommodations as needed.
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But, as the agency pointed out in an emailed statement, “DCHA’s aging portfolio does not include a sufficient number of readily available units to respond to the full demand for approved reasonable accommodations.” That lack of accessible housing has led, in some cases, to people waiting years upon years for resolution of their requests to move into suitable public housing or relocate to a new unit or building. DCHA’s “Moving to Work” annual planning document for FY 2022 shows a combined total of 72,136 households waiting for housing on lists that have been closed for years. In a June budget oversight hearing, DCHA reported having 1,800 vacant properties, amounting to about 20% of its portfolio. The agency’s interim director, Brenda Donald, said 614 of these units were “not rentable” due to poor conditions. Donald also said 357 of the 1,800 vacant units were being left vacant intentionally so they would be available to accommodate families who need to move while DCHA rehabilitates other properties. Those already in public housing may request ADAaccessible units. Some people who have been offered the option to live in properties that are ADA-accessible have preferred to stay in their already modified units, but remain on the waiting list in case a more suitable unit becomes available. In an email, the housing authority said 22 of its 255 pending requests for ADA-accessible units are from residents living in such units. A lawsuit filed in 2013 by the nonprofit Deaf-REACH alleged the agency repeatedly violated provisions of the Fair Housing Act and the ADA by failing to provide hearingimpaired participants in its program with access to an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter when accessing services. The case was settled in 2015, and DCHA agreed to require all of its employees to undergo disability rights training. Another lawsuit filed against the city in 2013 cited similar complaints that people with disabilities, including public housing residents, had not received legally required assistance. The court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, and the city’s appeal was denied.
DCHA-managed properties rank among the lowest in the country Even as DCHA has modified the homes of some families who have members with disabilities, the agency suffers from an even broader problem: Public housing properties managed by DCHA rank lower than those of almost every other state and territory in the U.S., garnering an overall average inspection score of 68 out of 100, according to the latest data. Nearly one-third of public housing properties in D.C. score below 59, which designates them as “troubled,” according to HUD. The lowest score in D.C. is Hopkins Apartments, a property located at 1000 K St. SE, which scored 26 out of 100 during an inspection in 2019. Property conditions determine how often the buildings are supposed to be inspected. While troubled properties are supposed to be reinspected every year, properties scoring over 90 are due for reinspection only every three years. The HUD data shows that nearly all physical inspections of public properties across the country stopped in March of 2020. Inspections resumed nationally this past June, according to HUD. But that data is not yet available, and the last inspections recorded for the District are from November and December of 2019. The poor and sometimes dilapidated condition of public housing in the nation’s capital is a problem familiar to D.C. officials, who have long talked about the need to make improvements. DCHA has identified about $405 million worth of public housing repairs needed over the next six
years. In the capital budget recently approved for FY 2022, the agency received $50 million for repairs. At a June public hearing of the Committee on Housing and Executive Administration, At-large Councilmember Anita Bonds said it costs nearly $100,000 to bring a single vacant unit in disrepair back online. Still, other members of the D.C. Council have expressed frustration with what they describe as DCHA’s lack of transparency and cited a need for greater oversight of the agency’s spending. In recent council budget deliberations, At-Large Councilmember Elissa Silverman proposed reinstituting a rule that would require board approval for spending on projects in excess of $250,000. The measure, she argued, was needed to ensure accountability over what she described as the agency’s hard-to-track spending. Silverman’s proposal prevailed on an 8-5 vote, although Council Chairman Phil Mendelson warned the change might slow down the pace of needed repairs.
Inside the struggles of seniors who try to navigate housing in DC Gwendolyn Washington, an attorney with the Legal Counsel for the Elderly, said in an interview that seniors and people who have disabilities have been waiting years for accessible public housing units. Meanwhile, she added, seniors and other residents of DCHA properties have also contended with unsafe living conditions, including “severe mold.” “I’ve heard concerns about the lack of maintenance or repairs … for a few years now. But it sounds like more and more units are in a more deteriorated state. And we’ve got to come up with the resources to improve this,” Bonds said during a June budget oversight hearing of the Committee on Housing and Executive Administration, which she chairs. “This issue about ADA units is a very important issue that we have to look at,” Bonds said in response to Washington’s testimony about the waiting list for ADAcompliant units. Bonds then asked about the possibility of identifying ADA-compliant units on the open market as a way to meet the demand. Washington said this option might work if DCHA offered vouchers for privately owned ADA-compliant units to those who are waiting for them. Washington, who says she has a handful of clients waiting for an accessible home, described the lack of accessible public housing as a serious problem within the District and called for more DCHA funding to go toward rehabilitating the 1,000-plus vacant units in the agency’s portfolio. The scarcity of public housing, Washington argues, mirrors the District’s overall shortfall of affordable housing, an issue that disproportionately impacts seniors and people with disabilities. Seniors account for one-third of all extremely lowincome renters in D.C., according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition. Many are on fixed incomes and rely on Social Security payments to make ends meet, Washington noted. “We’ve seen seniors who are spending as much as 90% of their income on rent. And so [for them], it becomes a choice between medication and food, or rent,” she said, adding that the soaring cost of housing has far exceeded many retirees’ original expectations as well as any cost-of-living adjustments they have received. “These seniors may … never have imagined when they were working in 1979 that their rent would come to a place where it is now,” she said. Washington added that many seniors living in buildings
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subject to rent control are not even aware of the D.C. program that allows them to restrict their rent increases to 2% a year after they turn 62.
Silence can be discouraging Tiffani Johnson, a Ward 4 advisory neighborhood commissioner and rights and advocacy specialist for the D.C. Department of Disability Services, echoed Washington’s concerns. She says many of her clients who have disabilities face obstacles when trying to navigate the public housing system, even with the help of legal professionals. “I have a client now that I’m assisting, she’s gotten nowhere with DCHA,” Johnson explained. “I’ve got a [law degree] and her daughter is a paralegal, and all we get is crickets.” Johnson says that the problem is compounded by the severe lack of ADA-compliant public housing available to people who need it. “I mean we’re still consistently seeing applications [for ADA units] being submitted, but no one’s moving anywhere,” Johnson said. Shopping carts parked outside a group buildings at Potomac Gardens, a public housing facility located near the Potomac Ave Metro station in Ward 6. Photo by Will Schick Based on her 15 years as a disability rights advocate in D.C., Johnson said that DCHA has always been a notoriously difficult agency to work with, taking a long time to respond to any requests for assistance. “You have to, you know, consistently, email, email, email, call, call, call before you get a response to even one question. So, I mean it makes it very, very frustrating and confusing,” Johnson said. That lack of responsiveness places some seniors and people with disabilities in dire straits, Johnson added. “People get tired, you know? … So they just give up and they end up sleeping in an encampment or doing couch rotations with their friends and neighbors,” she said. “And that’s no way to live.” Ronny Goodman, a 64-year-old D.C. resident who uses a stroller to walk and is on a fixed income, agreed with Johnson’s assessment. Though Goodman is not seeking a spot in public housing, he says he’s long struggled with looking for stable housing for himself. He’s spent the past few months looking for an apartment to rent. But the process has been harder than he imagined. “I can’t come up with the cash to pay for the application,” he explained. Goodman said the application fee for the last apartment he looked at cost $92. And at another place he visited, it was $50. Either way, it’s a big chunk of his monthly income, which he estimates at about $740. He says he spends some nights with friends who live in public housing and other nights at nearby hotels. Goodman said that it’s not always easy for people his age to bring up issues or problems they’re having. For one, “you got old people who don’t complain because they don’t know,” he said. And secondly, “they ain’t got anybody to do nothing for them,” he said. This article was co-published with The DC Line. This story was a finalist in the breaking news category for the 2022 Dateline Awards hosted by the Society of Professional Journalists
1 0 // S T R E E T S E N S E M E D I A / / J U LY 1 3 - 1 9 , 2 022
OPINION
How nonprofits and the government can help entrepreneurs in DC MAURICE SPEARS
I
got started in business with go-go music when I was about 16 years old. I was passing out fliers, networking, and dealing with clubs and big venues. Now I have my own business doing consulting work with the music industry, and I also consult for other people’s campaigns, websites and businesses. To succeed as an entrepreneur, you have to read and study and network. I like dealing with people every day; it makes me feel good seeing other people smile and hearing them tell their life stories. People might judge you, but you have to show them differently. Nobody knows you better than you know yourself. Right now I’m hustling all the time. I’m still learning. At Street Sense, people who are experiencing homelessness or who are low-income can join our community and we give them a job opportunity to become an independent vendor. Being a vendor selling papers, you are a sales rep. You get
donations for a nonprofit organization. Street Sense is helping me to build my communication skills, my speaking skills and showing me how to build entrepreneurship. Street Sense showed me that you have got to have a database. That is a beautiful thing. Now I understand what I’m missing. But there is more that nonprofits like Street Sense could do to support entrepreneurs. There needs to be more classes about starting a nonprofit organization, getting better credit, financial literacy and making resumes. We could have a class where we pitch ideas and see if they are a good fit. Like a stock market, we could donate money for Street Sense to use toward a goal, like buying a building, and after we complete that mission, the interest goes up and it becomes an asset. There is more that the government could do, too, to help entrepreneurs. COVID-19 and people working from home slowed a lot of things, and now it’s difficult to interact with some of the people who make and carry out the laws. City staff
members don’t have patience to deal with some people, and it’s frustrating. It’s hurting business owners. The city’s system for renewing your business license is online, but I don’t know how to do that process. It’s so confusing. They didn’t explain it to the business owners and entrepreneurs, and they never taught us to really learn a new system. And if you get a late fee for renewing your license, they charge you. Now we get punished for something that we don’t know how to do. The city should build a better platform for renewing business licenses. It should hire a person who specializes in talking to entrepreneurs and teaching them how to be in compliance so that they don’t get taken advantage of and so that their papers come in professionally. Maurice Spears is a vendor with Street Sense Media.
Breaking up encampments is worse in the summer heat
Join the conversation, share your views
AMINA WASHINGTON
I
t’s always hard living on the street, but harder in the extreme weather we have in Washington, D.C. I’ve seen homeless people get sick constantly, and I’ve even heard about people dying in tents due to bad weather, especially heat waves. When the heat reaches 90 degrees and above, it raises concerns for the encampment outreach and other homeless organizations. These organizations start to bring food, water and supplies to those in need. We just don’t know how to thank these organizations for their help in blunting the impact of the heat that threatens more of the homeless community each year. I just want to send my prayers for them to get shelter, food, all they need. However, the city’s policies have also made the situation worse. I have witnessed the homeless encampments being shut down, which puts lives and safety at risk. I think the law should not prevent people from sleeping in public spaces. Homeless people should be able to sleep on sidewalks, on park benches, and in camps with no problem. I think that in every state, as long as it isn’t private or federal property, homeless people should be able to camp where they feel safe — especially since with more and more extreme
seasons, finding a safe place that’s shaded from the sun and the beating rain can be a matter of life and death. It is unfair to target homeless people and jail them for trying to survive. Sleeping outside should not be a crime. Forcing them to move is inhumane. But just having a space to camp isn’t enough. I live the experience of homelessness myself. When I was struggling to find food and water and suffering from dehydration, I spoke to outreach teams about providing more of those basic necessities to campsites. Sadly, this summer food and water drip offs have been very limited. Poor people and the homeless have to go out in search of water, food, and cool air. Health and safety teams should come and check on the homeless because I seen many of them sick because of something preventable. My prayers go to the ones who have slept on the street for a long time, the elderly and disabled people I’ve witnessed in particular going into hospitals due to extreme weather. I just hope and pray for a solution to the problem. Amina Washington is a vendor and artist with Street Sense Media.
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A most forgettable chapter in a life
Blackballing straight into the pros
FREDERIC JOHN Artist/Vendor
I’ve been pulling a lot of neat stories from the past. Guess I hadn’t realized I’d accumulated so many. I didn’t become a storyteller beyond poetry until I became a filmmaker. It’s funny how we think to ourselves, “my life is like a movie!” I have to laugh out loud at that, as I think of the years I spent dormant. A movie like the Truman Show makes me wonder, perhaps I was in a sitcom at that time? I think back, even further beyond that, to when I was recruited by the CIA, just out of high school, straight into the pros! Of course, I had to decline, since my gameplay was still embedded in the back of my mind to make it into the airwaves in order to fulfill my middle school essay in which I make this proclamation. So, I had to follow through! It did open my mind, as far as when folks start to claim and complain they’re just high school kids. In reality, they’re some “ready for the world” young adults, who are ready to learn about life. Look at what the young gunmen are doing now like the military isn’t hiring killers anymore. Now even though I didn’t join them, I still feel like I’ve had a “rough ride” about it, but not the great pay grade. Just all of the torture tactics and blackballing.
The following names may be changed to protect the innocent. Or, they may be used in nickname form, likely no one shall be harmed in any way, nor their reputation sullied by indignity that occurred years before. Likely in hail or on the street. Anyhow, the parties involved in what was a “party” in the most nebulous, undefined sense only, are now dead. Late February 1989 or 1990, the outcome of this so-called gathering was so horrific that the narrator (usually a stickler for dates) can emphatically recall simply that he did not get dragged away in the “sweep” that took place — and, is damn grateful for that fact! Word had spread around the periphery of Grant and People’s Drug at Newark/Wisconsin corner — “our spot” or, more informally, “tha corner.” Inevitably, Reds was sprawled, legs splayed wide apart, eye patch askew — and begging for ice — constantly. Nobody’s mouth was as dry as that of Reds’. It was said he suffered both from AIDS and diabetes. He had to suck on ice, just to speak coherently. Even now, Whitey was pushing his drawling spiel on Reds’ behalf, as well as his own. “Woulja find it in yer heart to spare a lil’ something, so we can bless this man Reds with some ice? For the love o’Pete, please!” This pitch was just slightly more impassioned than what we heard, while sitting across a row of desks at the Time Book Company back in ‘86, pushing the introductory plume — “The Soviet Union.” At any rate, Reds eventually got several mouthfuls of ice, which he dutifully shared with Ralphie, whose furry dirtyblonde face and beard poked out of his herringbone coat. Ralphie had taken a bad mix of Costco wine on top of his methadone shot and six Budweiser tall boys. Rolling around on the gritty pavement, Ralphie strongly resembled a legless desert vole. However, Ralphie, Whitey and Reds were among the duly assembled guests at the trashed elevator-penthouse crib of Chico the following night. No, engraved invites weren’t required. Word had spread to all nearby lounging sites for the big throwdown at Chico’s for Duggy and Sindi Bear. The actual purpose was a mock wedding for these two, washed down by big plastic jugs of the appointed sacrament: Jim Beam by the half-gallon. Three houses later, “Bald Headed Daddy,” one of the guests of honor lay dead at the bottom of a five-star air shaft, his skill crushed before his descent by a bike lock and heavy clang wielded by Dug Dug. Cindy Bear had started vomiting blood into Chico’s toilet and blue coats from Three D were swearing all over. The only two who evaded the grim roundup were Whitey and our faithful narrator, safely ensconced with his dear rescuer and former paramour “Mosh” in the Mom Palace Restaurant! Note: Roughly one month after the incident at the Gardens, Dug Dug was sentenced to eight years for second-degree manslaughter, and Sindi Bear died from multiple organ failure aggravated by excessive alcohol consumption.
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LEVESTER GREEN Artist/Vendor
I wasn’t official, so I couldn’t have been a “rogue agent,” but I still felt an affiliation, as I used to buy CIA souvenirs just for fun. I felt the same way about my recruitment into the Marines. I scored well enough on the ASVAB test, but it just wasn’t in the cards for me, as my Grams quickly talked me out of it for fear of a disgruntled, militant-like life. Go figure, it was the hard knocks life with no figures. I could perceive the same across-the-board style that took place at Guantanamo. People playing with your life, in your mind, with your time and beliefs. The brainwashing and the echoes in the halls. It’s all systematic, so I can appreciate the changes evolving out of life. But, at the same time, I’m seeing slackers get extreme and lackadaisical by not putting in the time and effort. Also known as blood, sweat and tears! It’s great seeing Black Lives Matter getting churned back up to finish and complete the fight. I’ve still got a mighty great appreciation for “The Underground Railroad.” The Black CIA! Yeah, you can safely say I felt the same way about my music, hip-hop, and poetry careers, too, for these are the makings of, the ingredients of one’s self!
A manual for Back and forth surviving a police state CHRIS COLE Artist/Vendor
LORI SMITH Artist/Vendor
Capturing data Tracking data over time Your emergency Becomes their experiment Becomes their collection A perfect specimen You are valuable Your crisis Their research The social contract broken While forensics examines the fragments “This is my life,” you say, “Why won’t you help me?” “I need help NOW.” “Research.” They say. “Data.”
Me and my love go back and forth Is there something missing? I’m truly indifferent First, I should love me That’s how it should be We tip toe, we dance Our disagreements enhanced We love, then we hate Now we both need space We talk, then we kiss Suddenly something’s amiss Me and my love go back and forth I miss him so I wonder if he knows The toll it takes These constant breaks These cycles, these waves Which one of us misbehaved?
1 2 // S T R E E T S E N S E M E D I A / / J U LY 1 3 - 1 9 , 2022
ART
A perfect day in my imagination begins like this
We have to stop discrimination ABEL PUTU Artist/Vendor
Gun power 2022 — street power ROCHELLE WALKER Artist/Vendor
ERIC THOMPSON-BEY Artist/Vendor
I wake up in the morning and turn on the news, to my surprise no crimes were committed, no murders, no assaults, no thefts, nothing at all! My first cup of coffee, I made it just right, not too dark and too light. As I sit on my bed sipping my drink, nothing but positive thoughts I think. Why do I feel like this? Something must be amiss! So, I go and take a shower and think about my day. I can’t let negativity get in my way. As I walk out my door, the weather is great, not a cloud in the sky, so I’ll be on my way. The people are smiling and everyone says, “good morning,” and “have a great day! My bus is on time, and I don’t have to stand. What else will go right? I get to work early and am greeted with smiles, everyone’s happy and everything’s fine. As I start to work, everything’s in place and there’s no stress on anyone’s face. As my day winds down, and I’m heading home, I think about all the things that could have gone wrong.
I have been discriminated against because of my skin color and being in a wheelchair. I am getting tired of this; it makes me feel angry and sad. People think I can’t defend myself because I am in a wheelchair, and that is not right. I am really tired of this way of thinking. I am a good person; I don’t discriminate against anyone. Racism and discrimination hurt people. It’s toxic to the world. I’ve experienced this so many times, not only because I am a Black man in a wheelchair, but also because I am homeless. People tell me all the time, “you can’t sit here,” “you can’t go here,” “I don’t like the color of your skin.” We have to stop discrimination; we have to start caring for each other, and we have to learn to love each other. We are all humans, and we all have the same rights. I am telling my story, so people can truly know me, so people can approach me without discriminating against me. I want this to stop, I want the world to change, and I want you to know that I am tired of this. I don’t see color; I see humans. Today, we can make the world better; we need to understand each other; we can change the world today and live in a better place.
I do what makes me happy KYM PARKER Artist/Vendor
I do love her She’s always got my back Never lets me down Shows me what to do What makes me happy When I love unconditionally I draw, I surf I’m happy when I do those things It brings joy to my life to praise God Makes me feel selfless I like poetry, Martial arts
I love me, because of the woman that my mother made me God loves me, too All of us I am the youngest of eight I speak with great spiritual honor, spiritual truth. I am a bisexual, beautiful lady. Strong and independent. I speak to everybody I tell them all to love each other equally I was born in Hawaii Given birth by the land, God, and by my mother God still loves me Always
Gun power, the world is ours. Our young Black boys and men are shot on the street. We are harmless, please don’t shoot. We are not part of your gang; we are part of a group. Something must be done. Weapons down, arms up. Don’t move. We are all scared as hell, losing all trust, our only hope is to cope with the change in the law’s outcome. Police on the run, run boy, run. Who shot that boy? Black power, no power. Street power, outcome: the income. The gun just went off killing, shooting innocent people, making victims in society, the last sight: the color red or blue. Police, or run boy, run. I just took my own life, calling myself to give up to Christ.
The rainbow of life JACKIE TURNER Artist/Vendor
The rainbow called my life consists of many colors, from dark purple to the brightest yellow. Purple, when I was brewing in the dark. Blue, when I was sad and didn’t know what to do. Gray, when I was confused and trying to figure out. Red, when I was angry and full of fire, sure that I was the only one who was right. Green, when I started to grow and mature and opened my eyes to how vast the world really is. Orange, when I started to cool down and study and learn myself. Brown, when I came down to the comfort of self and Mother Earth, thanking the Lord for growth and maturity of life.
STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG
A clerihew poem to Rev. Davis
Third term LATICIA BROCK Artist/Vendor
QUEENIE FEATHERSTONE Artist/Vendor
Phillip is his name In him I never saw shame As my pastor he taught me well Now by faith I won’t go to hell
It’s gotta be a joke. How did Mayor Muriel Bowser win a third term? She didn’t get my vote. I didn’t wake up that day. I overslept — stomach queasy, rat bites on my homeless baby’s neck. Things ain’t always what they seem. Food truck at 7:00 served hard pinto every day. My baby’s going to jail. The hotdogs on the food truck were small, skinny, and stale. Everyday, I lose somebody. The fentanyl killing my babies. Smurda, Ioshyo, and Jay Yoshie OD-ed and died from scabies. When will it all end? Thou shall not steal is on of the Ten Commandments. It’s a sin. Now that you are reelected in this third term, help my tent city rebuild.
Where to whom I Friendship love ANTHONY CARNEY Artist/Vendor
JERMAINE COLEMAN Artist/Vendor
A friend said a friend saw her Someone who I love at the same corner. No number, so I can’t call her. I know where to find the same corner. Love is blind, but I will find her. My lady, my joy, my pathfinder. What great happiness, when I do find her.
Maintain PHILLIP BLACK Artist/Vendor
Maintain. Maintain your focus, when you’re selling Street Sense papers. I saw a vendor almost get hit by a bus, chasing one of his customers to sell a paper. I also saw a vendor walk into a glass door, looking at a woman. Maintain your focus, vendors. The paper will sell. I promise. Younger vendors really have to maintain. They argue over who was here first, racing one another to a certain spot. Trust me, all the spots work. And, when a customer doesn’t buy the paper, don’t get upset. Some people will look in their wallet, or their purse, and say they don’t have cash. Some of you get mad. Always remember. Maintain. Stay focused. Cat in the Hat, Baby.
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What does friendship mean to you? Friendship: one must be friendly to be a friend. You must be a friend, you must be a person, a friend first, before you can be anything else. Friendship is natural. Affection, love is having good friends who are confidantes, walking partners, walking the road of life. Spread love.
How do you fall in love? DANIEL BALL Artist/Vendor
I, Daniel, fell in love with a pretty vendor girl named Sybil Taylor. She met me when I worked at Wendy’s on Central Avenue in Maryland. But, sometimes we both still stay and order some french fries and drink some cold water, too. And, sometimes, we both still go and see a good movie. Now, we both like to go shopping for a pair of nice dress shoes and a nice pair of women’s shoes, too. But, on Sunday we both know we belong in the Lord’s house. So thank you, Will and Maria, for this class today.
HELP! WE’RE LOOKING FOR
volunteers Become a Street Sense Media volunteer and help further our mission to empower people experiencing homelessness. Get to know the vendors and make a difference in their lives and yours! You’ll support hard-working newspaper vendors by volunteering your time, four hours a week, distributing newspapers at the Street Sense Media office. If interested, please contact Thomas Ratliff thomas@streetsensemedia.org 202-347-2006 (x103) For more information about these opportunities and other volunter positions, visit StreetSenseMedia.org/volunteer
OnlineCrosswords.net 1 4 // S T R E E T S E N S E M E D I A / / J U LY 1 3 - 1 9 , 2022
This is the Daily Crossword Puzzle #1 for Jul 11, 2022
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FUN & GAMES
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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
Father McKenna Center // 202-842-1112 19 Eye St., NW fathermckennacenter.org
Bread for the City - 1525 7th St., NW // 202-265-2400 - 1700 Good Hope Rd., SE // 202-561-8587 breadforthecity.org
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Catholic Charities // 202-772-4300 924 G St., NW catholiccharitiesdc.org/gethelp
Georgetown Ministry Center // 202-338-8301 1041 Wisconsin Ave., NW georgetownministrycenter.org
Central Union Mission // 202-745-7118 65 Massachusetts Ave., NW missiondc.org
Loaves & Fishes // 202-232-0900 1525 Newton St., NW loavesandfishesdc.org
Charlie’s Place // 202-929-0100 1820 Connecticut Ave., NW charliesplacedc.org
Martha’s Table // 202-328-6608 marthastable.org
Christ House // 202-328-1100 1717 Columbia Rd., NW christhouse.org
Church of the Pilgrims // 202-387-6612 2201 P St., NW food (1-1:30 on Sundays only) churchofthepilgrims.org/outreach
Community Family Life Services 202-347-0511 // 305 E St., NW cflsdc.org
Community of Hope // 202-540-9857 communityofhopedc.org
Covenant House Washington 202-610-9600 // 2001 Mississippi Ave., SE covenanthousedc.org
D.C. Coalition for the Homeless 202-347-8870 // 1234 Massachusetts Ave., NW dccfh.org
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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
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Miriam’s Kitchen // 202-452-8926 2401 Virginia Ave., NW miriamskitchen.org
My Sister’s Place // 202-529-5261 (24-hr hotline) mysistersplacedc.org
N Street Village // 202-939-2076 1333 N St., NW nstreetvillage.org
New York Avenue Shelter // 202-832-2359 1355-57 New York Ave., NE
Samaritan Inns // 202-667-8831 2523 14th St., NW samaritaninns.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, 1251-B Saratoga Ave NE, 1660 Columbia Road NW, 4414 Benning Road NE, 3946 Minnesota Avenue NE, 765 Kenilworth Terrace NE, 3240 Stanton Road SE, 3020 14th Street NW, 1717 Columbia Road NW, 1313 New York Avenue, NW BSMT Suite, 425 2nd Street NW, 4713 Wisconsin Avenue NW, 1333 N Street NW, 1355 New York Avenue NE, 828 Evarts Place NE, 810 5th Street NW, 850 Deleware Avenue SW, 65 Massachusetts Avenue NW, 4515 Edson Place 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 2301 MLK Jr. Ave., SE // 202-797-3567 whitman-walker.org
Last updated May 25, 2022
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