Despite the tireless advocacy of our community, the Bowser and Biden administrations evicted 50 of our neighbors from the encampment at McPherson Square on Wednesday. We remain deeply concerned that individuals are being (violently) displaced during hypothermia season and without other viable options.
While we were unsuccessful in stopping the eviction, we are proud of our community of advocates who sent over 3,000 emails calling for a stop to this harmful eviction. We also applaud the nearly 90 Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners (ANCs) who signed a letter refuting the eviction decision; the 89 local and national organizations who signed our letter urging the Bowser and Biden administrations to re-think this strategy; D.C. Councilmembers Robert White, Brianne Nadeau, and Janeese Lewis George who publicly condemned the encampment closure; members of the D.C. Council who authored this letter calling for a delay of the eviction.
While some encampment residents were matched housing, which will still take months, most were forced to leave without any real housing or shelter options. We are disturbed that we saw continued criminalization of homelessness yesterday when two encampment residents were arrested. In addition, we are alarmed that the Bowser administration has declined repeated offers of assistance from the National Coalition for Housing Justice to address capacity concerns and help D.C. build a system in which unsheltered individuals are rehoused as quickly as possible using best practices and proven solutions. However, we will not give up. We will continue to advocate in partnership with unhoused individuals in D.C. to prevent harm and to realize our shared goal of truly ending chronic homelessness.
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