Statement on Whitehurst Encampment Closure 

January 17, 2025

DC’s Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services (DMHHS) has scheduled a site closure for one of the largest remaining encampments in Foggy Bottom (located at 27th and K Streets NW), amid the coldest stretch of winter weather this season. The encampment closure is currently set to take place on February 7th, and will adversely impact the health and well-being of the 15 individuals currently residing at this location. The extreme cold, snow and ice we have been experiencing will continue to make relocation exceedingly difficult and dangerous for the residents of this encampment.  

In recent years, DMHHS refrained from conducting full encampment clean-ups or site closures during hypothermia season (November 1 – April 1), acknowledging that doing so puts our unsheltered neighbors in an unnecessarily and increasingly dangerous situation. In fact, recent closures of the McPherson Square encampment and the 21st and E encampments in Foggy Bottom were intentionally delayed until the warmer spring months. We urge the Office of the Deputy Mayor to avoid closing encampments except in the rarest of circumstances and, even then, to adhere to their protocol of avoiding closures all together during hypothermia season. The closure of the encampment in Foggy Bottom is just one of 7 encampment clearing events that DMHHS has scheduled for the week of February 7th. 

Recent studies add to growing consensus among national homeless and public health experts and organizations that involuntary displacement of people experiencing homelessness is detrimental to the overall mental and physical health and well-being of those being displaced. Encampment closures have been shown to result in significant increases in deaths, overdoses and hospitalizations. Sadly, two people who were involuntarily displaced by the Foggy Bottom encampment closures this past May died within four months of the site closures. Scheduling encampment closures during hypothermia season adds yet another layer of potential harm and risk. 

Nearly all of the residents of the encampment slated to be closed on February 7th, have experienced at least one encampment eviction in the last 12 months. Most moved to this location after being displaced by the Foggy Bottom clearings in May. Encampment closures do not end homelessness. Instead, they make it harder for Outreach Staff to provide services and for encampment residents to obtain and stay connected to health, mental health, substance use, and housing services. Encampment closures erode trust between the encampment residents and service providers, especially government agencies, often making them less open to receiving assistance in the future. Only housing ends homelessness, supported by dignified, housing focused, case management services along with an ecosystem of other proven interventions such as non-congregate shelters, bridge housing, and a supply of deeply affordable housing.   

As an organization that has provided support to individuals experiencing homelessness for over 40 years in the District of Columbia, we have seen first-hand that housing and services work to end homelessness. We have also seen the toll that unsheltered homelessness takes on our neighbors and the myriad ways these crises are exacerbated by encampment evictions. 

We urge the Bowser Administration and Deputy Mayor of Health and Human Services to immediately and indefinitely postpone the clearing of the Foggy Bottom encampment on February 7th and to refrain from all full clean-up or site closures for the remainder of the hypothermia season. We also call on the DC Council to ensure that ample housing resources are included in the upcoming fiscal year 2026 budget so that we can end encampment evictions and chronic homelessness in Washington, DC. 

 

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