FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Jesse Rabinowitz
202.578.9637
media@miriamskitchen.org
MIRIAM’S KITCHEN AND NATIONAL HOUSING ADVOCATES CALL FOR SUSPENSION OF DC ENCAMPMENT EVICTION
Miriam’s Kitchen joins national housing organizations as they call for the Biden-Harris administration to adhere to its people-centered Housing First Strategy by ending the forced removal of unhoused citizens from DC encampments.
Washington, D.C. (February 14, 2023) – Miriam’s Kitchen joins over 87 local and national organizations, including the National Coalition for Housing Justice (NCHJ), in urging the Biden-Harris and Bowser administrations to immediately halt plans to forcibly remove unhoused people in McPherson Square on Wednesday, February 15. At the request of the Bowser administration, the National Park Service (NPS) will remove a vast majority of our neighbors who are currently living in McPherson Square Park, without providing all residents with options that meet their needs.
Miriam’s Kitchen – which has an outreach team that covers the largest geographical area in DC – expresses deep concern about this eviction, which “is slated to happen two months ahead of schedule, in the middle of hypothermia season and without adequate housing or shelter alternatives for individual residents,” says Jesse Rabinowitz, who is the senior manager for advocacy and policy. “Displacing people from their homes in the middle of the winter does not end homelessness; housing does,” Rabinowitz added that forceful encampment evictions not only displace unhoused residents, but it also erodes their trust in systems meant to help them.
The Miriam’s Kitchen-led Way Home Campaign is currently circulating a sign-on letter for organizations to show their opposition to the McPherson Square eviction. More than 87 organizations have signed on to the statement condemning this encampment eviction with agreement from national experts, local politicians, homeless services providers, and community members that this approach goes against best practices, including those outlined by the Biden administration. Advocates to end homelessness have sent over 3,000 emails via the Way Home Campaign to Secretary of the Interior Debra Haaland, Mayor Muriel Bowser, and Councilmember Christina Henderson.
About Miriam’s Kitchen
Founded in 1983 as a soup kitchen, Miriam’s Kitchen has evolved over the years to provide more than meals. Today, Miriam’s Kitchen is a critical player in the fight to end chronic homelessness in D.C. On the direct services level, we serve more than 3,000 men and women experiencing homelessness—helping them to improve their health, increase their income and obtain housing through a range of programs and partnerships. And at the systems level, we work with leaders across the city to make instances of homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring.
###
