TESTIMONY TO THE Committee on Labor and Workforce Development & the Committee on Housing and Neighborhood Revitalization

Link to video courtesy DC Council Website

November 1, 2017

To: The Honorable Councilmember Elissa Silverman, Chairperson

Public Oversight Roundtable for the Committee on Labor and Workforce Development & the Committee on Housing and Neighborhood Revitalization

Testimony Submitted by Francwa Sims

Before the

Committee on Labor and Workforce Development & the Committee on Housing and Neighborhood Revitalization

PUBLIC OVERSIGHT ROUNDTABLE ON

“B22-0178”

“Commission on Poverty in the District of Columbia Establishment Act of 2017”

“Causing people to suffer because you have forgotten how to care, that’s really hard to understand.” (Siddig and Brooks)

Good morning, council members, I thank you for having this hearing and this opportunity to speak here at these proceedings.

I am, unfortunately, here again before this committee to talk about basically the same thing I talked about years before. I say, unfortunately, because back in 2009, I was fortunate to be invited to work with the staff of the Human Services Committee. The then chairman Tommy Wells and his staff were more than kind and gracious to me. It was then that I first found out about the Commission on Poverty. I found out that there were no funds to establish the Commission at the time. I was disappointed.

On the DC Council website about two weeks ago, I read that there is a plan to reestablish the Commission on Poverty. I say that it is about time. This country and its capitol city have taken an adverse turn against the poor. As homeless people, we have been the object of ignorance, ridicule, and scrutiny.

I stay in the New York Ave Men’s Low-Barrier homeless shelter were the Catholic Charities staff and Professional 50 security assault us and treat us like inmates in a prison or psych ward. The staff and security guards at the NY Ave Shelter have no respect for homeless men that they are supposed to protect and serve (3 Ways to Get Rid of Drug Dealers in Your Neighborhood). Every time we enter, we have to take off our shoes like we’re at the airport. Even after our bags go through the X-Ray machine, they are opened and searched without our permission. Even after I step through the metal detector, I’m patted down and searched. Are we entering a shelter or unknowingly consenting to some type of overnight incarceration?

According to Officer B. Tolson, “When the bags enter the machine, we automatically give them our consent. And if you don’t like how we do things here, you don’t have to come here.” If he does not like doing his job, he does not have to come to work.

We can’t even have safety razors and nail clippers to groom ourselves. Some shelters like 801-East Shelter even prohibit hand sanitizer! How are we supposed to find work and go on job interviews if we can’t be clean shaven and adequately groomed? How are we supposed to avoid getting sick from all the germs from those who don’t practice good hygiene? Yes, razors and nail clippers can be used as weapons, but so can pens, toothbrushes, and bare hands! It is ludicrous to penalize everyone for the actions of a few.

The so-called Adams Drop-In Center is a joke. A drop-in for what? A place where you sit and watch reruns of Law and Order: SVU and ESPN Sports highlights while the computers that the rude, disrespectful staff provide don’t work because the Internet is always down for some reason. And of course, there is no wi-fi access for the clients if they bring their own computer. There are some good services, but the case managers don’t really do anything for you.

Speaking of income, according to October 26, 2017, article (Are You Middle Class?) of the Washington Post Express, the median income in DC to be considered middle class is $70,800 a year. The middle class is defined by falling between the 30^th, and 80^th income percentiles are $38,000-$160,000 a year. Now, 38,000 dollars isn’t pocket change in DC! If the median income is correct, then there are a lot of low-class people here today!

The income/class gap is also an access gap. Access to better attorneys, medical care, and housing. Doctors that don’t give you medicine without your consent like what Dr. Prayaga of PSI Family Services did to my autistic sister. He gave her a shot of an unknown medicine without her and my mother’s consent. Now, she is suffering severe side effects of dizziness, headaches, fainting and her legs just suddenly get weak and give out from under her as she walks. Her case manager, Sandra John does not seem to do much either.

Housing where you don’t have to worry about being constantly sexually harassed and under attack like what the residents do to my mother and sister at Hopkins Apartments at 1000 12^th St SE near Potomac Ave Metro Station. It may as well be one of Dante’s levels of hell. My mother and sister are threatened by her neighbors who are drug dealers and drug users who are mentally challenged and psychotic. My sister had a gun put in her face! Their property manager, Michael Coleman knows about their problems and thinks it’s a joke. He just sits back and laughs at them. DC Housing Authority said, that my mother and sister’s situation “is not grounds for a request to move to another housing complex.”

Being poor in this city should finally warrant its own commission and maybe a think-tank-type organization. To realize “that there need be no poor people” in this great city (Deuteronomy 15:4, 7, 10-11), the Nation’s Capitol. If Washington, DC can finally come to terms and address the issues of poverty in this city, it will serve as a beacon of hope to this nation and the world.

I also ask that I be considered for a seat on this commission. I am poor. I have been in poverty all my life. I have the knowledge and experience that would be valuable to those you appoint that may not have been poor. I understand that such a position comes with no pay. It would be an honor to serve and to help the poor like I am and help build a legacy for the future, not just a forgotten footnote that is a disappointment and hard to understand. “For there will always be poor in the land…You shall open wide your hand to the needy and the poor in the land.” (Deuteronomy 15:4, 7, 10-11)

Thank You for this opportunity.
Sincerely yours,

Mr. Francwa T. Sims

Works Cited

(God), Yahweh. “Deuteronomy 15:4, 7, 10-11.” Moses. Holy Bible, New International Version (NIV). Zondervan, 2011.

“3 Ways to Get Rid of Drug Dealers in Your Neighborhood.” n.d. WikiHow. Document. 30 October 2017.

“Are You Middle Class?” Washington Post Express 26 October 2017: 1. Newspaper.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine “Past Tense” Parts I&II. Perf. Alexander Siddig and Avery Brooks. 1995. Television.

 

 

Gas Leak or Fire Drill? at New York Ave Men’s Shelter

Was it a “gas leak” last night or was it just a “fire drill”? At about 11:20 PM last night, everyone had to quickly evacuate from the New York Avenue Low-Barrier Men’s Shelter Northeast D.C.

After the DC FEMS checked the building, and it was considered safe it started to rain. And it really rained everyone was soaked!

Thanks to Department of the Environment Director and former Councilperson @TommyWells who along with @PersephoneChild who actively retweeted my posts…

Yes, homeless people are now required to remove their shoes when being scanned. It’s like going through an airport. The only exception is inclement weather such as rain or snow.

There has to be a better way. A more streamlined procedure during emergencies like this. What if it was a cold winter in December, January or February? We could have frozen from hypothermia. Let alone caught pneumonia from the rain!

Was the whole thing just a ruse for Catholic Charities to justify another “fire drill” before their new fiscal budget kicked in?

Again, thanks to Department of the Environment Director and former Councilperson @TommyWells who along with @PersephoneChild who actively retweeted my posts. Consider though, the other homeless men and women in this city who may not have the thought, ability, and aptitude to do what I did on social media. I am just one voice. Until others start trying to let the world know what is happening to the homeless in the city, nothing will change things will only get worse.

Today, this morning it is raining, but we had to leave the shelter. If this is how Catholic Charities DC @CCADW is treating us this month, what are we gonna do during the rainy, cold month of November?

“Causing people to suffer because you have forgotten to how to care, that’s really hard to understand.” — Dr. Julian Bashir while walking with Commander Benjamin Sisko in 2024’s Sanctuary District A, San Francisco. ST: Deep Space 9, Episode 3×11 “Past Tense” Parts I and II. (1995)

The Sanctuary District was a type of concentration camp set aside for up to 10,000 people, walled off from the rest of a major city. To outsiders, there was the promise of getting people health care and jobs. The reality is that it was a ghetto. A slum where disease and violence were rampant.

I guess I better get the “21st century lingo” in the episode straight.

Gimme – As in “gimme (give me) a job”. Sane people like me that want employment.

Dim – As in someone is “dim”. People with intellectual disabilities and learning disabilities like those who have autism and dyslexia. Also, called retarded. Some also belong in the “Ghost” category.

Ghost – As in “like a ghost”. those who need psychiatric care. Emotionally disturbed, those who have mental issues like schizophrenia, and violent tendencies. And possibily those who are high on narcotic drugs.

I didn’t hear any slang terms for alcoholics, substance abusers and those with physical disabilities.

“Out of sight out of mind.” Is Washington, D.C. trying to set up a similar program under the guise of “Eliminating Homelessness”? Let us hope that science fiction does not become fact.

DC City Administrator Tried to Cut of my Speech!

The City Administrator of the District of Columbia, Rashad M. Young, tried to cut me off several times when I was trying to give my testimony to the ICH on Tuesday, September 19, 2017.

This jackass did not like the comments I made about his boss, Mayor Bowser. He tried to stop me!

You or anyone else sir, will not shut me up!

I include the following from infamous advocate for the homeless, Eric Sheptock to give some more context to what occurred at this ICH meeting.

Homeless advocates:

The homeless advocates who approached the open mic after me during the 2 PM public comment period both pleased and impressed me. They were brutally honest as they painted a picture of what has been happening to the homeless and what else could happen if the proposed HSRA (Homeless Services Reform Act) amendments are passed into law (as is) by the DC City Council. I’m emphasizing here that, contrary to usual assumptions, I DID NOT orchestrate that barrage of indictments. It was a somewhat coincidental answer to my regular prayer that the homeless be emboldened to speak truth to power. There were at least twice as many speakers during this time as usual and at least a couple had a lot to say. That takes the heat off of me. I’m not the only hardcore advocate who’s willing to make waves and the ICH knows that now.

Answers from the ICH are desired by the advocates. At least one advocate (a woman) promised me that she’ll approach the ICH soon for answers. Another advocate (a man) asked for an immediate response to issues that were stated on a flyer that I helped circulate but didn’t actually conceive. It’s been difficult for the homeless to get straight answers from the [Mayor Bowser] administration. That takes the heat off of me. I’m not the only hardcore advocate who’s willing to make waves and the ICH knows that now.

The 2-hour open mic sessions that the ICH held during its rookie year might be what we need to get back to, though it’s not likely the ICH will do that. There were a few occasions in 2007 (and possibly 2008 as well) during which the government administrators got a room at MLK [Library], let the homeless raise issues and gave the straightest answers one can expect from government. It’s worth suggesting that we do this again.

CCNV (the Community for Creative Non-Violence Shelter) was discussed. As the director of CCNV stood quietly in the back of the room, there was a discussion about the fact that the hypothermia season beds for men on the 3rd floor won’t be used this winter; but, the ones in the basement will. Someone (not me) reported CCNV to DC Government’s Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) and pointed out that people were being told that all beds were full, when in fact there were dozens of empty beds. OAH made CCNV fix that. I’m just glad that someone else grew a pair. That takes the heat off of me. I’m not the only hardcore advocate who’s willing to make waves and the ICH knows that now.

As I spoke during the public comment period at 2 PM, I said a few things that included the following:

1 — On Christmas 2016, churches entered homeless shelters and gave out, among other things, hygiene items. They included nail clippers and razors. The shelter staff and security allowed it. On December 26th, as the homeless returned to the shelter where they were given these items, their bags were scanned and they were told that they could not bring what they received in the shelter back into the shelter. Go figure.

2 — With DC having provided shelters and hotel rooms for the homeless for a good 30 years now, there is a new security procedure in place that is only a few months old. People are now required to remove their shoes when being scanned. It’s like going through an airport. (What SHOULD be taking flight is the condition of homelessness, not the homeless people themselves.)

Donald Brooks’ response: I heard Donald Brooks respond to item #1 as I was walking my preacher out. He maintains that security must take away hygiene items that can be used as a weapon. He said nothing about churches being allowed to distribute these items in the shelter the night before or about how people can keep clean. I guess he wants us all to use the community nail clippers and to have to wait in a long line to use the sink to shave at a program that feeds 400 people per day and has four sinks.

Vision: If Mayor Bowser really DOES want to make people self-sufficient, then city-funded homeless service providers should have to treat people like trustworthy adults — not like they’re in jail or a psych ward.

 

Employment mentioned at ICH: D.C. Gov’s Dept. of Employment Services (DOES) director Odie Donald (whose department teaches good employment practices) was very late. After he entered moments before the meeting ended, Donald Brooks stole my thunder as he said that Mr. Donald should play a bigger role in the meeting. (I actually had it in mind to say that myself.)

 

Reaching the homeless while they stay warm: I repeated what Mr. Brooks said as I spoke to Mr. Donald. I then brought up an idea that fellow advocate Robert Warren often cites as I told the DOES director that his department should advertise their services to the homeless as homeless people sit around shelters for long hours in the winter in order to stay warm. Hopefully, he’ll make that happen.

 

Testimony to the Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH)

To whom it may concern, wherever the buck stops, including the Mayor:

Imagine if you will, a nice, sunny day in Washington, D.C. You’ve just got off Metro and you’re walking downtown to work drinking your latte and you run into a man asking you for change. You walk on by like you don’t even notice him. As you continue walking, you see a woman sleeping on the sidewalk. You keep going.

After work, on your walk to the Metro, you see the same people you saw earlier. The woman sleeping on the sidewalk, the man asking you for change. There are a couple others just outside the Metro entrance before you step on the already crowded Rush Hour escalator.

You arrive home to your neighborhood finally about on your way home down the street. Just before you walk to your apartment, condo or house you see a woman and her baby begging you for change. Before you make it down the block, you run into someone else asking for change, then you see a family camped out in a messy car and their stuff set out on the curb staring at you. Then another guy asking for change, another and another. Then you find some guy sleeping in your yard! Before you even put your keys in the door, you can’t get the door open and close it behind you fast enough!

Welcome to the reality of homelessness when it comes to your neighborhood. It’s one thing when it’s downtown around businesses, but what if it’s your backyard? Or on your nice wood deck patio?

You watch the news and find out that the woman and her baby you saw earlier was raped and beaten on the street because she was refused shelter? How about the disabled man you walked past that was asking for change? He died because when the hospital let him out, he had nowhere to get the proper rest, care, and nutrition he needed. Your neighbors family that’s camped out in their car fell on hard times and wasn’t able to get help paying the rent because the ERAP program was cut. How many people will the media keep reporting that died on the streets because they were refused shelter? What if these were your family members about to die from hypothermia because the shelters would not let them in? Your nieces and nephews? Sisters and brothers? Aunt and uncle? Mother and father? Cousins?

So if the homeless are no longer allowed downtown and they’re not welcome in your neighborhood, where are they going to go? Oh, that’s right. You expect the police and Homeland Security to come and keep arresting homeless people under vagrancy and loitering laws. The plan is mass incarceration of the homeless. Just like with another denomination in Nazi Germany. It seems that history is repeating itself with the same draconian laws and tactics.

Madam Mayor, congratulations. You are a shoe-in for reelection unopposed. With this bill, you can be assured that your gentrification plans are complete. Your true constituents, Jemal Douglas Development, and the gentrifiers will make sure you are reelected. You are just a better looking, watered-down version of Trump. You’re Trump’s Lethal Weapon II and you both just happen to reside together right here in the Nation’s Capitol.

I am a nobody who then-Councilman Tommy Wells was Chairman of the Human Services Committee back in 2009, took me under his wing and gave me a job with his staff. I learned quite a bit about the politics of this city. I’d never thought that I’d be homeless once again talking about this issue. The plan back then was “Homeless No More” by 2012. Great strides were being made back then. With my help, the Shelter Monitoring Unit was created and given more enforcement powers to help protect the rights of the homeless and make sure providers are actually providing services to the homeless. Now, six years later, what happened? We have a mayor and a city council who are puppets of the developers and gentrifiers.

Homeless Lives Don’t Matter especially in D.C. The Nation’s Capitol. If our lives don’t matter, Mayor Bowser and those who support this bill political career won’t matter. As Officer B. Tolson of Pro50 Security at the New York Avenue shelter said, “If you don’t like how we do things here, you don’t have to come here.”

If you don’t like us in your neighborhoods, you don’t want us at the ballot box ensuring the set time limit of your elected positions. Yes, the homeless can vote and we have long memories. I am but one voice. As it is stamped on the coins, “E Pluribus Unum”. When many voices rise up, it can change the tide of history. If those who are in power use their voice to vote YES on this HSRA Act of 2017 bill, our voices will rise up to make sure they’re refused entry into the mayor’s office and their council offices when their time limit is up.

Then you all will be nobodies again and homeless too.

Thank You for this opportunity to say these few words.

 

Homeless Services Cut and Restricted

Mayor Bowser is doing for the homeless people of Washington, D.C. what was done for the Jews of Nazi Germany.

On September 20, the DC Council Human Services Committee will vote on whether to move forward a bill called the Homeless Services Reform Amendment Act of 2017 (HSRA Act 2017). Many groups, including Bread for the City, Break the Cycle, Fair Budget Coalition, Children’s Law Center, DC Coalition Against Domestic Violence, DC Fiscal Policy Institute, Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia, Neighborhood Legal Services Program, and the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless have testified in June 2017 about the harm that could come from this bill.

How come nobody knows about it? It was never on the news. The Mayor’s office never mentioned it.

In the midst of DC’s affordable housing crisis, this bill…

• Defines people out of eligibility for housing, emergency rental assistance and homeless services.
• Demands that homeless families and youth overcome unreasonable bureaucratic barriers to get emergency shelter on freezing nights.
• Puts the health and safety of DC residents at risk, particularly youth and children.
• People who have been in hospitals or jails or other institutions for more than 90 days won’t get shelter or permanent supportive housing anymore.
• People in transitional housing and rapid re-housing could be terminated for any reason especially if they’ve reached a set time limit.
• Emergency terminations could happen even when there is no immediate threat (a full day later) and for a much broader category of “offenses.”
• People could be terminated from any shelter or housing program at any time if a provider learns of any new or relevant information that impacts eligibility.
• Greatly expands the power of shelter and housing providers to put people out.

… and does NOTHING to actually end homelessness.

How is this solving the problem of homelessness?