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?

I am Homeless Again! At Gunpoint! And Handcuffs!

Despite my efforts to stave off the inevitable, at around 10:00 AM today, August 21, 2017 is was evicted from an apartment by U.S. Marshals Service with guns and flashlights pointed at me.

I heard banging at the door. I jumped out of bed expecting them. Next thing I know, I’m blinded by flashlights and vaguely see guns pointed at me from three army green Kevlar vested U.S. Marshals Service agents.

“Hands up! Turn to the wall! Hands behind your back!”

Then they handcuffed me and told me to sit down. I’ve never been handcuffed a day in my life. They asked me the same stupid questions over and over again. “Am I a terrorist? Do I have any warrants? Are there any booby traps? Is there anyone else here?” Only after they checked by name and saw that I had no criminal record, they finally let me out of the handcuffs and watched me put my clothes on. All three of them. One female and two males standing there in my bedroom watching me. They let me grab my laptop and what few belongings that I could carry out.

I feel like less of a human being. I was being treated like a criminal. My only crime was losing my job and not having any money left. Is that a crime in America now?

Then once I was outside, everything that I owned was thrown out onto the sidewalk by a “professional moving crew” in barely fifteen minutes.

Then I was told that if I ever came back the landlord can call the police on me and have me arrested.

All my stuff on the sidewalk. I had no storage space. Nowhere to go. I grabbed by bulging suitcase with a few clothes and by over-packed backpack and left. My nosy-ass neighbor from across the hall had the nerve to say, “Are you just going to leave your stuff out in the street?”

If looks could kill, I gave her one. And then I kept on walking up the hill.

If that’s how the U.S. Marshals evict people now, I would have made better plans and found more creative ways to make sure the rent was paid.