NCHJ Calls on the Biden-Harris Administration and Bowser Administration to Immediately Halt Plans to Forcibly Remove Unhoused People in McPherson Square
Posted February 15, 2023
National Organizations Condemn Biden-Harris Administration for Forcibly Removing Unhoused People
Washington, D.C. – Today, the Biden-Harris administration is forcibly removing unhoused people from McPherson Square before all unhoused individuals in the encampment have been housed – an action strongly condemned by the National Coalition for Housing Justice (NCHJ) as cruel and counterproductive to efforts to end homelessness.
By forcibly removing people experiencing homelessness from McPherson Square and destroying their limited possessions, the Biden-Harris administration has prioritized the comfort of housed neighbors and surrounding businesses over the urgent need to reconnect unhoused individuals to homes and services. The administration’s failure to follow the best practices and proven solutions called for in its own federal strategic plan provides communities nationwide looking to sweep unhoused people out of public sight with an unjustifiable excuse to follow suit.
Forced removal from encampments is cruel and not a real solution to homelessness. Because forced removals disconnect individuals from service providers and frequently lead to lost documentation and possessions, this action will ultimately make it more difficult for individuals to exit homelessness. As the Biden-Harris administration’s federal strategic plan makes clear:
“Unless encampment closures are conducted in a coordinated, humane, and solutions-oriented way that makes housing and supports adequately available, these ‘out of sight, out of mind’ policies can lead to lost belongings and identification which can set people back in their pathway to housing; breakdowns in connection with outreach teams, health care facilities, and housing providers; increased interactions with the criminal justice system; and significant traumatization—all of which can set people back in their pathway to housing and disrupt the work of ending homelessness.”
Today’s destruction of McPherson Square encampment is a stain on the Biden-Harris administration’s House America initiative and its goal to advance racial equity. Black people represent 45 percent of the general population of the District of Columbia, but they account for 93 percent of people experiencing homelessness in the city.
NCHJ made repeated offers to the Biden-Harris administration and Bowser administration to convene stakeholders, including the residents of McPherson Square, to develop a plan to rehouse unsheltered individuals as quickly as possible using best practices and proven solutions and to address the city’s ongoing challenges in addressing homelessness. Rather than accept NCHJ’s offer, the Biden-Harris administration and the Bowser administration moved forward with forcibly removing individuals from McPherson Square.
NCHJ urges the Biden-Harris administration to stop all future efforts to forcibly remove unhoused people from national parks and instead prioritize efforts to immediately connect individuals to housing, paired with the supportive services individuals may need and want, such as mental health and substance use counseling and employment services, among others. To end homelessness, the administration and Congress must ensure rental assistance is universally available to all eligible households, expand the supply of housing affordable and available to people with the lowest incomes, and ensure critically needed services are widely available.
National and local advocates will be onsite and available for further comment at McPherson Square today starting at 7 am.
“Despite the continued efforts of housing justice advocates, the Biden-Harris administration has gone against its own federal strategic plan by moving forward with using the National Park Service to raid the homes of residents in McPherson Square today. There is nothing compassionate or justice-oriented about evicting someone from their home and disconnecting them from their community and outreach personnel who can help direct them to housing. We have immense concern for our unhoused neighbors in McPherson Square - and in other communities across the country - and are deeply disappointed in our federal partners for the ineffective and unjust actions taken today. We are committed to standing up for our unhoused neighbors in all communities and will continue our advocacy on their behalf,” said Amanda Andere, CEO of Funders Together to End Homelessness.
“We refuse to stand by and quietly watch USICH and a law enforcement agency of the Biden-Harris administration set the standard for so-called ‘compassionate homelessness response’ in D.C., its own backyard. Call this what it is: a racist dog-whistle of ‘so-called compassionate policing.’ Using police to forcibly remove people on an artificial timeline when there are resources available to provide stable housing to every one of these residents is not only foolish policy when real solutions are within reach, it is actually more dangerous for everyone, especially the people who will likely be displaced to another encampment,” said Sarah Hunter, worker-owner at the Housing Justice Collective.
"Ending homelessness requires good faith collaboration between our leaders and the local and national experts in their communities. We are deeply disappointed that our federal and local leaders have dismissed our request to collaborate with them on a more just, humane, and strategic resolution to the McPherson Square encampment. We implore them to reconsider these harmful decisions in the future, and we continue to encourage them to work with leaders in the field to arrive at more effective strategies for ending homelessness in Washington, D.C,” said Ann Oliva, CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
“The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans is deeply disappointed that the early and unjust closure of the McPherson Square Encampment was allowed to proceed. Forcing people who are unsheltered from corner to corner of the city is an unnecessary cruelty and injustice that does nothing to address their housing challenges or the systemic and institutional challenges all DC residents struggle with as they try to find housing. Our leaders are well aware that actions of this type are not a solution to homelessness based on their own Federal Strategic Plan. We implore the Bowser and Biden/Harris Administrations to focus on housing as a solution to unsheltered homelessness,” said Kathryn Monet, CEO of the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans.
“Raiding camps does not end homelessness. Housing ends homelessness. The only thing more humiliating than defending the only place you call home is proving to the world that you are worthy of a home,” said Donald H. Whitehead, Jr., Executive Director of the National Coalition for the Homeless.
“Encampment sweeps without providing housing for residents are counterproductive, costly, and harmful. They damage the health and well-being of those living unhoused, they sever vital connections to health care and other services, and they compromise the personal safety and civic trust of our most vulnerable neighbors. Ironically, sweeps undermine the very paths to housing and financial stability that are promoted as solutions to homelessness, and they create unnecessary costs for local communities. Further, the experience of homelessness itself is traumatic, but this trauma is only compounded when public officials choose to forcibly remove vulnerable people from encampments. Today the Biden-Harris Administration misses an opportunity to demonstrate the effectiveness of moving unhoused people directly into permanent housing, and we call on them to cease further encampment sweeps going forward,” said Bobby Watts, CEO of the National Health Care for the Homeless Council.
“Destroying temporary homes is a traumatic and harmful step that violates the human rights of our most vulnerable neighbors. We condemn the federal government’s role in this action and the D.C. government’s failure to move unhoused residents into housing that is readily available. We urge them to stop these harmful activities and honor their shared commitments to housing for all persons,” said Antonia Fasanelli, Executive Director of the National Homelessness Law Center.
“Today, the Biden-Harris administration failed to stand by the very principles and best practices it has espoused, instead resorting to the ‘out of sight, out of mind’ actions it urges communities to resist. Using the National Park Service to forcibly remove residents from an encampment, ahead of schedule and well before most encampment residents have safe alternatives, is a blight on the Administration’s efforts to address homelessness. The administration’s unwillingness to hold itself accountable to its own federal strategic plan makes it all the more difficult to prevent other communities from using similarly harmful but politically convenient actions,” said Diane Yentel, president and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
“Youth Collaboratory is disappointed with Mayor Bowser’s and the National Park Service’s decision to move forward with the early destruction of the McPherson Square encampment. At least several dozen of the encampment’s residents remain unconnected to housing options. Destruction of the encampment does not end homelessness, it only scatters the residents to less visible portions of the city, and in doing so, causes harm and disconnects residents from case workers and other supports. All In: The Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness stipulates that clearing of encampments should only occur when “housing and supports are adequately available.” As this is not the case in McPherson Square, we call on the Bowser Administration and the National Park Service to repair the harm caused by the destruction of the encampment, and to return to the best practices of the All In plan,” said Megan Blondin, Executive Director of Youth Collaboratory
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Posted February 14, 2023
NCHJ Calls on the Biden-Harris Administration and Bowser Administration to Immediately Halt Plans to Forcibly Remove Unhoused People in McPherson Square
Washington, D.C. – National members of the National Coalition for Housing Justice (NCHJ) call on the Biden-Harris administration and Bowser administration to immediately halt plans to forcibly remove unhoused people in McPherson Square on Wednesday, February 15, two months ahead of schedule before all unhoused individuals in the encampment have been housed or moved to bridge housing while they await permanent options. The plan to forcibly remove unhoused individuals violates the best practices and proven solutions called for in the Biden-Harris administration’s federal strategic plan on homelessness, and it undermines the administration’s commitment to using a people-centered Housing First strategy, the success of its House America initiative, and its focus on advancing racial equity. Forced removal from encampments is cruel, not a real solution to homelessness, and further dehumanizes those experiencing homelessness. We cannot end homelessness until we see all people as deserving of safe, stable homes.
At the request of the local D.C. government, the National Park Service agreed to forcibly remove unhoused individuals from the encampment in McPherson Square, two months sooner than expected, making it more difficult for unhoused individuals in the encampment to be connected to permanent housing. Only a handful of the individuals who live in the park have been approved to receive housing assistance, and many of these individuals will not be able to move into homes prior to the forced removal, putting their ability to be rehoused at risk. Because forced removals tend to disconnect individuals from service providers and frequently leads to lost documentation and possessions, this action will ultimately make it more difficult for individuals to exit homelessness.
The plan to forcibly remove unhoused individuals is in direct conflict with the recently released Biden-Harris U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness federal strategic plan, which states:
“Unless encampment closures are conducted in a coordinated, humane, and solutions-oriented way that makes housing and supports adequately available, these ‘out of sight, out of mind’ policies can lead to lost belongings and identification which can set people back in their pathway to housing; breakdowns in connection with outreach teams, health care facilities, and housing providers; increased interactions with the criminal justice system; and significant traumatization—all of which can set people back in their pathway to housing and disrupt the work of ending homelessness.”
The plan also goes against the administration’s own value of advancing racial equity; Black people represent 45 percent of the general population of the District of Columbia, but they account for 93 percent of people experiencing homelessness meaning this forced removal will disproportionally impact Black residents in McPherson Square.
NCHJ engaged with and urged the Biden-Harris administration and Bowser administration to work with stakeholders to rehouse unsheltered individuals as quickly as possible using best practices and proven solutions. We offered to convene all stakeholders, including the residents of McPherson Square, to develop a plan to address the systemic issues at play that create and perpetuate homelessness. To date, neither the Biden-Harris administration nor the Bowser administration accepted NCHJ’s offer to convene stakeholders before the forced closure of McPherson Square.
Instead of forcibly removing unhoused individuals, the Biden-Harris administration should instead prioritize long-term solutions to homelessness by immediately connecting individuals to housing, paired with the supportive services individuals may need and want, such as mental health and substance use counseling and employment services, among others. To end homelessness, we must ensure rental assistance is universally available to all eligible households, expand the supply of rental homes affordable and available to people with the lowest incomes, and ensure critically needed services are widely available.
National and local advocates will be on sight and available for further comment at McPherson Square on Wednesday, starting at 7am.
“Kicking people off the streets – let’s sit with that. A wealthy global superpower kicking human beings off streets that they shouldn’t have been forced to in the first place. This is really inhumane when we know of compassionate and dignifying alternatives. I’m calling for all of us to be accountable in recognizing how systems are failing and how we can actively transform failed systems. This COVID era is showing us that we are more alike than different when it comes to our vulnerability to unstable housing. We must act in solidarity and call our local and federal governments to account for these violations to human rights,” said Marcella Middleton, Executive Director of A Way Home America.
“Properly helping our unhoused neighbors requires compassion and leading with the values that we profess to hold. People are in these circumstances because our systems have failed and trust has been critically broken between government structures and the people they are meant to serve. It is imperative that we do better for our communities. Actions that forcibly remove our unhoused neighbors in this way only set us back,” said Peggy Bailey, Vice President for Housing and Income Security at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
“Forcibly removing unhoused people from public spaces without a safe and sustainable housing plan is bad for public health, criminalizes poverty, and most importantly, traumatizes and harms people with nowhere to live. Continuing to displace people does nothing to address the national crisis around the lack of affordable housing and mental health services. We have the evidence and tools to manage situations like this more effectively and humanely-we can all do better,” said Deborah De Santis, President and CEO of Corporation for Supportive Housing.
“Evicting residents of McPherson Square, or any public space, without immediate access to a safe and dignified place to call home, is ineffective, unjust, and perpetuates harm to our unhoused neighbors. We urge our federal and city partners to stop the raid and commit to taking an approach grounded in the guidance of the Federal Strategic Plan by fully utilizing available resources, including the offer of support from local philanthropy, to end homelessness for its residents at McPherson Square and other areas across the district,” said Amanda Andere, CEO of Funders Together to End Homelessness.
“Forced encampment evictions are not a solution to homelessness, and our leaders know this. By accelerating the clearing of the McPherson Square encampment during hypothermia season, our federal and city leaders are retreating from their commitments to the McPherson residents, contradicting the newly-released Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness, breaking their alignment to Housing First principles, and tarnishing each administration’s achievements on homelessness to date. We call on the Biden-Harris and the Bowser Administrations to immediately halt the proposed forced eviction so that a comprehensive approach can be put in place,” said Ann Oliva, CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
“The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans implores the DC government to halt the early and unjust closure of the McPherson Square Encampment. Experiencing homelessness is one of the most challenging things a person can face and forcible removal of your belongings and shelter is exceptionally cruel and can make it harder to access housing in the long run. We know that these actions are not a solution to homelessness and flies in the face of the Federal Strategic Plan to End Homelessness. We call on the Bowser and Biden/Harris Administrations to follow the guidelines of the strategic plan and focus on housing as a solution rather than forced eviction, “said Kathryn Monet, CEO of the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans.
“Destroying the temporary homes of unhoused people is inhumane and traumatic to the most vulnerable residents of our communities. It is also bad policy, particularly when the D.C. government has permanent housing for every encampment resident at McPherson Square, but through inefficiency and bureaucratic errors, failed to deliver that housing to the persons most in need. The federal government should stand by the federal strategic plan to end homelessness and urge D.C. to honor its housing commitments instead of further traumatizing its citizens,” said Antonia Fasanelli, Executive Director of National Homelessness Law Center.
“The Biden-Harris administration has an immediate opportunity to practice what it preaches and to be a model for the country and communities working to address homelessness. The administration must immediately halt National Park Service’s involvement in forcibly removing unhoused people from national parks in the absence of adequate housing. Instead, it must follow its own guidance to communities and work towards a humane solution that makes housing and supports adequately available to all encampment residents,” said Diane Yentel, President and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
“Youth Collaboratory urges the D.C. government and the National Park Service to halt the destruction of the McPherson Square encampment and take advocates up on their offer of resources to find housing solutions for all of our unhoused neighbors living in the square. Forcibly evicting residents from the encampment ahead of schedule and without long-term housing options does nothing to resolve the issues of homelessness in the city and will cause harm. There are solutions to homelessness that do not involve destroying encampments without having housing solutions for all residents,” said Megan Blondin, Executive Director of Youth Collaboratory.
NCHJ has worked closely with The Way Home Campaign, a coalition of nearly 7,000 people and 110 organizations committed to ending chronic homelessness in Washington, D.C., to coordinate a response to the forced removal at McPherson Square.
“As an organization providing homeless street outreach to over 33 square miles of D.C., we see firsthand that clearing encampments harms our unhoused neighbors, forces them to move from one area to another, and erodes trust. We are deeply concerned about the Bowser Administration’s decision to evict 70 of our neighbors from the McPherson Square encampment during hypothermia season – a move that is cruel and counterproductive to both D.C. and the Biden administration’s goals of ending homelessness. We are calling on Mayor Bowser and the National Park Service to delay until after hypothermia season and until every encampment resident is provided with a solution that meets their needs,” said Jesse Rabinowitz, Manager of The Way Home Campaign and Senior Advocacy Manager at Miriam’s Kitchen.
