Public Restrooms - People For Fairness Coalition

People living in, working in, and visiting European and Asian capitals take it for granted that, when they need to go, they will find a clean, safe, available public restrooms nearby.

This, unfortunately, is not the case in Washington, DC, our nation’s Capital. If you are in downtown DC and urgently have to go, you will have a hard time finding a public restroom nearby. Even if there is one, the hours are limited and there are no signs to tell you where it is located. Some private restaurants and food chains might let you in. However, increasingly they are limiting access to patrons. And, if you are walking in Washington DC late at night and urgently have to go, you may be in big trouble. Chances are you will have to walk a half-mile to a mile to find a clean, safe, restroom that is open; that is if you know where the few restrooms in DC open 24/7 are located.

The People for Fairness Coalition (PFC) -- established in April 2008 with the objective of finding housing for everyone in Washington DC through advocacy, outreach, and peer mentoring -- has taken up the challenge of ensuring that clean, safe public restrooms are available to everyone 24/7 in downtown areas of Washington DC.

Our overall strategy is to raise consciousness, educate on the problem, and build support through advocacy. To this end, our approach over the coming months is three-pronged: (1) obtain support and buy-in from two areas where we believe there is an immediate need for a public restroom -- the Dupont Circle area and along the K Street corridor between Farragut and Franklin Squares (this includes obtaining support from local ANCs, resident associations, churches, businessmen and business organizations) ; (2) obtain support from DC Council members; and (3) obtain the support of important associations representing businesses, consumers, and associations that represent the homeless, seniors, and individuals with disabilities.

Latest News

UPDATE ON PREPARATIONS FOR IMPLEMENTING THE TWO DC PUBLIC RESTROOM PILOTS

Status of Standalone Public Restroom Pilot:

We understand that sometime in November the Working Group named by the Mayor will be submitting a report identifying the standalone public restroom to be used for the pilot along with one or two locations where it will be installed. Once reviewed and approved by the Mayor, the report will be issued for public comment, we anticipate sometime in December or January.

Status of Community Incentives Pilot

On October 14 the Mayor authorized DSLBD (Department of Small and Local Business Development) to assume responsibility for implementing the pilot. We anticipate that sometime in November DSLBD will be issuing the rules guiding its implementation for public comment..

The next step, once comments are incorporated, will be for DSLBD to enter into an agreement with a BID (Business Investment District) charged with identifying and entering into agreements with businesses within its boundaries that will receive incentives in return for making their restrooms available to the public.

Supporting documentation prepared by PFFC Downtown DC Public Restroom Initiative

On August 19 we delivered a PowerPoint presentation to the Working Group providing relevant information to be used in selecting the standalone restroom model and two possible locations for its installation.

On September 14 we delivered a PowerPoint presentation to the DC BID Council sharing with participating BIDs experiences in Great Britain implementing the Community Toilet Scheme, upon which the Community Incentives Pilot is based.

How We Got Started

It all began in July of 2014 when, at one of our weekly PFC meetings, a member raised the issue. Although it was not central to our objective of finding housing for everyone who needs it in DC, we decided it was important for us to take it on: everyone, including those without housing, needs to have safe, clean, restrooms available time of day or night.

We started by learning from the experiences of other cities in the US and Canada that have had recently been successful in installing and maintaining public restrooms that are clean, safe, and available 24/7. With models and lessons in hand, in November 2014 we established our Downtown Washington DC Public Restroom Initiative. We formed a committee composed of five passionate members of PFC who are determined to stay the course until clean, safe restrooms available 24/7 are installed in needed areas of downtown DC. We have been meeting weekly since November 2014 and carrying out activities in between.

Inventory of facilities with restrooms in five areas of downtown DC

Our first task was to determine whether downtown DC has a problem. Between January and March of 2015 we selected five areas of downtown DC that have a large population of individuals without housing and high levels of pedestrian traffic. We visited 85 restrooms in private establishments in these areas in order to find out whether we could use their restrooms without purchasing something. If they let us in, we: wrote down the hours the establishment was open, and we entered the restroom in order to see if the restroom was clean and safe. We also did an internet search in order to identify restrooms in DC that are open 24/7.

Our analysis concluded that downtown Washington DC does have a problem. Half of the establishments that we visited limited access to patrons and those that were open to the public are increasingly putting locks and combinations on their bathroom doors. There are only 3 clean, safe restrooms open 24/7 in all of Washington DC. If you have to go urgently and don’t know the area well you wouldn’t know where to go as there is no signage leading you to these restrooms. For more information see the 3-page summary of the report or the 14 page full report.

Our accomplishments

Research

Carried out a feasibility study to identify lessons learned/best practices from other cities in the US and elsewhere that have been successful in installing and maintaining clean, safe public restrooms available to everyone 24/7
Conducted annual inventories of 85 private facilities in 5 areas of DC with high levels of pedestrian traffic to identify those willing to admit individuals who aren’t patrons. In 2015, 50% (43 out of 85) permitted access to non-patrons. This dropped to 33% (28) in 2016 and 13% (11) in 2017.
Did a comprehensive search to identify public facilities off the Mall with restrooms open to the public. As of May 2018, there were five open during the day with limited hours and no signs; and two open 24/7 again with no signs.
Reviewed the experience of four Boroughs in England that have implemented the Community Toilet scheme and prepared a report with insights have can be helpful when the DC government pilots incentives to businesses to open their restrooms to the public.
Sent questionnaire to 28 cities in the US and Canada that have installed Portland Loo in order to learn from their experiences. The full report and summary provide key findings and takeaways for Washington DC should it decide to install one or more Portland Loos.

Served as inspiration for Bill 22-0223, Public Restroom Facilities Installation and Promotion Act of 2018 passed by the DC Council in December 2018

Bill 22-0223, introduced in April 2017, directs DC government agencies to (1) identify 2 sites in the District that are suitable for installing clean, safe public restrooms available 24/7; (2) establish a program to provide incentives to private facilities to open their restrooms to the public.
A hearing was held on Bill 22-0223 on January 10, 2017, with 13 individuals testifying from various perspectives on why clean, safe public restrooms are needed.
Bill 22-0223 was marked up by the Committee on Transportation & Environment and the Committee on Health, then passed to the DC Council of the Whole where it was passed by two consecutive unanimous votes on December 4 and 18,2018.

Recent Testimonies at DC City Council Hearings

January 15, 2020, Department of Small and Local Business Development Oversight Hearing
January 29, 2020, Department of Human Services Oversight Hearing
February 27, 2020, Department of General Services Oversight Hearing

Support for Bill 22-0223:

Endorsements were obtained from 34 organizations for clean, safe public restrooms and for Bill 22-0223. This includes resolutions from 13 ANCs in Wards 1,2, 3,5, and 8.
Three BIDS (Downtown DC, Georgetown, Capitol Hill) support the need for clean, safe public restrooms in needed areas of DC.
Two thousand signatures to two petitions supporting clean, safe public restrooms for needed areas of the District

Preparation/distribution of palm cards and posters with information on public restrooms in and near downtown DC

Over 3,000 four-panel palm cards – front, back (size of a business card) plus 11″ x 17″ posters distributed with information, by area of DC, on restrooms open to the public: location, hours of operations, whether bags can be brought in.

DC Council Members/staffers briefed on the need for public restrooms and Bill 22-0223.

Briefings provided to Council Members Nadeau, Silverman, Grosso, Robert White, McDuffie, Allen, Cheh

Briefings provided for other key agencies/associations

DC Department of General Services (DGS),
American Association of Retired People (AARP)
Hotel Association of Washington DC
Think Local First
Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington
BID Council

Bill 22-0223 becomes Law and first-year funding is made available

Bill 22-0223, Public Restroom Facilities Installation & Promotion Act of 2018, became Law 22-280 on April 11, 2019.
On May 28, 2019, the DC Council passed its FY 2020 budget. Included in the budget is $400,000 for first-year funding for the two public restroom pilots, with provisions for recurrent funding through FY 2024.
Law 22-280 went into effect on October 1, 2019.
January 2020: Office of the City Administrator assigned by the Mayor to oversee the implementation of Law 22-280.

Media appearances:

Kojo Nnamdi Show, March 2017 December 2018
Washington Post, December 2017, January 2019
DC Currents, November 2016, December 2016
Street Sense, January 2015, February 2017, February 2018
Greater Greater Washington, September 6, 2018, & September 14, 2018
WJLA, September 15, 2018
The DC Line, October 9, 2018, December 20, 2018
Hill Rag, October 22, 2018
FOX5DC, November 29, 2018
WUSA9, December 5, 2019
Curbed DC, December 18, 2018, June 3, 2019
Next City, December 20, 2018
City Lab, December 21, 2018
WETA, June 6, 2019
CleanLink, June 8, 2019
We are on Twitter @DCrestrooms, with over 380 followers

Documents available from our Downtown DC Public Restroom Initiative

PRESENTATIONS

POSTCARDS

PALM FOLD-OUT RESTROOM CARD

Palm foldout restroom card

STUDIES

PUBLIC RESTROOM RESOURCES

PLUSH Public Restroom Toolkit

PUBLIC RESTROOM OPTIONS

WHO ARE THE RESTROOM CHALLENGED

The Restroom Challenged

PETITION

Online Petition

ANC RESOLUTIONS

PUBLIC RESTROOM LEGISLATION

Public Restroom Facilities Installation and Promotion Act of 2018, Law 22-0280

TESTIMONIES AT DC COUNCIL HEARINGS

Testimonies 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020

MEDIA APPEARANCES

Listed below are the organizations that have formally endorsed us. As we receive additional endorsements we will update this section.

The Downtown DC BID, the Georgetown BID, and the Capitol Hill BID cannot provide formal endorsements/ However, all three support public restroom access for all members of the Downtown DC community to support a higher quality of life for our residents, workers, and guests.

As of February 2, 2019, we have endorsements from the following organizations:

ANCs

ANC1A (Columbia Heights)

ANC1B (14th St & U St.corridors)

ANC1C (Adams Morgan)

ANC2A (Foggy Bottom)

ANC2B (Dupont Circle)

ANC2C (Gallery Place Areas)

ANC2F (Downtown DC)

ANC3C (Cathedral Heights/Cleveland Park)

ANC3D (Spring Valley & Palisades)

ANC3E (Tenley-American University)

ANC3F (UDC & Forrest Hills)

ANC5e (Bloomingdale)

ANC8d (Bellevue & Far Southwest DC)

Churches

Church of the Epiphany

Foundry United Methodist Church

Friends Meeting of Washington DC

Western Presbyterian Church

Neighborhood Organizations

Dupont Circle Citizen’s Association

Dupont Circle Village

Foggy Bottom Association

Organizations supporting DC’s underserved populations

DC Fiscal Policy Institute (DCFPI)

Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless

Fair Budget Coalition

Community of Hope

Miriams Kitchen

Pathways to Housing DC

Collective Action for Safe Spaces

Coalition of Non-profit Housing and Economic Development (CNHED)–

Food and Friends

Jews United for Justice

The DC Center

Crohn’s & Colitis Association

Other

- DC Statehood Green Party
- Greater Greater Washington
- Potomac Communications Group
- Washington Area Bicyclist’s Association (WABA)

Three BIDs support public restroom access for all members of the Downtown DC community to support a higher quality of life for our residents, workers, and guests.

- Capitol Hill BID
- Downtown DC BID
- Georgetown BID

WRITTEN ENDORSEMENTS:

FAIR BUDGET COALITION

The DC Fair Budget Coalition is proud to endorse the People for Fairness Coalition’s Downtown DC Public Restroom Initiative. FBC strongly supports the great work of PFFC, particularly in organizing people experiencing housing instability and homelessness to advocate for themselves and their peers.

Every human being should have a dignified place to relieve themselves. People experiencing homelessness have to deal with many obstacles to manage their basic human functions and often face discrimination and abuse when trying to find a facility to use. They also may have unnecessary encounters with law enforcement or expose themselves to dangerous situations when trying to take care of their bodies. For women experiencing homelessness, access to sanitary napkins and tampons is already limited, and they need a place to safely deal with their monthly menstrual cycles. A downtown public restroom is common sense and an inexpensive way to give people a place to relieve themselves in safety and indignity.

POTOMAC COMMUNICATIONS GROUP

As a business that has operated at numerous locations throughout downtown D.C. for more than 35 years, Potomac Communications Group wholeheartedly endorses the goals of the People for Fairness Coalition’s Downtown DC Public Restroom Initiative.

We agree that access to public restrooms is a human right and that denying access is not only a denial of one’s rights but also an affront to human dignity. Those who live in and visit our nation’s capital, and in particular families with young children, pregnant women, the elderly, those in need of permanent housing, and others who are in any way “restroom challenged,” deserve access to clean, publicly available toilet facilities 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The initiative’s goals will also help the city’s business community by making our streets and sidewalks cleaner and safer.

We believe that as one of the country’s foremost tourist destinations, Washington, D.C. should set an example for the rest of the city and indeed the rest of the world in this regard.

CNHED

The Coalition for Nonprofit Housing & Economic Development (CNHED) supports the People for Fairness Coalition’s Downtown Restroom Initiative. Public restrooms are a benefit for everyone — residents, shoppers, international and domestic visitors, and the less fortunate, including people who are challenged to find access to safe and sanitary restroom facilities.

MIRIAM’S KITCHEN

The People for Fairness Coalition (PFC) has been a true leader in advocating for a variety of issues important to DC residents for the past 9 years. Miriam’s Kitchen is proud to support their Downtown DC Public Restroom Initiative, which calls for clean, safe, and accessible public restrooms in our nation’s capital. This initiative addresses an issue of great concern to many Miriam’s Kitchen guests – not to mention many members of our community at large. We are happy to support PFC and their leadership in this work.

January 10, 2018 testimonies on public restroom bill

On January 10, 2018 the Committee on Transportation & Environment, Chaired by Councilmember Mary Cheh, held a hearing on Bill 22-0223, Public Restroom Facilities Installation & Promotion Act of 2017 which was inspired by and whose content reflected lessons learned and best practices elsewhere identified by PFFCs DowntownDC Public Restroom Initiative.

Bill 22-0223 directs the DC government to establish a working group consisting of the Department of Public Works, DC Water, the Department of Transportation, the Department of General Services, the Department of Human Services, and the Department of Recreation to:

Identify, with ANC & BID participation, up to 10 sites in areas of the District with limited access to public restroom facilities that are appropriate for installing a stand alone public restroom;
Authorize the creation of a subsidy program for private entities to open their restrooms to the public.

Fourteen people, representing organizations or themselves, testified at the January 10 hearing. Their testimonies, below, touched on a wide arrange of topics:

Testimonies at DC Council Oversight Hearings

Since 2014 members of PFFC’s Public Restroom Committee, joined by our advisors and supporters, have testified at a number of yearly oversight hearings.

Listed below, by year, are testimonies delivered at hearings focusing on the Departments of Health, Human Services, General Services, Public Works, Housing and Neighborhood Revitalization, Transportation and Environment, Small and Local Business Development.

2021 TESTIMONIES

2020 TESTIMONIES

2019 TESTIMONIES

2018 TESTIMONIES

2017 TESTIMONIES

2016 TESTIMONIES

Testimony before the Committee on Transportation and Environment Oversight Hearing on the DC Water & Sewer Authority, February 25, 2016, by Marcia Bernbaum
T estimony before the Committee on Transportation and Environment Oversight Hearing on the DC Water & Sewer Authority, February 25, 2016, by John McDermott
T estimony before the Committee on Transportation and Environment Oversight Hearing on the DC Water & Sewer Authority, February 25, 2016, by Janet Sharp

2015 TESTIMONIES

Testimony before the Committee on Health and Human Services Oversight Hearing on the Department of Human Services, March 12, 2015, by Marcia Bernbaum