I am a lifelong D.C. resident. I am someone who experienced homelessness three times in the District of Columbia — in the 80s and 90s and last time was 2008.” Robert Warren says in his experience, the constraints of the shelter system push a lot of people to live in encampments. “There’s always people who will try to prey on them and specifically women.” But Warren also believes that as vulnerable as people can be in encampments, breaking them up without providing immediate housing only multiplies the danger. “I know there was a comment in New York. I think it was made that if they were doing the homeless sweeps and cleaning out these encampments, then those people wouldn’t have been killed. And you know, you can look at it like if we were actually housing people … they wouldn’t have been killed.” In the weeks leading up to the shootings, advocates for the unhoused community warned encampment evictions would lead to greater vulnerability. Warren says that, plus fear mongering on cable news, creates a toxic cocktail of violence." read more...
End housing instability for individuals who live on the streets