DC Squat Raided

Maydaydc-AT-hotmail.com



This winter, a large squat was established in an abandoned but heated building on the 2600 block of Rhode Island Avenue NW by a few of DC's homeless population. As the weather became worse with temperatures dropping to 10 degrees and heavy snows, word spread until the population of the squat approached 40. More then a month later, neighborhood police became aware of the squat. Several officers visited the squat demanding that the residents vacate the premises or be arrested. It was pointed out to them, that there was no " No Trespassing" sign posted at the building had been widely known for be unsecured. The homeless then asked whether they police had received a complaint from the owner. They admitted there had been no complaint and after giving advice for the homeless to leave, they left. Two days later officers came in force, and arrested most of the squatters without giving warning or indicating that the owner had complained.

Many of the homeless have taken deals and plead guilty. Some who did so said they had taken the deal in order to get out of jail, as they could not afford bail. Others are fighting their charges in court next month. One woman said she had squatted there rather then go into the emergency hypothermia shelters. " They treat you like dirt there. They lock you in at night. It's like a jail you put yourself into. The plumbing is worse there [at the Gail School] then it was at the squat." Another explained she was fighting her charges because she couldn't handle a long sentence of probation. " I have a drug problem and would get in much worse trouble in the end. I have enough problems in my life. I couldn't handle it."

A arrested homeless known as Nolo asked " There are so many abandoned buildings here, why cant we use them if we fix them up? Couldn't someone let us do that?" According to the DC Department of Housing and Community Development, there are 29,000 units of vacant housing in DC while there are at least 1,650 people sleeping on the streets and well over 6,600 people in emergency or transitional shelter. According to the Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness there are approximately 16,350 homeless persons experiencing homelessness in DC in any given year. That is 2.8% of the districts population. This rate of homelessness is almost twice that of other large urban areas.

When there is little decent alternatives, homeless people often use extreme measures to get what they need. Squatting in doorways and alleyways, tent communities under bridges and along the rivers, and abandoned houses, the homeless of DC are resourceful in avoiding the full brunt of winter weather. They need to be, as there is not nearly as much help available to them by the DC government or fellow DC citizens as there should be. Despite their resourcefulness, 11 homeless froze to death during the 2001- 2002 winter season and at least 2 during the 2003. According to the December 2001 survey of major US cities, including Washington DC, by the US mayors conference, an average of 37 % of requests for emergency shelter and 52% of requests by homeless families were turned away because of lack of space. In an internal memo in DC dept. of Human Services in December of 2002 over 331 families were turned away from emergency shelter for lack of space.

Additionally, DHS is currently attempting to release themselves from the obligation to provide shelter for the homeless when the temperature hits 32 degrees [the freezing temperature of water- Humans are subject to "freezing" or hypothermia at much higher temperature particularly if it is wet.] They are attempting to lower the definition of frigid temperature when hypothermia would be provided to 26 degrees. Local volunteer " First, I think its a sad example of the under funding of all human services in this city. Secondly it is an example of the ignorance of those providing services that they would think for a second that it's not necessary to provide shelter service at temperatures above 26 degree."

According to DC Homes not Jails, a local activist group which supports squatting as a housing alternative, the two main causes of the Districts increasing homelessness are a diminishing supply of affordable housing combined with growing poverty. "Our increasing poverty is directly caused by the declining value of minimum wage and by the decline of public assistance. Rents in most cities are on the rise and subsidized housing is quickly diminishing. In DC, over 18,000 people are on the waiting list for Section 8 housing, and over 10,000 people are on the waiting list for public housing. Individuals and families are often left waiting on these lists for years. Moreover, once someone obtains a Section 8 housing voucher from DC's Housing Authority, they are hard-pressed to find any landlord that will accept it."

There is nowhere in the US where a minimum-wage worker can afford market-rate rent, according to the National Low-Income Housing Coalition. In DC, a minimum-wage worker would be forced to work over 100 hours a week to afford a one-bedroom apartment at market rate. Employment often provides no relief from homelessness. For example, temporary day laborers in DC often face homelessness in addition to constant exploitation. Often the cost of transportation, equipment, and meals prevents them from saving any money from their labor for companies such as Waste Management Inc., in Maryland.

One answer is for the city government to work together with poor people. It can grant vacant housing and land rights to poor and homeless persons, involve poor people in decisions that affect their lives, and mobilize their energy to improve living conditions. But this will mean that our national and city governments must be willing to hand power to the poor and put them at the center of policy-making.