The Legal Clinic will stand with our friends at the People for Fairness Coalition this week at the 11th Annual Memorial and Vigil to commemorate those lives lost. We will continue to stand with our unhoused clients every single day to demand that the D.C. government prioritize the lives and needs of people by ensuring that everyone in D.C. has access to safe, accessible shelter and housing.

Councilmember Brianne Nadeau has announced emergency legislation that would prohibit encampment evictions and the creation of “no tent” zones while also addressing some of the health and safety concerns raised by unhoused and housed residents. The Council will vote on the bill next Tuesday, December 7, and nine votes are needed for the bill to pass.

We long for the day when no lives will be lost to homelessness. In the meantime, the greatest honor that we can pay to those who died this past year is to re-commit ourselves to doing all that we can to ensure that every District resident has a  place to call home.

We honor those who died homeless this year….

The current manner in which the District is clearing encampments violates the Constitutional rights of encampment residents, which is the basis for a class action lawsuit recently filed against the District over its encampment clearing practices.

In the midst of DC’s affordable housing crisis, the majority of the DC Council chose to limit access to emergency shelter.