On December 21, winter solstice, communities across the country will recognize National Homeless Persons’ Remembrance Day. In D.C., People for Fairness Coalition, an advocacy group composed of current and formerly unhoused D.C. residents, will hold a vigil the night before to honor the lives and acknowledge the passing of all those who died unhoused in D.C. this year.
More information on the schedule for December 20 and 21 can be found here.
The pandemic laid bare the critical connection between housing and health care, both on the individual level and more broadly as a public health intervention. For the first time in history, there was widespread support for an eviction moratorium, for rent relief, and for non-congregate shelters. There was a recognition that bureaucratic barriers to safety net programs were dangerous in a time of crisis, and that the government needed to be nimble, flexible, and humane. D.C. lowered barriers to many programs, forgave past debts, extended time in programs, and even sealed eviction records to allow people fresh starts. Many of those changes were formalized and institutionalized and will therefore last long beyond the sense of urgency that came from the pandemic.
However, at the same time, rents continued to increase and rent relief runs out as quickly as the program can accept applications. No meaningful rent control or rent cancelation passed. People with high incomes secured more wealth, while people with low incomes struggled more. The income and wealth gaps grew, and the gap became a chasm when race was factored in. All the various disparities compounded for Black residents of D.C. who suffered far more during the pandemic than their white counterparts. The Legal Clinic is contacted by an increasing number of primarily Black D.C. residents who need a lawyer’s help to access basic housing and government programs—programs that they need quick and unfettered access to in order to survive in this city, like emergency shelter.
People experiencing homelessness in D.C. are caught in the middle of a perfect storm of bias, government incompetence, and lack of political will. For the past two years, the government has failed to quickly place people into a voucher program, leaving D.C. residents languishing (and dying) on the street, in shelters, and in the remaining pandemic-relief hotel. Some Ward 2 neighbors are suing to stop the opening of the Aston, a non-congregate shelter designed specifically to shelter and protect the health of people who are not served appropriately by large congregate shelters.
While the D.C. government cannot control the opposition of neighbors to a new shelter, they can control their competence at administering basic programs, their funding priorities, and whether people have a safe place to go while they wait for the government to get its act together. D.C. has repeatedly failed to ensure that unhoused residents have access to safe, accessible shelter while they complete the process of obtaining permanent housing. D.C. government decided to delay the opening of the Aston for months and to close the last shelter space for medically vulnerable shelter residents earlier than planned, displaying no regard for the health and safety of D.C.’s most vulnerable communities. Despite their health concerns, people were displaced and left to choose between inappropriate congregate shelter placements or the street. Some of those displaced residents sought legal representation and the Legal Clinic has been working closely with them to advocate for safe and accessible placements. Unfortunately, D.C. government is actively fighting those placements.
Too often, the undervaluing of low-income and primarily Black and brown lives results in death. Tragically, without access to safe housing, over 90 unhoused D.C. residents died without a home this year, 57 of whom were already matched to housing. Even one such death is far too many. 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. We hope you stand with us in the fight for a more equitable and just D.C.
