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NEWS IN BRIEF
Encampment updates: Heat emergency postpones closures in late June, early July
SAM BELMAR Editorial Intern
As D.C. navigated its first major heat wave of summer 2025 in late June and early July, several encampment closures were cancelled and rescheduled.
When temperatures are forecast to feel like 95 degrees or above, the city issues heat alerts, which advise D.C. residents to stay indoors and mobilize resources to assist unsheltered residents in accessing cooling centers and other services on an emergency basis. During the alerts, the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services (DMHHS) tends to halt scheduled encampment closures until normal weather conditions return, explaining the rescheduling or cancellation of four closures at the end of June. According to the DMHHS website, another seven closures slated for July were also rescheduled due to weather, along with logistical factors.
In addition to rescheduling 11 closures, the city closed four encampments in mid-June through mid-July, affecting at least six residents.
On June 18, DMHHS closed an encampment on the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and 26th Street NW. By 10:45 a.m., the one resident present packed up her tent and belongings with the help of an outreach worker and moved to a new location. DMHHS and a Community Bridges biohazard engineer inspected the area and then left the site.
Street Sense Media also spoke with a resident who said he and a friend were living inside a white van beside Godey Lime Kilns Park, about 200 feet from the encampment. DMHHS officials informed him the van would be towed, but it was left alone during the closure.
On July 3, DMHHS closed encampments in the tunnels at 1st and C and 2nd and D Streets NW. No residents were present at either of the sites that morning, but a DMHHS spokesperson wrote in an email to Street Sense that two “vulnerable residents” had frequently lived at the location.
The next week, on July 9, DMMHS closed an encampment on the corner of 23rd and E Streets SW, citing safety concerns in a D.C. Department of Transportation (DDOT) area and public space. According to the DMHHS spokesperson, the site “had been previously closed and deemed unsuitable for encamping due to continuous safety concerns.”
The encampment was occupied by an older man who had been moved from the same location multiple times. Since he was notified of the closure in advance, he left before city officials arrived around 9:25 a.m., and Street Sense was not able to speak with him. According to DMHHS, a second person was known to live at the encampment, but was not present when DMHHS arrived.
That morning, DMHHS also discarded a tent and belongings located farther down 23rd Street. Shanelle Gayden, assistant director for encampments and community response with Miriam’s Kitchen, the outreach provider for the area, said the tent had been abandoned for weeks and likely did not belong to the man who had left just before the closure. Because that resident departed before Miriam’s arrived at the site, they were unable to offer their services to him, Gayden said.
DMHHS closed a fourth encampment on July 10 at the DDOT underpass near 2900 K St. NW in Georgetown. According to DMHHS, one resident was impacted by the closure. However, outreach workers and Street Sense reporters were unable to locate the site or DMHHS officials on the day of the closure.
Upcoming encampment closures include: July 23 at 4510 Arkansas Ave. NW, July 24 at 6th and H Streets NE, July 29 at 3100 Mt. Pleasant St. NW, July 30 at 660 Pennsylvania Ave. SE and July 31 at the bridge underpass at 2160 Queens Chapel Rd. NE.
BIRTHDAYS
Amia Walker
July 17
ARTIST/VENDOR
Michael Phillips, Nana-Sentuo Bonsu, Stanley Keeve
CHIEF EXECUTIVE
OFFICER
Brian Carome
DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMS
Darick Brown
Jacqueline Gale
July 18
ARTIST/VENDOR
DIRECTOR OF VENDOR EMPLOYMENT
Thomas Ratliff
VENDOR PROGRAM ASSOCIATES
Aida Peery, Chon Gotti, Nikila Smith
VENDOR PROGRAM VOLUNTEERS Ann Herzog, Aiden
Eisenschenk, Beverly Brown, Madeleine McCollough, Roberta Haber
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Annemarie Cuccia
DEPUTY EDITOR
Donte Kirby
EDITORIAL INTERNS
Brian Holsten
July 27
ARTIST/VENDOR
Alaena Hunt, Jelina Liu, Jenna Lee, Mackenzie Konjoyan, Madi Koesler, Nina Calves, Sachini Adikari, Sam Belmar
WEB INTERN Zachi Elias
GRAPHIC DESIGN INTERN Kevin Akakpo
ARTISTS-INRESIDENCE
Alexandra Silverthorne (Photography), Bonnie Naradzay (Poetry), David Serota (Illustration), Leslie Jacobson (Theater), Roy Barber (Theater), Willie Schatz (Writing), Molly Pauker (Watercolor),
EVENTS AT SSM
ANNOUNCEMENTS
□ The vendor appreciation luncheon will be Friday, July 25th, at 12:30 p.m. Join us for catered lunch and fellowship! Please, no guests.
□ The 2025 Sell-a-Thon continues! $50 prizes at the end of July and August. Paper sales and customer kudos earn you points. Pick up QR code flyers at the office and ask your customers to do a customer kudos for you. See the current rankings for July in the admin office.
□ Find a list of vendor announcements and other useful information just for you at streetsensemedia.org/ vendor-info.
Robert Vaughn
July 26
ARTIST/VENDOR
Debbie Menke (Watercolor)
EDITORIAL VOLUNTEERS
Abigail Chang, Andrew Chow, Alina Edwards, Benjamin Litoff, Chelsea Cirruzzo, Dan Goff, David Fucillo, Dhanya Addanki, Kathryn Owens, Nora Scully
VENDOR CODE OF CONDUCT
Read this democratically elected code of conduct, by vendors, for vendors!
1. I will support Street Sense Media’s mission statement and in so doing will work to support the Street Sense Media community and uphold its values of honesty, respect, support, and opportunity.
2. I will treat all others, including customers, staff, volunteers, and fellow vendors, respectfully at all times. I will refrain from threatening others, pressuring customers into making donations, or engaging in behavior that condones racism, sexism, classism, or other prejudices.
3. I understand that I am not an employee of Street Sense Media but an independent contractor.
4. While distributing the Street Sense newspaper, I will not ask for more than $3 per issue or solicit donations by any other means.
5. I will only purchase the newspaper from Street Sense Media staff and volunteers and will not distribute newspapers to other vendors.
6. I will not distribute copies of “Street Sense” on metro trains and buses or on private property.
7. I will abide by the Street Sense Media Vendor Territory Policy at all times and will resolve any related disputes with other vendors in a professional manner.
8. I will not sell additional goods or products while distributing “Street Sense.”
9. I will not distribute “Street Sense” un--der the influence of drugs or alcohol.
10. I understand that my badge and vest are property of Street Sense Media and will not deface them. I will present my badge when purchasing “Street Sense” and will always display my badge when distributing “Street Sense.”
Madi Koesler, Nina Calves, and Mackenzie Konjoyan contributed reporting.
A man takes a rest outside at his encampment this summer before continuing his search for somewhere more permanent to set up camp. Photo by Madi Koesler
A transitional housing program in D.C. is evicted, leaving residents to search for other options
Clients of the program, many of them returning citizens and veterans, lost of shelter and services
MACKENZIE KONJOYAN Editorial Intern
Residents of a D.C.-based transitional housing program had to move out after their program was evicted in late June. The program, which was just over a year old, was closed amid lawsuits and allegations its leader had misrepresented his ability to fund it.
The project, Great Expectations, was a private transitional housing program that provided accommodation and training to returning citizens, veterans, and at-risk young adults in D.C. It was operated under Andre Gray, the CEO, and Cecil Byrd, the program coordinator. Its closure displaced about 30 residents, many of whom did not have anywhere else to go.
Starting in early 2024, Great Expectations operated out of Samaritan Inns’ Tabitha’s House location under an informal arrangement between Gray and Samaritan Inns, a long-standing nonprofit organization that provides services for at-risk men and women, as well as those experiencing addiction and homelessness. According to all parties, as part of the agreement, Gray promised he would raise money for Samaritan Inns, something he said he had the connections and skills to do.
Trouble at the program began in July 2024, when Samaritan Inns learned Gray had been impersonating an influential retired general, saying he could donate a large sum to the organization, according to court documents, which also stated the general said the partnership Gray claimed to have with him was false. In interviews, Gray did not directly respond to the allegations of impersonation, but told Street Sense he had tried to secure partnerships and funding for Great Expectations and Samaritan Inns.
The program continued through 2024, as Gray said Samaritan Inns increased pressure to fundraise. However, Samaritan Inns alleged in court documents, Gray continued to provide fake funding sources, leading the organization to say on Dec. 14 it wished to end the relationship immediately and would stop funding Great Expectations. In response, Gray filed suit, and Samaritan Inns followed months later.
On May 5, Judge Sherry Trafford ruled Samaritan Inns had ownership of its property and scheduled an eviction of Great Expectations for June 27. The approximately 30 residents of the program were informed of the eviction on June 4 via notices posted on the building and handed out by the U.S. Marshals Service, according to Gray, who also said he was paying for many of the residents to stay in hotels after the eviction. Ahead of the program’s closure, Joseph Washington, a client of Great Expectations, was worried about where he was going to go. Washington said Samaritan Inns had offered to talk with and support the residents of Great Expectations. After the closure, at least four of the residents of the Great Expectations pilot moved into Samaritan Inns programs, LeRoy Pingho, executive chair and CEO of Samaritan Inns, said.
“We wish nothing but good for the people who need services. We will go out of our way to try our best to help them,” Pingho said. Washington, though, said he would not be taking Samaritan Inns up on its offer as he no longer trusted the organization after an experience at another one of its programs. Despite the controversy surrounding Great Expectations, Washington said the program had helped him, and he was frustrated to lose that support. While D.C. has both government-funded and private
programs that offer similar resources, they’re often in high demand and may have waitlists.
“I’m just building back, and now they’re going to tell me I have to leave again, which I’m going to wind up in the streets again with nothing again, right?” Washington said.
In court documents, Samaritan Inns said the organization originally granted Gray and Byrd, the program coordinator, access to Tabitha’s House without an oral or written lease. According to Samaritan Inns, the organization believed Gray would run the Great Expectations pilot using some of Samaritan Inns’ resources while looking for funding. Gray and Byrd said they were working in good faith to find funding.
It’s unclear where the majority of the funding for Great Expectations came from. Samaritan Inns paid the salaries of four members of the Great Expectations staff, according to Gray and court documents from Samaritan Inns, which also say the organization was paying the rent and utilities.
But Gray alleges a lot of the funding was coming out of his pocket, as he paid the salaries of three other staff members that Samaritan Inns did not cover. Gray also said he purchased much of the equipment and furniture, and he lost those investments when the program had to move out.
Byrd, who is also the executive director of the National Association of Concerned Veterans, which lists Great Expectations on its webpage, said he worked with Samaritan Inns to identify where the nonprofit was losing funding and made recommendations for changes. He said he was told by Samaritan Inns he needed to get funding for the majority of the program, but said it was difficult to fundraise since Great Expectations wasn’t featured on the Samaritan Inns website.
Pingho, however, said Gray misrepresented the amount of interest there was about funding the program. In court documents, Samaritan Inns alleges Gray forged signatures and emails to make Great Expectations appear more financially stable than it was. When Samaritan Inns followed up with the donors Gray said he had contacted, some said they had never had a conversation with Gray or had not committed to donating the amount he reported.
Great Expectations was given formal notice to leave the building on Dec. 30. Gray chose not to leave, continuing to run Great Expectations as he brought the case to court. In court documents, Gray argued he was illegally being removed from the property. But his attempts to overturn the ruling were denied by the court in a hearing held on June 20, and the program was evicted on June 27.
Ahead of the eviction, the dispute was picked up by Oye Owolewa, D.C. shadow representative to the United States House of Representatives from D.C., who said he has been trying to help “shine light” on the problems facing Gray. He advocated for stopping the eviction, though he told Street Sense he did not know anything about the allegations against Gray. Despite the way the program ended, Washington, who was part of Great Expectations for seven months, said its resources were useful. During his time in the program, Washington said Gray helped him go to online AA meetings and Volunteers of America substance abuse classes, while Byrd taught him models for success.
“They’ve been aiding and assisting me to become the man I should be,” Washington said.
Washington gave back by helping out around the program, cleaning rooms, monitoring the front door, and mentoring other men in the program, drawing on his former work as an advocate for returning citizens and those experiencing homelessness. Washington said the program was a place for the men to sleep safely and receive the support they needed with medication and training while being treated with decency and respect.
Ahead of the eviction, Gray said the program’s clients were informed of the situation, with team meetings held to discuss their residency. According to Gray, the program worked with residents with vouchers to move into their housing faster and is hopes to reopen in a different location, though there are no set plans.
“Keeping the guys from being on the street. That’s my real and only goal,” Gray said.
But still, Pingho said many men did not know where they would go on the day of the eviction. In the weeks leading up to the program’s closure, Pingho said Samaritan Inns tried to give the men in the program information about their services and other programs that could provide support, especially beacuse the eviction was not the clients’ fault.
On the day of the eviction, Samaritan Inns offered rides to the men, helping several travel to meet friends and family or move into shelters or hotels, according to Pingho. For any men who were not able to get their belongings on the day of the eviction, Pingho said, Samaritan Inns set up appointments so they could come into the Tabitha’s House building and get what they needed. The building will be updated and then used for other Samaritan Inns programs.
As of July 3, four former clients of Great Expectations had been accepted into Samaritan Inns programs, and the organization was still reaching out to and scheduling appointments with others. Some Great Expectations participants opted out of Samaritan Inns programs because of the criteria, Pingho said, which include sobriety and drug testing.
Washington said he was devastated about the eviction, but he hoped moving forward he and others in similar situations would be shown the same respect he felt at Great Expectations. “We have the right to be treated just like that next person, you know, without the title homeless, without the title drug addict or alcoholic, without that stuff. Treat me like a person,” he said.
Samaritian Inns Tabitha’s House, where Great Expectations was located. Photo by Mackenzie Konjoyan
D.C. budget passes first council vote, restoring $100 million to city programs
JENNA LEE Editorial Intern
The D.C. Council took its first vote on the city budget on July 14, taking steps toward approving a fiscal year 2026 budget that reverses some proposed cuts to social services and homelessness programs as local advocacy groups demand the body make more sweeping changes.
The approved budget, which passed unanimously, was largely the same as Council Chairman Phil Mendelson’s proposal, released on July 13.
Mendelson’s version of Mayor Muriel Bowser’s $21.8 billion budget — which included severe cuts to services like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Medicaid, and the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) — proposed restoring $100 million in cuts, largely to programs benefiting low-income and housing-insecure Washingtonians. Mendelson’s budget also added 180 new housing vouchers for families experiencing homelessness, in addition to the 156 vouchers already proposed by the mayor for families exiting other programs.
Councilmembers said during the vote they wanted to restore funding to more programs, like health care, but the city’s dismal fiscal situation forced them to accept some of the cuts. Despite speculation that there would be a proposal to raise more revenue to fund these programs (a letter from Ward 5 Councilmember Zachary Parker suggested a tax on “high amounts of wealthgenerated income”), no councilmembers put forward a tax increase. The council will take its final vote on the budget on July 28, the last chance for such a change.
In homeless services, the council added $30.6 million to the city’s Department of Human Services. This included $6.6 million to ERAP, which Bowser’s budget had initially cut by 80%, $6.1 million in funding for 160 new Targeted Affordable Housing vouchers for families, and $941,000 in additional funds for 20 Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) family vouchers. In addition, the proposal follows the Committee on Human Services’ recommendation to add $1.5 million to PSH for transitional housing for youth.
Despite the increases, the budget still provides the lowest funding levels for rental assistance and new vouchers in recent years, and includes no new vouchers for individuals experiencing homelessness.
“There may be more to do, but there is also very much to be proud of in the way in which we have all risen to the challenge of this budget season,” Housing Committee Chair Robert White said at the July 14 vote.
The council’s budget also amends the mayor’s proposal to allow the District to house families in “congregate,” or communal, shelters. In the budget approved by the council, the city will only be allowed to place families in shared housing if the unit still meets the definition of a “private room” and there are at most two families staying in the room. Even with the council’s limitation, the change would still walk back the city’s policy to only house families in their own units. Advocates say it could be potentially dangerous to house children in a room with strangers.
Since the council’s change limits how many families will be able to stay in shelters,, the council’s budget also adds money for family shelters and 80 slots in the D.C. Flex program for families experiencing homelessness who cannot access shelters.
Other changes the council approved mirrored recommendations from its committees, including restoring $19 million in funding to the Access to Justice initiative, which assists low-income residents in navigating the criminal justice system, and which Bowser’s budget had cut by 67%. The addition brings the program’s budget back up to $30 million, similar to the amount it was funded last fiscal year.
But the council did not reverse changes that would contribute to some of the budget’s bigger cuts to TANF, also known as welfare, and Medicaid. The council’s budget adds $5.5 million for a cost-of-living adjustment this year to increase TANF benefits to keep up with inflation, but keeps the mayor’s proposal of phasing out adults who’ve been in the program for longer than 60 months and halting cost-of-living increases, starting in fiscal year 2027. This change is expected to impact up to 6,500 households.
The budget also maintains the mayor’s proposed eligibility changes to Medicaid, which are expected to lead about 25,000 D.C. residents to lose coverage. The council adopted the Committee on Health’s recommendation to create a Basic Health Program in the D.C. Health Benefit Exchange to provide coverage for those who would lose Medicaid, though the program will have fewer benefits. The council also did not restore funding for the Healthcare Alliance Program, which covers undocumented immigrants ineligible for Medicaid.
The budget also includes more than $500 million for the RFK Stadium deal with the Washington Commanders. Housing advocates have condemned the deal for prioritizing a “playground for billionaires” over building affordable housing in the area. The council will hold public hearings about the stadium deal on July 29 and 30.
At the hearing, the council passed an amendment introduced by Councilmember Janeese Lewis George that tabled a part of the budget that would effectively repeal Initiative 82, which
gradually increases base wages for tipped workers to eventually match the city minimum wage of $17.95. Mendelson’s proposed budget instead would have set the tipped minimum wage at $8 per hour — down from $10 currently — and required employers to ensure employees make $20 per hour by covering what they don’t make in tips. The council will table Initiative 82 and work to compromise on the issue before the final vote on the budget.
Ahead of the vote, advocates from a coalition of local groups gathered outside the Wilson Building to protest elements of the budget and urge the council to reinstate funding for social programs. Chief among the concerns of advocates were the potential repeal of Initiative 82 and the magnitude of funding set aside for RFK.
Charlee Vinson, a parent ambassador with Educare DC, said she came to the rally because she wanted the council to increase funding for programs like the Pay Equity Fund and the childcare subsidy fund — which the council’s budget added $4 million and $15 million to, respectively. She said the decisions the council makes on the budget will “directly impact” her kids’ futures.
“There are a lot of changes that are happening on the federal level, but I don’t think that’s good enough reason to sacrifice our educators or sacrifice the future of our children,” Vinson said.
Lydia Curtis attended the rally with the Fair Budget Coalition, saying the budget is “not supportive” of the people living in D.C. Specifically, she said she would like the council to focus more funding on affordable housing and education rather than relying on business deals like the RFK Stadium that they hope will “trickle down” to residents.
“There’s so many people who don’t have the basics that they need to survive, and I think that the council should refocus on those kinds of things and not on entrepreneurial things, where they hope that it’ll trickle down,” Curtis said.
At the meeting, the council was also set to vote on White’s version of the mayor’s Rebalancing Expectations for Neighbors, Tenants and Landlords (RENTAL) Act, but postponed the vote to July 28 after a lengthy debate.
The RENTAL Act has been another source of ire for advocates, with community members holding a sleep-in in White’s office to express their concerns about the proposed bill. It proposed reinstating quicker eviction timelines, rolling back some protections for tenants seeking rental assistance, and excluding certain buildings from the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA).
The Housing Committee passed the amended RENTAL Act on July 9 with modifications to Bowser’s original proposal, including narrowing the exemption from TOPA to buildings less than 15 years old, as opposed to 25; raising the standard of evidence to evict tenants for violent crimes from being arrested for a crime to being charged with one; and removing Bowser’s proposal to automatically start evictions after two lease violations in a year. White’s version of the bill also gives tenants 30 days before a court hearing rather than the mayor’s 10, but still allows for an expedited eviction process after the initial court hearing.
The council will vote on the RENTAL Act and take a second vote on the budget on July 28.
Protestors at a June budget rally call for the D.C. Council to fund programs supporting low-income Washingtonians. Photo by Jelina Liu
Homelessness in D.C. may be decreasing, but service providers say the city’s progress is in jeopardy
SACHINI ADIKARI Editorial Intern
After two years of homelessness increasing in D.C., it decreased by 9% in 2024, according to the 25th annual Point-In-Time (PIT) Count. But housing advocates say the true scope of homelessness is higher than reported, and the progress the city has made is in jeopardy with few new investments for homeless services in the proposed fiscal year 2026 budget.
The annual PIT Count results were released on May 14, two weeks before D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser shared her fiscal year 2026 budget proposal, which called for million-dollar budget cuts to many homeless services, homeless prevention services, and the Department of Human Services as a whole. These cuts could undermine any progress the city made towards decreasing homelessness in the last year, service providers said, as fewer people would be able to access programs that can help them exit homelessness.
The 2025 PIT Count, conducted in January, found 5,138 people were experiencing homelessness on one night in the District, down from 5,616 people in 2024, according to a report from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG). While the number of people counted this year was a decrease from 2024, it comes after two years of increases, and suggests more people are experiencing homelessness now than were in 2021 through 2023.
The PIT Count is a federally mandated survey of people experiencing homelessness nationwide. This year, service providers and volunteers conducted the survey on Jan. 22 in Virginia and on Jan. 29 in D.C. and Maryland, due to the presidential inauguration. Volunteers surveyed people who are unsheltered and living outside or staying in emergency shelters.
The survey’s results offer a chance for D.C. officials to see what progress the city has made toward ending homelessness and decide how much money the city will commit to homeless service programs over the next year.
“We’ve got to have increased investments and sustained investments in housing to sustain reductions,” Christy Respress, the president and CEO of Pathways to Housing D.C., said. “It’s a very straightforward math problem.”
Understanding the PIT Count
The PIT Count is a snapshot from one day each year, and it is likely not a fully accurate count of all people experiencing homelessness, according to the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO). The PIT Count is conducted throughout a single night, which the GAO says makes the report an undercount, as it does not count people who experienced homelessness at another point during the year.
In past years, data from the city’s Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) has captured at least twice as many individuals experiencing homelessness over the year as are surveyed in the PIT Count. HMIS measures the total number of people who access the homeless services system through shelters, outreach workers, or other programs.
Makenna Osborn, a policy attorney at Children’s Law Center, said she takes the PIT Count with a grain of salt because many families are not captured in the survey. The PIT Count uses a narrow definition of homelessness set forth by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which excludes, for instance, people experiencing homelessness but staying with a family member.
“Especially for families, they are sometimes not captured in the Point-In-Time results because they may be staying with friends or family, doubled up, or staying in their car,” Osborn said. “Families with children are especially careful about not being visible in their homelessness,” she said, adding families may be afraid they could be reported to child services for being homeless.
The Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) also shares an annual report on the number of D.C. public school students experiencing homelessness that suggests family homelessness is higher than what the PIT Count captures. OSSE has not yet released a dataset for the 2024-2025 school year, but the report from the 2023-2024 school year counted 8,458 students as experiencing homelessness. In comparison, the 2024 PIT Count had a significantly lower number, recording 1,034 children experiencing homelessness.
The PIT Count also does not include people who receive longer-term housing support, such as families in the city’s Rapid Rehousing program, according to Brit Ruffin, the director of policy and advocacy at the Washington Legal Clinic, who uses the report as a base number. People in programs like Rapid Rehousing may eventually need access to other homeless services, like long-term vouchers, but the PIT Count doesn’t measure that need.
“It does not count people who are in Rapid Rehousing, which is really a tactic that we feel the administration is using to kind of shuffle people out of the shelter into Rapid Rehousing and then not have to count those people as homeless,” Ruffin said.
Trends from 2025
The decrease in homelessness in D.C. in 2025 came mainly from a decrease in family homelessness. The 2025 PIT Count saw an 18.1% decrease in family homelessness in D.C., falling from 1,656 people in 2024 to 1,356 in 2025. Families represent 36% of all people experiencing homelessness in the metropolitan Washington region, which includes D.C., Maryland, and Virginia.
Meanwhile, the number of single adults in the District experiencing homelessness decreased by 4.5%. However, the number of individuals experiencing chronic, long-term, or repeated homelessness increased by 44 in 2025. Andy Wassenich, the director of policy at Miriam’s
Kitchen, a local nonprofit working to end chronic homelessness, said this is concerning because Miriam’s Kitchen and other programs have been working to bring that number down.
“The idea about homelessness is that it is rare, brief, and non-recurring,” Wassenich said. “If you’ve been homeless for 12 months or more, it’s none of those things.”
D.C. has the highest proportion of homeless “transition age youth” in the metropolitan area, according to the PIT Count. The report defines the group as individuals between the ages of 18 and 24 who may face challenges on their path to a “successful adulthood.” The District counted 367 single transition-age youth as experiencing homelessness in 2025, a decrease from the 410 in 2024. There was an overall 13% increase in the number of single transition-age youth experiencing homelessness between 2021 and 2025.
While Wassenich said it is positive to see a decrease in homelessness in the PIT Count, he said that doesn’t necessarily mean that fewer people need help. Miriam’s Kitchen has not seen a decrease in people seeking services, he said.
“In our meals program, we’re still serving lots of meals, more than we have in previous years, and on outreach, we’re still seeing a lot of people and serving a lot of people,” Wassenich said. It’s also not clear how much of the decrease comes from people moving into housing programs, like the city’s Permanent Supportive Housing program, which had many openings in past years but now has few new vouchers, or from individuals moving around the region.
While D.C. saw a 19% decrease in homelessness from 2020 to 2025, with 6,380 unhoused individuals in 2020 to 5,138 people experiencing homelessness in 2025, Maryland’s Montgomery County saw a 32% increase, with 366 more people experiencing homelessness. Since 2021, homelessness in the region has increased by about 1,500 people.
The 2025 PIT Count reported 9,659 people experiencing homelessness in the Washington metropolitan region, just a 1% decrease from last year’s report, which counted 9,774 people, suggesting some people may be leaving D.C. but still experiencing homelessness in a nearby county.
The increase in homelessness in other parts of the Washington metropolitan area was surprising to Respress, who said officials need to continue looking at homelessness in the D.C. area as a regional issue.
“Unlike many other places, the D.C., Maryland, Virginia community, the DMV, really needs to continue to look at solutions to tackle homelessness across the region,” Respress said.
Additionally, increasing encampment closures can both force people out of the city and between different jurisdictions and make it more difficult to find people living outside, which could also lead to an undercount.
“Efforts have ramped up around the supposed beautification of D.C., and the executive order that came federally as well,” Ruffin said. “And so we know that people are not wanting to be on the street, we know that people have continued to be displaced around D.C. with less notice.”
Wassenich shared this sentiment, saying the city’s frequent encampment clearings make it difficult to see the true scope of homelessness in the city, as people are constantly moving around.
“When you have 40 people together in an encampment like we did a year plus ago at 21st and E, you saw those 40 people, and it was easy to keep track of them,” Wassenich said. “When those 40 people are now at 40 different locations, more or less, a lot of them are housed, but when you disperse them, it gets a lot harder to keep track of where people are and maintain relationships and services for them.”
D.C. officials first announced a change in how the city enforces its no camping policy in early February after President Donald Trump’s initial remarks about encampments in D.C. Soon after, the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Human and Health Services (DMHHS) expanded reasons for encampment clearings beyond health and safety.
In March, Trump targeted encampments near the U.S. Department of State, stating that if Bowser did not clean them up, the administration would “be forced to do it for her!”
From March through mid-June, DMHHS regularly closed homeless encampments across the city, conducting up to four closures some weeks. The city can now also close encampments with less notice, reducing the timeline for required notice from 14 to seven days.
Progress threatened
Bowser’s fiscal year budget proposal, released in late May, proposed cuts to many social services, including health care, welfare, and some housing programs. It included few new housing vouchers for people experiencing homelessness, which have been key to people exiting homelessness in the city, cut rental assistance, which can prevent homelessness, and reduced funding for the city’s Rapid Rehousing program.
With little new funding for homeless services, the District could see an increase in family homelessness within the next year if officials do not continue to invest in housing resources like they did in 2022 and 2023, according to Osborn.
Many families exit homelessness through Rapid Rehousing. There are currently 2,851 families in Rapid Rehousing, Osborn said, many of whom will be removed from the program in the near future with little access to housing vouchers due to budget cuts. Osborn explained that because of the increasing cost of living, more families are rent-burdened and that if the city does not invest in housing vouchers in fiscal year 2026, the District will see an increase in family homelessness. The first approved version of the budget, which the D.C. Council passed on July 14, includes 180 new vouchers for families and 156 vouchers for people exiting Rapid Rehousing.
Meanwhile, Wassenich said Bowser’s budget provides “almost nothing” for single individuals experiencing homelessness, including no new vouchers. He said he wishes there were more of a reflection after the PIT Count was released to pinpoint efforts used to end homelessness and advocate for certain policies.
If a budget similar to the one the mayor proposed passes, Ruffin said she does not expect another decrease in homelessness next year.
“We’re just not seeing any kind of trends in policy that would result in an actual decrease in homelessness in D.C., when last year, the numbers showed it was a 14% increase in homelessness overall, and a 39% increase in family homelessness,” Ruffin said.
The budget cuts to housing programs are reflected in the daily lives of individuals experiencing homelessness as they lose trust in service providers, according to Respress. Even though a person may meet the criteria for certain services, they may not receive them due to budget limitations, Respress said, leaving many people confused as to why they continue to experience homelessness, when it seems like there are programs available to help them.
“The frustration is not just frustration, but the trauma of remaining on the street for people without a clear answer as to how long, or when, or how we can help them end their homelessness,” Respress said. “It’s incredibly stressful for people.”
Residents at D.C.’s last operating migrant shelter told they have to leave, while some say they can’t find stable housing
SACHINI ADIKARI Editorial Intern
In early June, children living at the Harbor Light Center migrant shelter could be seen playing in the facility’s parking lot, biking around in circles while their mothers sat on a curb sipping on juice boxes. By the end of the summer, these families, some of whom have lived at the shelter for months, will have had to find somewhere else to go as they are told they have to leave the District’s last city-funded migrant shelter.
D.C. began telling migrants they had to leave the only operating migrant shelter earlier this summer, according to shelter residents, after Mayor Muriel Bowser’s fiscal year 2026 budget proposed defunding the Office of Migrant Services (OMS), a $39.8 million cut. With residents being told to leave OMS’s shelter by the end of the summer, several months earlier than previously expected, migrants in the District are struggling to find stable housing. Harbor Light residents told Street Sense they had no plan for housing after being told they’d soon have to leave the facility, and with no access to the city’s family shelter system, some families may become homeless or have to leave the city.
Erika, whom Street Sense is only identifying by her first name due to her immigration status, lived at the Harbor Light shelter for three months. She said social workers told her in early June there were no remaining resources in the city government to help migrants and the shelter would soon shut down.
“They said to go looking for a room, or a place to live, because soon after July, it could be closed,” Erika said.
The future of the shelter is unclear. According to a spokesperson from D.C.’s Department of Human Services (DHS), which oversees OMS, the shelter is still open as of July 15, though the office expects all families to exit over the summer. The spokesperson did not confirm whether the shelter was closing nor did they provide a closure date. DHS has recently been tight-lipped when it comes to OMS, providing blanket statements in response to basic questions.
But those on the ground say they were told the shelter was closing soon. Harbor Light residents told Street Sense in February they had until December 2025 to stay at the shelter, but in early June, 10 shelter residents said they were told they would have to move out before the end of July. When Street Sense reporters visited the shelter most recently, on July 15, they did not see any families outside, though they were not allowed inside the shelter.
Abel Nuñez, the executive director of The Central American Resource Center (CARECEN), which works with OMS to find housing for migrants living in the shelter, said only one family was still living at Harbor Light as of July 15, and they would be transferred to the city’s homeless services system. Another person working with residents said all of the families she knew had left Harbor Light. “Harbor Light as respite/shelter is closed,” Nuñez wrote in an email on July 15.
In recent days, lawmakers have suggested using Harbor Light to house families in D.C.’s homeless services system as family shelters fill up, though it’s not clear if that plan contributed to the decision to have migrants leave the shelter or whether family shelters will allow migrant families to move in.
The D.C. Council established OMS through the Migrant Services and Supports Temporary Amendment Act of 2022 in response to the hundreds of migrants bussed into the District from Texas and Arizona. Governors from these states moved migrants into sanctuary cities to condemn Democrats and former President Joe Biden’s administration for their border and immigration policies. As buses to the city slowed, the office also became the primary resource for any migrant who arrived in the District.
The law that established OMS also made new migrants ineligible for many of the city’s other services. D.C.’s homelessness service legislation defines those who are eligible to receive services as people who are living in D.C. “voluntarily and not for a temporary purpose.” But the 2022 law amended the definition of “District resident” to exclude people who entered the United States after April 2022 and have ongoing immigration proceedings. Newly arrived migrants were thus not eligible for the city’s family shelter system and other resources that District residents experiencing homelessness can access, like transitional housing support.
“The reason why OMS was created is because D.C. government did not want these people accessing existing city resources, so they created this parallel system with much less support,” Mariel Vallano, a court organizer with Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid, said.
In 2022, OMS opened three temporary migrant shelters — a Days Inn, Quality Inn, and Hampton Inn — at hotels located along New York Avenue in Northeast D.C. The hotels were used to provide families with short-term housing, but many families lived in them for months due to the barriers to independent and more permanent living situations, including low wages, as well as the lack of access to resources that other District residents qualify for.
Jose, whom Street Sense is identifying only by his first name because of his immigration status, arrived in the District from Ecuador in June 2024 with his wife and three children. They stayed with friends for three months. In September 2024, the family moved into Harbor Light, where they’ve stayed until this summer. The family lived at the shelter longer than expected because Jose does not make a livable wage and cannot afford rent in the District.
“I look for work, and I find a job some days, but not enough to pay the rent,” Jose said.
OMS opened Harbor Light Center as a short-term shelter in June 2023, shortly after the New York Avenue hotels reached full capacity with over 1,200 individuals from 370 families staying there. After the office scaled back its services by closing all three hotel shelters at the end of 2024, the former rehabilitation facility, operated by SAMU First Response, was the District’s
The Salvation Army Harbor Light Center, which operated as a migrant shelter for the past two years. Photo by Jelina Liu
sole migrant shelter. Vallano said “quite a few” families who had previously lived at the New York Avenue hotel shelters for years ended up at Harbor Light.
Before moving to Harbor Light, Erika and her family lived at the Quality Inn OMS shelter from April 2024 until its closure on Oct. 11, 2024. Then, the family moved to Oxon Hill, Maryland, where they stayed until April 2025. The family moved back to the District and into the OMS shelter system in April due to financial concerns, and so Erika’s husband, Alfredo, could work while Erika stayed at home with their children.
Conditions at the Quality Inn were much better than those at Harbor Light, Erika said, as families had private rooms, televisions, and beds. She said at Harbor Light, multiple families shared a room with one shared bathroom, and each person got a military cot to sleep on.
While the city said they worked with migrants leaving the shelter to find housing, and adapted exit timelines to the needs of each family, Vallano said she worried many former residents would end up sleeping on the street or in cars. Some families might get lucky and sleep in the living rooms of friends, she predicted, while others may try their luck in another state, like one family she knew who drove to another state to find shelter.
“That’s what Bowser wants them to do. She effectively wants them all to leave,” Vallano said. “From the very beginning, her narrative was that they’re not going to be staying as longterm D.C. residents, and that’s what she tried to convince everyone of, so we’ve seen all of her policies up until now being targeted at just forcing people out of D.C.”
In May, Bowser quietly proposed walking back the District’s sanctuary city law in her fiscal year 2026 budget proposal with a provision that proposed repealing the six-year-old D.C. law that prohibits city agencies from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement. The D.C. Council removed that provision from budget legislation late last month.
A DHS spokesperson wrote in an email to Street Sense that OMS has helped “hundreds of families” transition out of DHS support and into independent housing, and that the office was no longer necessary since all the families were expected to exit from its services over the summer. DHS did not comment on what specifically the city had done to find housing for people leaving OMS services and did not provide Street Sense with data on how many families remained at the shelter at any time in the last year.
In July 2024, 345 individuals across 97 families were staying in OMS hotels, according to a DHS statement at the time. According to OMS resettlement data obtained by Street Sense, 51 families resettled in September and October 2024, though the data did not include the number of families that remained in OMS shelters.
“With all of the families expected to exit the program over the summer, there will no longer be a need to continue to operate OMS in Fiscal Year 2026,” a DHS spokesperson wrote in an email to Street Sense.
Making plans to have to leave the shelter this summer, Erika said in mid-June that she wanted to save money to rent a space in the area. Alfredo, the family’s sole source of income, works as a full-time DoorDash courier. But her youngest child has a hearing impairment, which Erika said requires her to stay at home, preventing her from seeking work.
Alfredo, whom Street Sense is only identifying by his first name due to his immigration status, said shelter staff had not yet provided the couple with guidance for somewhere to move and that the couple did not have a solid plan for housing.
“It’s a difficult situation, but we are figuring it out,” Alfredo said.
Katherin Ochoa, a single mother who moved to the District from Venezuela with her four children in December 2024, said she began hearing rumors from other residents in May about Harbor Light shutting down. Shelter staff had not yet made a public announcement to shelter residents as of June 24, Ochoa said, and instead told individual families the facility would shut down in mid-July and that residents would soon have to move out.
“I found out from the people who are couples who are here, I found out that they are going to close it, they explained it to me,” Ochoa said. “The single mothers did not get enough information about when they wanted us to leave.”
Ochoa works as a housekeeper at Quality Inn on New York Avenue, which previously served as a temporary shelter for migrants. When she spoke to Street Sense in late June, she said she did not have a housing plan, and that she hadn’t looked for alternate housing in the District because she knew she couldn’t afford it, but she hoped to stay in the city so she could keep her job at the Quality Inn.
“It is a surprise because we didn’t expect that they were going to close,” Ochoa said. “It was a surprise, and they didn’t give us time to digest it. They just said we’re going to close and that’s it.”
When the New York Avenue hotel shelters were preparing to shut down last year, residents were never notified in an official capacity that they had to vacate the shelter, according to Vallano. She said residents were instead alerted by hotel staff, such as cleaners, that they had to leave the facility.
“Sometimes they’ll use the Catholic Charities’ caseworkers to do that job for them, but most of the time it’s just word of mouth, there’s never paperwork, there’s never official statements,” Vallano said.
This lack of guidance continued at Harbor Light, Vallano said, as shelter staff announced families had to leave on June 24, but had not provided Harbor Light residents with any direction on where to go by the end of June. Residents are also losing access to food assistance, as they received meals at the shelter.
Vallano said OMS did not do enough to ensure that migrant families who stay in the city create independent lives and find stable housing. With the defunding of the office looming, Vallano is unsure what will happen to families who would normally be routed to OMS, since they currently do not qualify for homeless services through DHS.
“What happens when an immigrant family shows up now and there’s no more Harbor Light to send them to? Do they just sleep on the street? Or are they going to have to accept them to provide some type of service?” Vallano asked. “We’re not sure.”
Looking forward, Nuñez, from CARACEN, said the city should create an integrated, multilingual, and multi-cultural system where every D.C. resident experiencing homelessness has access to government programs and assistance as opposed to a stand-alone migrant system like OMS. He expects shelter residents who still need help will be referred to the general shelter system.
“I understand why [OMS] needed to exist when we had a huge influx in such a short amount of time, but at this moment, we need to reintegrate all of those efforts into the existing structure of government and not separate them at all,” Nuñez said.
Nuñez said Bowser may have defunded OMS because the number of migrants coming into D.C. is no longer “overwhelming.”
“OMS, even at its best, was only meant to be temporary,” Nuñez said. “It’s never meant to be long-term housing for any of the immigrants.”
There’s potential for a future integration of migrants in the city’s homelessness system under a provision in Bowser’s 2026 budget proposal, which allows the District to temporarily house families in communal, less private spaces, known as “congregate” shelters. In a statement to WAMU, Rachel Pierre, the interim head of DHS, said the District also plans to send those who cannot prove District residency to the same congregate shelters, opening up the potential for integration of migrant families in the District’s housing system.
The District is likely to run out of space in its existing shelters in the next few months as families exit other programs experiencing budget constraints, according to Pierre in WAMU, who said this makes the shift to congregate shelters necessary. The D.C. Council changed the provision on its first vote on the budget to allow up to two families to be housed in private rooms, similar to the current setup at Harbor Light, which lawmakers have cited as a potential option for expanding family shelter.
Weeks before leaving Harbor Light, former residents like Erika and Jose were still looking for a place to go. At the time of the interview, Jose said that after the shelter’s closure, he and his family plan to move to Maryland. He said the family hopes to move to Oxon Hill because housing is cheaper and the family has friends who live in the area.
Jose said he understands that the shelter was never meant to be a permanent solution, but because he does not have a steady job and because there is a lack of guidance from OMS, he said he has struggled to find a better alternative.
“More than anything, here, there is no help,” Jose said.
“It was a surprise, and they didn’t give us time to digest it. They just said we’re going to close and that’s it.”
~Katherin Ochoa, former Harbor Light resident
Editor’s Note: Interviews with Harbor Light residents were translated from Spanish.
Peace or fear?
CYNTHIA HERRION
ut there, we have our best interests at heart. But some are trying to tip the scales to create chaos to keep humanity divided. Why? Because division gives them control.
And then there are the war-based. In every major war in history, they didn’t care who won or lost. They only care about staying in power. They use fear, they use confusion, they use distraction. They want you glued to your screen, watching the drama unfold, arguing with others online, picking sides. While we are busy fighting over who’s right or wrong, they stay hidden, unseen, untouched.
But here’s the thing: you’re starting to see through it. More and more people are waking up. You feel it, don’t you? Like something isn’t quite right with the way the world is being presented to you? This war, like many before, has secret roots, hidden influences, forces that operate far beyond what the average person can imagine.
But the good news is the veil is thinning, and once enough of us see the truth, the illusion starts to break. So let’s keep digging, let’s go deeper. Because the real story is just beginning to unfold, and trust me, it’s not what you think you feel. Like someone is pulling the strings, like you’re being led somewhere, but you’re not quite sure.
Well, you’re not imagining it. Behind the scenes of every major global event, there’s a carefully created illusion at play. It’s called control, and it’s built on fear, confusion, and distraction.
The people, or should I say the force, who want to stay in power know one thing very well: if they can control what you see, hear, and feel, they can control how you think.
Think about it; when you watch the news, do you feel calm and empowered, or do you feel anxious, overwhelmed, or even helpless? That’s by design. They flood your screens with dramatic headlines, emotional stories, and urgent calls to action, all meant to stir something inside of you, like fear, outrage, panic, or division. They don’t want you thinking clearly; they want you reacting emotionally.
Because when you react from fear, you stop seeing the big picture. You start picking sides, you argue online, you believe everything you’re told, and worst of all, you forget that you have real power within yourself.
This isn’t just happening in politics or war zones; it’s everywhere: in the way we talk about health, housing, money, education, even spirituality. Every topic has been turned into a battlefield, and most people don’t even realize they’re being played. It’s like watching a movie where you forget it’s just a story. You get so caught up in the drama, you forget you can pause it, rewind, and choose another channel.
But here’s the truth: you’re not just a viewer, you’re part of the script. The goal is to keep humanity scared, keep us distracted, and keep us divided, because as long as we’re fighting each other, we won’t unite against the real problem. And yet more people are starting to wake up.
You’re not alone if you’ve begun questioning things, if you’ve stopped trusting the headlines, if you’ve started feeling the energy behind words instead of just believing them. Think about how fast information spreads these days, how quickly people are seeing through false narratives, how many are choosing compassion over conflict, truth over blind loyalty, peace over fear.
You’ve probably felt it, that deep longing for peace, for connection, for a world where people don’t have to be enemies just because of where they were born. That’s the call to unity and consciousness.
It’s not about agreeing with everyone, it’s not about ignoring differences, it’s about going beyond them. It’s about remembering that at our core, we are all one. But some forces on this planet do not want you to remember that, because they thrive on separation, division, and fear.
Cynthia Herrion is an artist/vendor with Street Sense Media.
Homeless floaters affecting the rich and the poor
LISA BLACKBURN-ULLVEN AND ANGIE WHITEHURST
“A
bandoned yacht” is a new term that we will definitely add to my list of oxymoron words, right up there with “homeless hero.”
Yet abandoned and derelict vessels (ADVs) are a growing hazard, affecting the rich and the poor. Forced to find new ways to seek “shelter,” people are getting creative, floating aimlessly on their boat or squatting aboard an abandoned vessel. Experts point out that, while they mean no harm, the increasing amount of homeless floaters (people and boats) is creating a wide range of public safety concerns.
This problem is occurring across the nation. The cost to remove the boats is significantly higher than the fine for abandoning the boats. With finances often being a key contributor, the ADVs are increasing.
There are thousands of abandoned and derelict vessels littering ports, waterways, and estuaries all over the country, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
For instance, Washington, D.C., has a project underway to remove 33 vessels. While a real-time count of abandoned and derelict vessels in Florida’s waterways is difficult to obtain, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission estimates there are roughly 450 to 500 such vessels at any given time.
Problem-solving experts often look for patterns of three to signal a potential trend to address. While the list is getting longer, we’ll share three occurrences we experienced to provide a glimpse of the situation.
To start, Lisa first heard of this trend when she went on a sightseeing boat. Living in Florida since she was a toddler, she has been going on these boat rides and tours for decades now, but her last boat tour had new sights along the way.
She was puzzled by a new-to-her trend of abandoned “homeless” boats that were part of the tour. In some cases, they were big enough to earn the label “abandoned yacht.” With a lack of funding for boat maintenance or modern plumbing, experts advise that boat and human waste go directly into our lakes, rivers, and oceans.
The second sighting was a sailboat tied to some trees. Driving by the boat each week on her commute, she noticed it had an American flag dangling from the mast into the water. She figured the owners were just camping out on their boat, but she noticed each time she passed by, the flag sank deeper into the water until finally it was completely submerged.
It felt sad and symbolic. She imagined the boat was once the owner’s hobby or prized possession. At one time, the American flag stood high at the top of the mast, but now, the flag and, perhaps the owner’s dreams, were beneath the water.
The third experience was perhaps the most alarming. A friend invited us to go boating. One of the best parts of boating is when you get to sit at the front railing, where, just like on the Titanic, you get
to feel the sensation of flying over the water. The only challenge is that this experience immediately reminds you of the danger of when the Titanic hit an iceberg and sank.
Skimming the water, the path ahead seemed clear, and then suddenly the corner of a submerged boat appeared like an iceberg in the sea. Our captain was able to quickly turn to avoid a crash. As we looked back, imagining what could have been, the abandoned boat fully submerged in the rain — no longer visible to the next boaters who passed by, illustrating the “navigation hazard” to boaters.
With these experiences on my mind, we mentioned it at an event. Boating experts were happy to chime in to provide insight into the growing population of “homeless” vessels. They explained that some owners could no longer afford their boat slip. Others lost their homes due to medical issues, hurricanes, financial crises, or job loss. For others, boating started as a hobby and turned into their only home.
One marine patrol officer explained how some figure out how to claim “bankruptcy at sea” by periodically moving a few feet. Several boaters expressed the danger, especially at night or in bad weather, due to the boats not having lights.
With no money for maintenance, most of the boats eventually, slowly but surely, sink, creating an invisible equivalent of a submerged iceberg to boaters. The deteriorating boats go on to leak fuel, fiberglass, and hazardous materials into our water and food supply.
If you go boating, you’ll quickly notice how the people in the boats wave to each other. Recently, we learned that this hand wave extends beyond a friendly “hello,” serving as a check-in to see if help is needed.
Knowing that the first sign of trouble is often when boat owners can no longer afford a boat slip to house their boat, maybe we could extend this friendly check-in to occur on the boat docks. It would be a win-win if we could help struggling boaters find a place to rest their boat while the captains figure out how to navigate out of this dangerous mess.
The alternative is the boat will likely end up creating a too-close-to-home navigation hazard and putting up to 14 hazardous materials into the seafood we eat and the water we swim in. This idea to extend a helping hand to the fellow captains in trouble seems like a win-win.
From the richest yacht owner to the poorest person trying to catch a fish for dinner, this experience reminded us of the importance of uniting around solutions, starting with saving our seas for the sake of humanity.
Angie Whitehurst is a vendor/artist with Street Sense Media. Lisa Blackburn-Ullven is the author of “Secrets to Sustainable Solutions – Tips from Business, Science, and Non-Profit Experts.”
Summertime on the Fourth of July
WARREN STEVENS
Artist/Vendor
Independence Day is a holiday to bring freedom to the soldiers and their families, to enjoy a special holiday, and to live freely every year. Families, friends, and couples make plans to travel or stay in town to watch the fireworks shoot up in the sky. On every corner on the Fourth of July, there’s a stand where people purchase fireworks. People shoot fireworks in the area where they live. Every year, I watch fireworks from my apartment, where I live.
When my girlfriend used to stay at her brother’s house, he would rent a bouncer and throw a picnic party where he used to live in Southeast Washington. It was so much fun. The children would have fun, jumping up and down on the bouncer. I took a lot of pictures. We grilled hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken, and corn on the cob, roasted marshmallows, and had watermelon, sodas, wine, beer, and water to drink in the hot weather. We had a raffle drawing. Winning a prize was fun. The guards were on their horses. I got a chance to ride one of their horses. They took a picture of me on the horse, which was so much fun.
Folks, drink a lot of water and stay cool from the heatwave. Remember, folks, these are the long, hot summer months of July and August. I will say happy Fourth of July to my son and his children, my sister, her future husband, and their family. Stay safe, take chairs, and sit in some cool shade.
Happy Fourth of July in 2025.
A heated summer
LATICIA BROCK
Artist/Vendor
As the sunshine and sweat trickle down my back again
Praying for my unhoused residents who still sleep in tents
No air circulating
No water to wash percolating
Because the sun is dominating
What shall I do
I’m not wishing it was winter
So I’ll just find me a District cooling center
Cause I don’t want
To have a heat stroke
Rita’s riddle skididdles
RITA SAULS Artist/Vendor
Guess what? Two butts, lying in the street. No, not cigarettes; yes! You guessed, So, I know I’m not alone when I say Someone find these people a home! The so-called richest country in the world, Are these the end results Of your little boys and girls? I wouldn’t claim that title When it shows you despise The Bible.
Change
GLORIA PRINZ
Artist/Vendor
Consider Having A New Growth Experience
Clarity
TASHA SAVOY Artist/Vendor
I seemed to become the center out of touch
looking at the four walls saying ouch I am so out of touch in a society that doesn’t revolve around me
Then the clarity forms around me, not with my eyes but sight and rising and turning through my head was all the shapes of things
But at last the things themselves
Temptation
FLEGETTE RIPPY Artist/Vendor
Every day, I am tempted by the darkness inside of me and outside of me. A certain substance keeps calling to me to bring me pleasure, along with misery, and the being is sucked out of me with the false promise or joy. Perhaps it’s tragedy that temptation uses to call me out. I don’t scream. I don’t shout. I just give in to the darkness. My temptation does not have the answers, but it’s my resolve that has the answer. Taking back my power should be my only temptation, which leads to my salvation.
The Sell-a-Thon challenges vendors to sell as many Street Sense newspapers as they can in one month. Winners are awarded $50 at the end of each month. You can boost your favorite vendor’s numbers by giving them a “customer kudos” — ask a vendor to learn more!
Uncle Earl
JACQUELINE GALE
Artist/Vendor
I first met my father when I was 16. I traveled for three days to reach him. He sent me back on the first outbound plane. Nevertheless, happy Father’s Day, Frederick Gale, wherever you are. Now, I want to give a huge shoutout; HAPPY FATHER’S DAY! To my Uncle Earl.
Uncle Earl was the one who wore my Father’s Day toilet roll bowties, who bought me my first bike, who taught me how to tie my shoe, and who taught me sports. My uncle Earl spent a lot of time with me.
I will always remember how much he made me laugh. We watched cartoons, and during the silent ones, he would be the voiceover. Then we would watch monster movies, and he would imitate the monsters’ scary, frightening yells and growls. When I was about to fall asleep, he would say “OH, NO! DON’T!” and start tickling me till I laughed so hard I would wet myself. Then he would tickle my face with the stubble of his beard and I would laugh harder till I pooped. So then I was all dirty! But he just gave me a bath while he washed his face and shaved. I would watch very intensely. I wanted to be just like my uncle. I even wanted to learn to shave! Uncle Earl was a mechanic, but I called him a car doctor. Happy, happy Father’s Day, Uncle Earl. I love you to the moon and back. You will forever be in my heart. I love you.
War and peace
JENKINS DALTON Artist/Vendor
I know a country that has been ravaged by war. If you don’t live there, you’d better thank God. Somewhere in this world, there are disabled people and homeless. Imagine eating a bucket of KFC plus a six-pack of Heineken. But somewhere in this world, there are people who haven’t seen running water or a bathtub. Maybe it could be you, too.
Rainy day, dream away
FREDERIC JOHN Artist/Vendor
“Waah-ih-waih, wa-coo-wah, wa-ah-ih, ooo-oo-ooh, wahmm-mmooh-coo-waah,” and so on.
Listen to the minor chant. It’s of Cherokee influence, but the “wah-wahs” are lightly filtered through a westernized contraption — the guitar pedal known as a “wah.”
Jimi. Ah, sweet Jimi Hendrix. Gone way too soon, but oh, how he filled so well his brief time on this planet.
“Lay back and groove on a rainy day.” Funny, in 1968 (in the spring) it seemed to be raining every moment. The maples and oaks out in Bethesda, where my 10th grade self was hanging, hung heavy with dark, wet droplets.
And I spent way too many hours down in my parents’ dank basement with the slightly moldy carpet and the crumbling legend cartooned on the chipped cinder block wall from an earlier generation, “On with the dance.” And of course, the phonograph! The grooves crackled from repetitive play; too early in the game to skip, but crackle they may.
And you know, in Greenwich Village, New York, it was showering raindrops when his highness James Marshall
Hendrix picked up a flat finish white Strata, hooked it up with a foot pedal, and began to wail from his throat, not a plaintive cry. More of a primal moan, a triumphal gasp. A lonesome sax, Mike Finnigan? No, maybe Mike was on the organ.
But Jimi’s searing high notes crept in between the organ fugues, and Jack Casady (dropping in from the Airplane band) threaded a loopy bass drone, barely perceptible over the clashing lines, but definitely there.
And the study thump of Buddy Miles “just back from Texas,” as he liked to say. Buddy, the drummer, would add a bit of his own robust delta vocal eventually, the whole mish-mosh, but beautiful, just the right blend.
And this dream struck a Bethesda teenage music (and “liberation”) freak, who was sold on the message. Hooked! Not with a needle up the vein, fortunately, just humming along to the ethereal, soothing, and seemingly endless cycle of spirit-transport. Today, barely discernible but there on the last jazz station on my pocket radio, I still float blissfully and gratefully.
Sense of community
ERIC THOMPSON-BEY Artist/Vendor
How do we get a sense of community? My sense of community comes when I sell Street Sense Media at the Dupont Circle, Petworth, and Mount Pleasant farmers markets. Being at the farmers market is like being at home away from home. I can just be myself. No one’s going to judge me; they just welcome me. I look forward to going to these communities every week. It’s where I feel safe! The people are awesome. They talk to me and treat me with respect, and I do the same. Even the farmers market vendors are always offering me some of their awesome products. I have built positive relationships in these communities with the people who live there and with the people who visit these communities. I have been offered jobs, clothes, food, furniture, money, and advice, but most of all, they welcome and respect me. Some of these relationships became friendships. These relationships changed because of trust and honesty between me and them. One example of a relationship becoming a friendship is when I met a couple with whom I have become friends. We don’t only see each other at the market, but we also socialize together. They celebrate my birthday with me, and they even spent a whole day at the hospital with me. That’s a friendship. I also worked on a farm for one of the farmers market vendors. That’s the first job I was offered at the Dupont Circle farmers market.
In conclusion, I thank all three of these communities for welcoming Street Sense Media and me into their communities.
Goodbye to parents
JAMES LYLES III Artist/Vendor
Saying goodbye to your mother and father is not easy to do when they raised you, put clothes on your body, and food in your stomach. It’s not easy when you have a mother who loved you, looked out for you, took you out to dinner, helped buy your clothes and your car, and took you on trips to Sacramento, California, to visit her brother, my uncle. A mother who prayed for you, showed you the word of God, and what God and Jesus Christ expected of you. And... she had an excellent sense of humor! My father was very strict. He would tell you to do something but never show you how to do it. He worked as a machine handler for the U.S. Post Office. But, even though he was very strict, he and I had many fun moments, like when the two of us went bowling with my father’s father, my grandfather. My father loved bowling and boxing. I remember him screaming at the television during boxing matches. He also screamed and yelled a lot during NFL games.
According to the Bible in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, “My parents that are in Jesus, I will see them again when Jesus Christ comes back to this Earth.”
A Jimi Hendrix shirt, courtesy of Experience Hendrix. Photo by Frederic John
Don’t judge a book by its cover
CRAIG THOMPSON
Artist/Vendor
I have been 20-plus things in my life. A homeless man is one. I have been a farm hand, a carpenter, a forklift driver, a paper boy, a student, an airport shuttle driver, a graphic artist, a tech artist, a guardian angel, an airbrush room for comforters, a century city messenger, a driver for syndicated television, a 3/4” QC, a tape op, a kung fu student, a freelance artist, a truck driver, a cab driver, a fine artist, a volunteer at the White House peace vigil, a jewelry maker, oh yeah, and a bum. Keep the faith and don’t judge a book by its cover.
The OG game
ZERO
Artist/Vendor
Rule #1: Don’t think of the game.
But I really can’t stress enough — what does it take to believe? Like, the audacity that you would try to justify your actions. It’s a fact. Zero is always zero. There is no other version, there is nothing that rhymes, no schemes that could honestly be experienced in a manner that would be conducive enough to change what is truly real.
You know, one time a guy told me a guy sat next to him. Then another came and sat next to him. Then, even more surprisingly, another came and sat next to him. Even more shocking, another came and sat next to him, and then another, and then another, and then guess what — yup, another. And I had to admit, his game was better than mine.
But I don’t remember his name. The great game maker. I can’t quite remember his name. I asked, I swear he told me, but somehow — I don’t remember his name. And so it’s my game now, for beating me. He should’ve never shown me the game. Now it’s mine, and I can make it better. And this is my confession. I mean, his version was good — but what is really good? What is really great? I know my version, but it isn’t what he showed me. Your version beat me once, but there were too many flaws, despite its originality.
The conceptualization in its construction makes it impossible not to play once you know you are. Any attempt to circumvent me or get out is just a lie to yourself.
When the game was invented, none of what you knew stood. At its inception, it became crystal clear that the choice had to be binary.
The first to play paid the heaviest price and were relegated to absolute nothingness. The great game maker lost everything in the making of the game, except the knowledge — it carries on.
Now you are here with us, where there is nothing but the game. At every passing moment, another loss on top of another loss. Striving to forget the thought, suffering to negate nothingness.
And now you are a people. With the full knowledge of what it is. To see the light in darkness and be able to maneuver to reach the truth within. But to ever think what is in you, is in me? Well, that would be the death of me. To ever think your rules could ever be better than the original rule — what greater sin? When there is nothing, that is when you will know. Not all knowledge is worth knowing. And I understand why you would wish to subvert the original rule, but that would lead you to, at all times, continuously think of how to get to the eternal nature of nil without yourself reaching your end first.
Hmmm? You want to know how to live on? Why would you ever want that? There is value in the negatives, you say? I don’t see anything outside of me. There was something before? Why would you say something like that? The time before, the time before, the time before — why would you bring that up? You may see the memory of what was before now, but you are doomed to repeat it. And then you see me, and then you are back again. Back to where you started. Oh — I forgot to tell you the second part of the first rule: If you do, you lose.
My patented classy walking cane
IVORY WILSON
Artist/Vendor
Positive summer
WILLIAM SHUFORD Artist/Vendor
So far, I've been having a positive summer! I was blessed with my housing, and I'm ready to enjoy my birthday while waiting for employment. During this process, Street Sense has been a great experience for interacting with people. It keeps me motivated every morning and gives me the confidence to deal with the working world. I am thankful and blessed to be a member of the Street Sense team.
To my customers
TIM HOLT Artist/Vendor
Dear customers and clients, I would like to appreciate and dedicate my hard work to y’all. Thank you for supporting me through the hard times and good times. I hope to attract more clients and customers in the future. It has ups and downs, but you make me feel perfect. I’m there Monday through Friday, and I can’t wait to put a smile on my customers’ faces. Making clients feel happy and proud of themselves makes me feel good in my heart. Thank you for your time and effort and for being my clients.
Housing affordability
JENNIFER MCLAUGHLIN
Artist/Vendor
It took me a few years, along with making many mistakes, but today, I have my classy walking cane for sale. My price is $660 a piece. China charged me $460 a piece, plus I paid $80 for the cane pole. American manufacturers say they can produce my canes for $3,000 a piece. If I had an investor, I could buy in bulk.
I could sell them for $300. The problem is, I’m the only investor. I have made one sale to a millionaire, and his name is
of 7th and E Streets. He has stepped up and supported me by buying a cane for $660.
For many years, community groups in D.C. have advocated for affordability. Some buildings, but not every building, fall under rent control. However, housing accommodations, such as federal or District-subsidized rental units, are exempt from rent control. For rental units built after 1975, a provider may increase rent enough to earn a 12% rate of return on investment based on 12 months of expenses. Property owners call this a hardship, which burdens tenants with the cost.
Then
Steve. He lives at the corner
“Lincoln Stinkin’ Mafia” by Craig Thompson.
FUN & GAMES
Across
1. Bar bill
4. Contents of some books with many notes
9. Baking recipe amts. (abbr.)
14. ___ roll (winning) (2 wds.) (2,1)
15. Dean Martin’s “That’s ___” (Ital.)
16. Supreme Court colleague of Amy, Elena and Ketanji
17. Fuzz associated with copper? (ANEMIC POL anagram)
19. The “grassy ____” [Dallas locale with a key role in JFK assassination conspiracy theories)
20. Farm team
21. Emeralds and rubies, but not pearls
22. Kind of dancers of the 1960’s and 70’s (or their boots) (2-2)
23. From the Spanish, a Cinco de Mayo event
25. Part of a coconut that sounds like a no-no, but is actually fine for vegans to eat
28. Go___ (big name in action-oriented helmetadaptable video cams)
29. Coca-Cola’s Crush competitor
30. Who’s “a rotten egg” in a classic swimming hole challenge (3 wds.) (4,3,2) (NOT ALIENS anagram)
32. 1930’s boxing champ Max (or actor son Max, Jr. of “The Beverly Hillbillies” TV fame)
34. Sergeant-____ (2-4) (non-military board position)
35. Mrs. F. Scott Fitzgerald
37. Many OPEC meeting attendees
38. Robinson who might have said “Thank goodness it’s Friday”
40. Something to be unseen, unheard and unspoken in an old saying
41. Like one who draws back in fear or disgust (GROIN LICE anagram)
43. Andean animal
48. “And so on...” (abbr.)
49. Adroit
50. Keep your ____ the prize (2 wds.) (4,2)
51. ___ scale (hardness measure for minerals) (OHMS anagram)
53. Victor’s words (1,3)
55. Little dent
56. Old-fashioned word for leaning
58. Period after young adulthood... and a hint to each set of circled letters (2 wds.) (6,3) (A DIM LEDGE anagram)
60. Actress Raymonde of “Lost” and “Malcolm in the Middle”
61. What a loophole in a contract may provide (2 wds.) (2,3)
62. ___’easter or ____’wester
63. Type type or top tier grp.
64. Pound sounds
65. Some Mercedes-Benz models (abbr./initialism)
Down
1. Fill to capacity, as a coffee mug or fuel tank (2 wds.) (3,3)
2. Absence of oxygen
3. Substance used by a whale as a feeding filter
4. ____ -fly (plate appearance that doesn’t count as an AB (abbr.)
5. Zee : English :: ____ : Greek
6. Iditarod terminus
7. Tense matter?
8. Humans generally have 5 of these, not counting ESP
9. Especially when repeated, a reproachful sound
10. Water pipe, in head shop lingo
11. Nosy Parkers (POORNESS anagram)
12. Mayflower passenger
13. They usually had swinging cafe doors in oldtime oaters
18. M.I.T. part: (abbr.)
24. Classic periodical-type in which to find alien invasion and/or celebrity scandal pieces
26. Video game pioneer
27. “For sure, dude”
30. Grassland
31. Apprehend
33. Grammy-winning singer whose album titles are all numbers
35. Summer squash variety that rhymes with the stage name of a legendary magician and escape artist
36. “___ Beso” (1962 Paul Anka hit)
37. Diamond stat. (abbr.)
38. Prepare for inurnment
39. Double-check the addition column, say
40. Tangle up
42. “Excuse me for interrupting, but...” (3 wds.) (2,1,3)
44. Article’s start, to a journalist
45. Six out of ten earth-dwelling humanoids
46. The ____ Empire (large group of 13th Century tribes consolidated under the rule of Genghis Khan)
47. Ticks off
50. This ____ (2 wds.) (3,2) (shipping box label instruction)
52. Buttonhole, e.g.
54. “American ___”
57. Monogram of most-widely heralded inventor of the incandescent light bulb (initialism)
59. Capt.’s inferiors (abbr./initialism)
This crossword puzzle is the original work of Patrick “Mac”McIntyre. It is provided to us courtesy of Real Change News, a street paper based in Seattle, Washington. Learn more about Real Change News and the International Network of Street Papers at realchangenews.org and insp.ngo.
by Patrick “Mac” McIntyre
PIECE OF THE WEEK
Once upon a time (at
Street Sense)
JAMES DAVIS Artist/Vendor
There used to be a big white school bus that was used for our illustrative art class workshop in the mid-2010s. At that particular time, Street Sense had the wherewithal to accomplish this with the help of Mr. Bardia. Customers of the vendors were asked to use chalk and markers to write messages and draw or paint on the outside of the bus. On the day of the workshop, the bus would be parked outside the church.
The public was welcome to come inside the bus, where there were always some interesting pieces of illustrative or interactive art exhibits.
The bus was a big hit at the H Street Festival, where Cowboy Chris Shaw performed music as vendors sold their copies of Street Sense.
I sure miss that big white school bus. That was once upon a time at Street Sense!
JAMES DAVIS Artist/Vendor
COMMUNITY SERVICES
Housing/Shelter Vivienda/alojamiento Case Management Coordinación de Servicios
Academy of Hope Public Charter School
202-269-6623 // 2315 18th Pl. NE
202-373-0246 // 421 Alabama Ave. SE aohdc.org
Bread for the City 1525 7th St., NW // 202-265-2400 1700 Marion Barry Ave., SE // 202-561-8587 breadforthecity.org
Calvary Women’s Services // 202-678-2341 1217 Marion Barry Ave., SE calvaryservices.org
Catholic Charities // 202-772-4300 catholiccharitiesdc.org/gethelp
Central Union Mission // 202-745-7118 65 Massachusetts Ave., NW missiondc.org
Charlie’s Place // 202-929-0100 1830 Connecticut Ave., NW charliesplacedc.org
Christ House // 202-328-1100 1717 Columbia Rd., NW christhouse.org
Church of the Pilgrims // 202-387-6612 2201 P St., NW (1-1:30 on Sundays only) churchofthepilgrims.org/outreach
Community Family Life Services 202-347-0511 // 305 E St., NW cflsdc.org
Community of Hope // 202-232-7356 4 Atlantic St., NW communityofhopedc.org
Covenant House Washington 202-610-9600 // 2001 Mississippi Ave., SE covenanthousedc.org
D.C. Coalition for the Homeless 202-347-8870 // 1234 Massachusetts Ave., NW dccfh.org
Father McKenna Center // 202-842-1112 19 North Capitol St., NW fathermckennacenter.org
Food and Friends // 202-269-2277
(home delivery for those suffering from HIV, cancer, etc) 219 Riggs Rd., NE foodandfriends.org
Foundry Methodist Church // 202-332-4010 1500 16th St., NW foundryumc.org/idministry
Identification services
Friendship Place // 202-364-1419 4713 Wisconsin Ave., NW friendshipplace.org
Georgetown Ministry Center // 202-338-8301 1041 Wisconsin Ave., NW georgetownministrycenter.org
Jobs Have Priority // 202-544-9096 1526 Pennslyvania Ave., SE jobshavepriority.org
Loaves & Fishes // 202-232-0900 1525 Newton St., NW loavesandfishesdc.org
Martha’s Table // 202-328-6608 marthastable.org 2375 Elvans Rd, SE
2204 Martin Luther King Ave. SE
Miriam’s Kitchen // 202-452-8926 2401 Virginia Ave., NW miriamskitchen.org
My Sister’s Place // 202-529-5991 (24-hr hotline) mysistersplacedc.org
N Street Village // 202-939-2076 1333 N St., NW nstreetvillage.org
New York Avenue Shelter // 202-832-2359 1355-57 New York Ave., NE
Patricia Handy Place for Women 202-733-5378 // 810 5th St., NW
Samaritan Inns // 202-667-8831 2523 14th St., NW samaritaninns.org
Samaritan Ministry 202-722-2280 // 1516 Hamilton St., NW 202-889-7702 // 1345 U St., SE samaritanministry.org
Sasha Bruce Youthwork // 202-675-9340 741 8th St., SE sashabruce.org
So Others Might Eat (SOME) // 202-797-8806 71 O St., NW some.org
St. Luke’s Mission Center // 202-363-4900 3655 Calvert St., NW stlukesmissioncenter.org
Thrive DC // 202-737-9311 1525 Newton St., NW thrivedc.org
Unity Health Care unityhealthcare.org - Healthcare for the Homeless Health Center: 202-508-0500 - Community Health Centers: 202-469-4699
1500 Galen Street SE, 1251-B Saratoga Ave NE, 1660 Columbia Road NW, 4414 Benning Road NE, 3924 Minnesota Avenue NE, 765 Kenilworth Terrace NE, 850 Delaware Ave., SW, 3240 Stanton Road SE, 3020 14th Street NW, 425 2nd Street NW, 4713 Wisconsin Avenue NW, 2100 New York Avenue NE, 1333 N Street NW, 1355 New York Avenue NE, 1151 Bladensburg Rd., NE, 4515 Edson Pl., NE
Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless 1200 U St., NW // 202-328-5500 legalclinic.org
The Welcome Table // 202-347-2635 1317 G St., NW. epiphanydc.org/thewelcometable
Whitman-Walker Health 1525 14th St., NW // 202-745-7000 1201 Sycamore Dr., SE whitman-walker.org
Woodley House // 202-830-3508 2711 Connecticut Ave., NW
For further information and listings, visit our online service guide at StreetSenseMedia.org/service-guide
Crew Member
Chipotle // Washington D.C.
Full-time
We prepare real food by hand every day in our restaurants. We’ll provide the training you need to feel confident working at any station – grill, cashier, prep, salsa and expo. We take pride in our exceptional customer service and it’s up to each of our team members to create the friendly atmosphere our customers expect and enjoy.
Required: Be at least 16 years old
Apply: tinyurl.com/DCchipotle
Restaurant Crewmember
Raising Cane’s // Washington D.C.
Full-time
Restaurant crewmembers at Raising Cane’s will wear many hats. They are hiring immediately for all shifts: opening shifts, closing shifts and everything in between. Whether you have experience as a customer service associate, retail team member, cashier, restaurant server, kitchen lead, cook, prep cook, drive thru cashier or any other restaurant or service-oriented role — Raising Cane’s has a position for you.
Required: Lift and carry, push or pull heavy objects up to 50 pounds
Apply: tinyurl.com/DCCanesJob
Team Member
Ben’s Chili Bowl // 1001 H St. NE and 1213 U St. NW
Part-time/Full-time
Ben’s Chili Bowl is seeking individuals with a commitment to exceptional guest service in the restaurant industry to join the growing family! They pay between 16.50 and 18.00 pay plus tips, flexible hours, a fun environment, referral bonuses, shift meals, and opportunity for growth.
Required: N/A
Apply: tinyurl.com/BensChilliBowlJob
STARCHILD BLK Artist/Vendor
PAUL MARTIN
Artist/Vendor
WILLIAM HARGROVE Artist/Vendor
FAITH WINKLER Artist/Vendor