11 13 2019

Vol. 17 Issue 1

$2

nov. 13 - 26, 2019

Real Stories

Real People

suggested donation goes directly to your vendor

Real Change

“It’s service rather than just symbolism.”

Taking steps toward ending veteran homelessness in DC streetsensemedia.org

@ streetsenseDC

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BuSineSS model

© STREET SENSE MEDIA 2003 - 2019 1317 g street nW, Washington, dc 20005 (202) 347 - 2006 streetsensemedia.org info@streetsensemedia.org

how it Works

street sense Media publishes the newspaper

each vendor functions as an independent contractor for street sense media, managing their own business to earn an income and increase stability in their life.

$2.00 Your SuGGeSted

$.50 Vendors pay

donAtIon

per newspaper copy

goes directly to your vendor, empowering them to overcome homelessness and poverty

no caSH? no PRoBlem.

Pay vendors with the Street Sense Media app!

S TREET S ENSE M EDIA . ORG /A PP

aVai laBl e

VendoR code oF conduct

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

as self-employed contractors, our vendors follow a code of conduct.

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street sense will be distributed for a voluntary donation of $2.00. i agree not to ask for more than $2.00 or solicit donations for street sense media by any other means. i will only purchase the paper from street sense media staff and volunteers and will not sell papers to other vendors. i agree to treat all others, including customers, staff, volunteers, and other vendors, respectfully at all times. i will refrain from threatening others, pressuring customers into making a donation, or in engaging in behavior that condones racism, sexism, classism, or other prejudices. i agree not to distribute copies of street sense on metro trains and buses or on private property. i agree to abide by the street sense media vendor territorial policy at all times and will resolve any related disputes i have with other vendors in a professional manner.

i understand that i am not an employee of street sense media, but an independent contractor.

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i agree to sell no additional goods or products when distributing street sense.

brian carome

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I will not distribute Street Sense under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

eric falquero

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i understand that my badge and (if applicable) vest are property of street sense media, and will not deface them. i will present my badge when purchasing street sense. i will always display my badge when distributing street sense.

gladys robert

10. i agree to support street sense media’s mission statement. in doing so i will work to support the street sense community and uphold its values of honesty, respect, support, and opportunity.

The Cover

The Street Sense Media Story, #MoreThanANewspaper

Peter matlon of the nonprofit Veterans on the rise approaches a man sleeping outside to offer him a personal care kit and some information on Veterans day.

originally founded as a street newspaper in 2003, street sense media has evolved into a multimedia center using a range of creative platforms to spotlight solutions to homelessness and empower people in need. the men and women who work with us do much more than sell this paper: They use film, photography, theatre, illustration, and more to share their stories with our community. our media channels elevate voices, our newspaper vendor and digital marketing programs provide economic independence. and our in-house casemanagement services move people forward along the path toward permanent supportive housing.

At Street Sense Media, we define ourselves through our work, talents, and character, not through our housing situation.

Artist/Vendor

mary coller albert, jeremy bratt, brian leonard, jennifer Park, dan schwartz, john senn, aaron stetter, daniel Webber, shari Wilson

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inteReSted in Being a VendoR? new vendor training: every tuesday and thursday // 2 p.m. // 1317 g st., nW

photos By Victoria eBner

VENDORS ayub abdul, shuhratjon ahamadjonov, gerald anderson, charles armstrong, Katrina arninge, lawrence autry, daniel ball, charlton battle, reginald black, rashawn bowser, debora brantley, andre brinson, laticia brock, brianna butler, dwashuhratjon ahamadjonov, gerald anderson, charles armstrong, Katrina arninge, lawrence autry, daniel ball, reginald black, rashawn bowser, debora brantley, andre brinson, laticia brock, donald brown, brianna butler, melody byrd, anthony carney, alice carter, conrad cheek, anthony crawford, louise davenport, james davis, david denny, reginald denny, ricardo dickerson, Patricia donaldson, nathaniel donaldson, ron dudley, Queenie featherstone, jet flegette, jemel fleming, james gatrell, chon gotti, marcus green, levester green, barron hall, dwight harris, lorrie hayes, derian hickman, ray hicks, ibn hipps, dan hooks, james hughes, joseph jackson, chad jackson, fredrick jewell, henry johnson, mark jones, morgan jones, jeramy jones, reggie jones, matt jones, darlesha joyner, juliene Kengnie, jewel lewis, john littlejohn, scott lovell, michael lyons, Ken martin, authertimer matthews, jermale mcKnight, jennifer mclaughlin, jeffery mcneil, angela meeks, ricardo meriedy, Kenneth middleton, amy modica, richard mooney, l. morrow, collins mukasa, evelyn nnam, moyo onibuje, earl Parker, aida Peery, hubert Pegues, michael Pennycook, marcellus Phillips, jacquelyn Portee, angela Pounds, abel Putu, ashshaheed rabil, robert reed, henrieese roberts, chris shaw, Patty smith, ronald smoot, david snyder, franklin sterling, Warren stevens, james stewart, beverly sutton, sybil taylor, jeff taylor, jeff taylor, archie thomas, eric thompson-bey, jacqueline turner, martin Walker, michael Warner, robert Warren, Vincent Watts ii, sheila White, angie Whitehurst, sasha Williams, clarence Williams, Wendell Williams, ivory Wilson, latishia Wynn

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR EDITORIAL DIRECTOR VENDOR MANAGER MANAGER OF ARTISTIC WORKSHOPS nkechi feaster

DIRECTOR OF CASE MANAGEMENT lissa ramsepaul

DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT lauren Pike

WRITERS GROUP ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE Willie schatz

OPINION EDITORS (VOLUNTEER)

rachel brody, arthur delaney, britt Peterson

ADVISORY BOARD john mcglasson

EDITORIAL INTERNS

bonnie bishop, Victoria ebner, sam Krizek, sean mcbride, camille rood, clifford samuels

EDITORIAL VOLUNTEERS

ryan bacic, jason lee bakke, roberta haber, thomas ratliff, mark rose, andrew siddons, sarah tascone, jenny-lin smith

OFFICE SALES VOLUNTEERS

bill butz, jane cave, Karen franklin, roberta haber, ann herzogl, lynn mandujano, leonie Peterkin, eugene Versluysen

streetsensemedia.org

eVentS

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neWS in BRieF re-entry

Lead News Title Is Here But It Could Better Be By saM KriZeK sam.krizek@streetsensemedia.org

Hope Village. by benjamin burgess / KstreetPhotograPhydc.com

Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Hypothermia Awareness Pledge Event Time 11:00 AM- 12:00 PM Location 1311 New York Avenue Northwest dhs has partnered with the downtowndc bid and other relevant agencies and organizations to host this important event to raise awareness about services available during the winter months for individuals experiencing homelessness. join us at triangle Park, adjacent to the downtown daytime services center, and take the pledge to help identify neighbors outside in the cold.

thursday, noV. 28

uPdates online at ich.dc.goV

saturday, noV. 16

Thanksgiving Day Dinner

D.C. Interagency Council on Homelessness Meetings

Block Party Against Gun Violence

ICH Strategic Planning november 26, 2:30 pm // tbd * Most likely 441 4th St NW,

11:00 AM- 2:00 PM 100 41st Street Northeast

Service: 9:00 AM Meal: 11:00 AM 2001 North Capitol Street, NE all nations baptist church invites you to a morning service and thanksgiving meal served in honor of michael irby, may he rest in peace.

SIGN UP By Nov. 20 call 202-832-9591

ICH Emergency Response and Shelter Operations Committee november 27, 1:00 pm // tbd * Likely 441 4th Street NW ***List features only committee meetings. For issue-focused working group, contact ich.info@dc.gov.

dc Prep middle school will be hosting an anti-gun violence block party. students and community members are taking a stand against gun violence. Please join them for a day of fun, networking, and community empowerment.

MORE INFO: www.tinyurl.com/hearts-up-dc

Submit your event for publication by emailing editor@streetsensemedia.org

AUDIENCE EXCHANGE Streetvibes Archive @Svarchive

Steve Fleischman @swfleischman

recently i had the privilege to speak to former @streetvibesnews vendor & current @streetsensedc vendor Wendell Williams about how he started selling street papers. in his words, “you have to sell the movement, not the paper. it’s about the power of the paper.” yes!

my new friend eric thompson-bey @streetroots @streetsensedc see the story on PdX and dc, read his articles.

9:00 AM - 28 OCT 2019

11:56 AM - 29 OCT 2019

With only a few days left before Hope Village was set to close on October 31, the Federal Bureau of Prisons granted the halfway house a 6-month extension on its federal contract to provide recently released prisoners with a place to stay and ancillary support, according to the Washington Informer. This extension will keep Hope Village running until April 30th of 2020, sustaining the hope that a permanent contract will soon be signed.

“I believe that the Federal Bureau of Prisons is working on the contract to give it to us permanently, possible in May 2020,” Phinis Jones, a spokesperson for the facility, told the Washington Informer. “While all the hoopla about Hope Village has died down, I think we made the case that we are the only option for male returning citizens who need a halfway house in the city.”

In 2018, Hope Village had lost its contract when a five-year contract to build and manage a new halfway house in Ward 5 was awarded to CORE DC. Backlash from community members in Ward 5, that did not want a halfway house in their community, as well as from Hope Village were among the challenges CORE DC faced once they had the contract. When developer Douglas Jemal pulled out of the leasing agreement without giving a reason, CORE DC suffered a major setback. CORE DC is now still looking for a property to lease out to further progress their plans to build a new re-entry facility.

Rev. Graylan Hagler, a longtime activist, has been a prominent voice advocating for CORE DC. “The BOP has extended Hope Village’s service until the matter with CORE DC can be sorted out,” Rev. Hagler told the Informer. “This does not mean that Hope Village is getting the contract back.”

Time will tell if Hope Village is here to stay.

even though an extension was awarded to Hope Village, it does not mean they will get the contract back permanently.

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Veterans and volunteers embarked on a “search and rescue” to help homeless vets in the district Volunteers assembled in the parking lot of Shiloh Baptist Church in Northwest D.C. with Veterans on the Rise and the Union Veterans Council of the AFL-CIO on Nov. 11, 2019. They visited street encampments and shelters on Veterans Day to deliver resource kits and information. Peter Matlon (fourth from the left in the back row) and David Kurtz (kneeling in center) were some of the representatives from Veterans on the Rise helping run the event. Photo by Victoria ebner

By Victoria eBner victoria.ebner@streetsensemedia.org

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rmy veteran David Kurtz stands in the parking lot of Shiloh Baptist Church on this brisk Monday morning.

Sporting an army green hat and camouflage jacket, the veteran stands in front of a crowd of about 50 volunteers and bows his head in prayer.

“Lord, help us today to find people in need that we can comfort and offer hope to,” Kurtz says. “Lead us to the people that can most use our help.”

He is part of a D.C.-based nonprofit organization called Veterans on the Rise that provides shelter, case management services and transition assistance for homeless veterans.

Kurtz, who served in the Army, has been involved with veterans outreach efforts for more than 20 years.

And this Veterans Day at 8 a.m., VOTR teamed up with the Union Veterans Council of the AFL-CIO to dispatch volunteers to distribute care packages and information about more substantial resources to homeless veterans all over D.C. It’s the first time the group has organized the event. “[We are] trying to reawaken those echoes of when we were a little stronger and had hopes for the future,” Kurtz said of the task ahead in talking to people on the street about how the organization can help them. “Trying to reinstill some hope.”

Many of the volunteers were themselves veterans.

“There’s a common bond between people who have served,” Kurtz said. “We felt this was an opportunity to appeal to that.”

Kurtz said he came up with the idea for the “Search and Rescue” outreach event while talking with alumni.

Kurtz estimated that the volunteers encountered between 120 and 140 people experiencing homelessness on the street that morning–– with about 1 in 4 being veterans.

In total, they distributed over 300 personal care kits, Kurtz said.

“There’s always a Memorial Day ceremony, there’s always a Veterans Day ceremony … That’s all well and good,” Kurtz said. “But when there are veterans in need right before our eyes, what better way to honor veterans … it’s service rather than just symbolism.”

The crowd of volunteers –– which included both veterans and civilians –– split into groups of five to 10 people. Each group was assigned different parks, shelters or populated corners to visit in hopes of getting supplies and information to any homeless veterans they found.

Some locations included Union Station, Central Union Mission, Franklin Square Park, and the 801 Men’s Shelter.

Peter Matlon, who sits on the board of Veterans on the Rise, said the event is essential because seeing veterans on the street is a disgrace.

“Many people are very uncomfortable being around homeless people, and they see them as a nuisance and an eyesore. And they’d rather ignore the problem,” Matlon said.

The groups deployed to 10 different encampments and 10 different shelters, spread out across D.C. The kits given out included toothbrushes, floss, gloves and hats, and the paper resources included information on housing resources and VOTR’s programs.

“It was a way to get something concrete into the hands of people that are sleeping rough and direct them towards services where their lives may be improved,” Matlon said.

Floyd Palmer, one of the Veterans Day outreach volunteers, said completing VOTR’s program made a world of difference in his life. Palmer served in their Air Force for several years.

“To go from homeless to being able to live there for six months –– I turned my life around,” he said.

Palmer said he volunteered because he felt it was important to give back to those who are currently in the situation he was in. He said many of them are just

looking for a place to belong and he hopes to help them find that through Veterans on the Rise.

“I thought it was a great opportunity,” he said. “You get out of it really what you want to get out of it.”

One volunteer, Sherilyn Wright, said she heard about the event through her union and immediately wanted to participate. “[Veterans have] done so much for us, and we haven’t done what we need to help them and it's wrong,” Wright said. “It’s just wrong.”

Dan Helmer, a newly elected member of the Virginia House of Delegates, said his personal connection as an Army veteran led him to come out to the event.

“Continuing to serve our community means making sure we take care of those I served side-by-side with in places like Iraq and Afghanistan,” said Helmer, who is now in the Army Reserves.

As the only elected official present, Helmer said he hopes the veterans felt as though their needs were being considered and that there are people rooting for them.

“We’re [letting] folks know that we still care about them, that we want them to be successful and have opportunities, and that a country that they fought hard for still wants to make sure they have access to the services and dignity that they’ve earned,” Helmer continued.

Though both Kurtz and Matlon described the event as successful, they noted some possible changes for next year, such as having volunteers visit area soup kitchens. In the future, Matlon wants to be more strategic in finding out when and where communities of homeless veterans congregate.

Nevertheless, Kurtz said he is satisfied that the group made an impression on the veterans they encountered.

“We like to think we woke up some echoes of pride,” Kurtz said. “We know we touched a chord with a number of veterans out there.”

This article was co-published with TheDCLine.org

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77 formerly homeless veterans will be the first residents of The Parks at Walter Reed, followed by 134 low-income seniors Bonnie bishop Bonnie.Bishoip@streetsensemedia.org

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had Jackson, a vendor for Street Sense Media and a formerly homeless veteran, served as a welder in the military from 1993 to 2000. When he returned home after his service, Jackson instantly felt the need to escape.

He chose to live on the streets rather than stay with his addiction-ridden parents, but he ended up running into crime there. He was charged with possession after dealing cocaine, and he was sentenced to a decade in prison.

Before his incarceration, Jackson suffered a severe brain injury that occurred when he was hit by a bedpost after his time in the military.

Jackson was also diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.

He ended up back on the streets after his time in prison, but after enduring a seizure in 2017, Jackson obtained help from the D.C. chapter of a national nonprofit that provides housing, employment and counseling services — U.S. Vets, whose members took Jackson under their wing after seeing that he clearly needed assistance.

Now, Jackson is one of 77 veterans receiving housing this fall at The Parks, a new community being built at the former Walter Reed campus in Ward 4. He and the other veterans should be able to move into their new housing in the renovated Abrams Hall by the end of the month, according to one of the developers.

The Walter Reed Army Medical Center in D.C. shut down in 2011 after the military hospital relocated to Bethesda, Maryland, to combine with the National Naval Medical Center. The move resulted in 110 acres of surplus land, which was initially offered to non-military federal agencies. The General Services Administration and the State Department requested some of the land for a foreign missions center, leaving 66.5 acres in Northwest D.C. for transfer to the D.C. government and ultimately new development on prime land between Georgia Avenue NW and Rock Creek Park.

The decision to create the new Walter Reed National Military Medical Center stemmed from the 2005 review process under the Base Closure and Realignment Act, which recommended the closure of 33 military bases and the shrinking or expansion of 29 others.

From 1988 to 1995, the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act mandated that officials preparing to sell surplus federal land — including military bases like the Ward 4 campus — consider the site’s potential use in assisting people experiencing homelessness.

But the subsequent Base Closure Community Redevelopment and Homeless Assistance Act of 1994 exempted large parcels of surplus land and instead required “a communitybased process wherein representatives of the homeless and other community groups participate in local reuse planning,” according to a guidebook prepared by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development about the process.

Those are the procedures that governed the former Walter Reed campus as D.C. officials, under multiple mayors, oversaw creation of a master plan for the site and selection of a development team. Seven of the 30 applicants for “public benefit conveyance” of space within the new development were incorporated into the project: three homeless assistance providers — So Others Might Eat, HELP USA, and Housing Up — along with a relocated D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department station, two charter schools, and a specialty-care center for Howard University Hospital. The fire station and the Delano Hall campuses of both the D.C. International School and Latin American Montessori Bilingual School have already opened..

As laid out in 2014, the development plan anticipated creating 4,500 construction jobs, 1,600 permanent jobs, and 2,000 residential units — using the vast campus for “an integrated mix of residential, retail, educational, health and wellness, employment, hospitality and cultural and arts related uses.”

The District set aside 211 units of housing for senior citizens and veterans in Abrams Hall, which was originally constructed in 1976 as barrack housing for soldiers receiving long-term medical care. In addition to private developers and nonprofit organizations, this complex project involves six city agencies, according to an Oct. 16 press release: the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, Department of Housing and Community Development, Housing Finance Agency, D.C. Housing Authority, Department of Human Services, and Interagency Council on Homelessness.

Philip Hecht, president of the D.C.-based

The 14 South building at Abrams Hall on the historic Walter Reed campus in Ward 4 will house 77 formerly homeless veterans.

Photo by Bonnie Bishop

nonprofit Housing Up, described three separate sections of the Abrams Hall rehab project his firm is helping develop: 14 North, 14 Middle, and 14 South. Connected via a courtyard, the three buildings at Abrams Hall will feature amenities such as a movie theater and lounge, a new gym, and plenty of common areas.

The 14 North building developed by Urban Atlantic and Housing Up consists of 54 assisted-living units that are scheduled to be ready by the end of 2021. Sheri Conde, the vice president of Edgewood Management, said her company will manage the day-today operations and taking applications for prospective tenants. Social activities designed to appeal to the seniors living there will include movie nights, holiday programs, and other events that “help bring the community together,” Conde said.

The 14 Middle building, also being developed in partnership between Urban Atlantic and Housing Up, includes 80 affordable housing units for seniors as well as the offices and headquarters for Housing Up, which focuses on housing services and affordable housing development for homeless and low-income people. Housing Up’s ultimate goal, Hecht said, is to “ensure the housing stability of the tenant.”

Formerly known as the Transitional Housing Corp., the group will provide case management services for the tenants of 14 Middle, who should begin moving in before the end of the year or by early 2020.

The 14 South building will house 77 formerly homeless veterans. The bulk of the units will be efficiencies for people earning 30% or less of the Area Median Income, as calculated by HUD. Two of the units, also efficiencies, will be open to veterans earning as much as 50% of the AMI. For an individual living in the Washington area in 2019, 30% AMI is $25,500 and 50% AMI is $42,500.

Each resident of 14 South will pay a rent amount that equates to 30% of their monthly income, according to Hecht. This number is commonly used by housing subsidy programs to determine how much a recipient must pay for their rent. Any household in the U.S. that pays more than 30% of their family's income toward housing is considered “cost-burdened” by HUD.

Chapman Todd, who has worked for various homeless service providers in the District since 1990, is now the principal of the consulting firm Jaydot, which was hired to assist on the pre-development and operational phases of both the HELP USA veterans project and the Housing Up projects. Todd said review of Help USA’s application for a certificate of occupancy has taken longer than expected, stalling the move-in process. He said the development team is working hard to obtain approval from the D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs as quickly as possible.

While residents will soon move into the South and Middle buildings of Abrams Hall, planning for other aspects of The Parks at the Walter Reed community is ongoing.

Construction is slated to continue for 10 to 15 years due to the project’s expansive scope.

A Jaydot spokesperson noted that Abrams Hall was rehabbed first to meet the urgent need for affordable housing in D.C., although it won’t provide the only such units in the project. Another 25 units of affordable housing set aside for extremely low-income seniors — those earning 30% or less of the Area Median Income — are being built elsewhere on the campus by the nonprofit So Others Might Eat. This project is in the pre-development stage.

According to the annual Point-in-Time count conducted in January 2019, 415 veterans were experiencing homelessness in D.C. at the time. Since 2015, over 2,100 veterans in the District have exited the street or shelter to obtain permanent housing, resulting in a 27% reduction in homelessness among veterans, according to the mayor’s press release about the Oct. 16 ribbon-cutting for Abrams Hall.

For his part, Chad Jackson looks forward to moving into Abrams Hall, as he’s currently scheduled to do on Nov. 26 — two days before Thanksgiving. To apply, Jackson said, he had to provide a Social Security card, another legitimate form of identification, and a DD214 form certifying his discharge from active duty.

“I’ll be more excited as soon as I move in,” he said.

This article was co-published with TheDCLine.org

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D.C. is closer than ever to ending veteran homelessness By cassidy Jensen The D.C. Line

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.C. has not yet met its yearsold goal of eliminating veteran homelessness, but new permanent housing, better data, and improved identification of veterans all provide grounds for optimism that it may soon do so. The District has steadily chipped away at its numbers of homeless veterans over the past five years, despite struggling to provide housing for those newly facing homelessness amid the city’s affordable housing crisis.

“I think veteran homelessness is going to be the type of homelessness we end first,” said Adam Rocap, deputy director of Miriam’s Kitchen, which provides meals and case management for people experiencing homelessness in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood. He believes that ending veteran homelessness in the District will pave the way for progress on other forms of homelessness, particularly for single adults.

In 2015, two neighboring jurisdictions — the Commonwealth of Virginia and Montgomery County, Maryland — reached federal benchmarks for ending veteran homelessness, first set by the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness that same year.

The USICH no longer specifically pursues “functional zero” — a term still used by other groups — but says it maintains the goals of ensuring that veteran homelessness is a rare, brief, and one-time experience. The agency’s benchmarks for accomplishing this require that a city, state or community has ended chronic and long-term homelessness for veterans, and that veterans who become newly homeless can access affordable housing within 90 days.

Communities that have met these benchmarks have more vets entering permanent housing or service-intensive transitional housing than are becoming homeless.

Montgomery County and Virginia’s Arlington and Fairfax counties have met the standards for the Community Solutions’ Built for Zero campaign, meaning that the number of veterans experiencing homelessness is less than the number of veterans who can be housed in a month. D.C. and the other communities that have joined the Built for Zero initiative receive coaching and support from Community Solutions as they use up-to-date person-specific data, and strategicresources investments that make homelessness rare and brief. Since the initiative began in 2015, 11 communities have achieved the functional-zero standard.

Functional zero does not mean that there are no more veterans experiencing homelessness, said Kristy Greenwalt, director of the D.C. Interagency Council on Homelessness, but that the system is working well to quickly identify and house people.

In the Homeward D.C. strategic plan to end homelessness, the Bowser administration set a goal of ending veteran homelessness by 2016, said Greenwalt, who noted a “really big push” in 2015 and into 2016.

She said the District saw a decrease in federal funding during a three-year period from fiscal year 2016 through 2018 when the number of HUD-VASH vouchers fell.

The departments of Housing and Urban Development and Veterans Affairs provide HUD-VASH vouchers to jurisdictions such as the District, which can in turn offer them to homeless vets for rental assistance and other services. The VA also provides funds for rapid rehousing and homelessness prevention and diversion assistance to D.C. veterans through Support Services for Veteran Families. The District is also a pilot site for a VA-funded “shallow” subsidy program for longer-term rental assistance for veterans in high-cost cities.

In fiscal year 2015, the D.C. Housing Authority received 104 HUD-VASH vouchers.

DCHA received 45 vouchers in 2016, no new vouchers in 2017, and 63 vouchers in the first

two rounds of 2018, according to data provided

by HUD. Officials were not immediately able to explain the sudden drop in 2017.

Federal spending has varied significantly in recent years. Congress reduced funding for new vouchers after 2015, according to the HUD-VASH website. In 2016, Congress provided $40 million, enough for 8,000 vouchers nationwide; in 2017 and 2018, legislators appropriated a cumulative $80 million for 10,000 vouchers over the twoyear period. Between 2008 and 2015, HUD had provided $75 million a year for 10,000 vouchers, with the exception of 2011, when HUD awarded about 7,000 vouchers.

Despite the funding challenges, local officials and advocacy groups see cause for optimism. Although D.C. has not yet reached USICH benchmarks, it has decreased the number of homeless veterans by 27% in the past five years and improved identification and data about veterans accessing the system.

“We’ve seen great progress on veterans. I think we’re closer than we ever have been,” said Rocap of Miriam’s Kitchen. He has been working on veteran homelessness since 2013 as part of the D.C. ICH Veterans NOW! Work Group, a coalition of community providers and government agencies. He is also a co-chair of the Coordinated Assessment and Housing Work Group, which oversees the District’s administration of its coordinated-entry system for single adults, seeking to standardize access to permanent housing.

In 2018, the annual point in time (PIT) count revealed that the number of homeless veterans in the District had increased to 306 from 285 in 2017. The Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness (TCP) report on the 2018 PIT count attributed this 7% increase to the challenge of preventing new veterans from becoming homeless. The 2018 numbers likely also increased because the District became better at identifying veterans who had not been included in previous counts.

This year, the number of homeless veterans

Veterans counted by PIT count and veterans housed, 2015-2018. chart ProVided by the d.c. interagency council on homelessness

identified by the PIT count fell to 297, and the District reported finding housing for 300 veterans over the course of 2018. The city’s 2019 report noted that, as in 2018, there were likely veterans included who had been missed in previous counts. The District’s analysis of the count noted the difficulty of preventing single adults, a category that includes most of D.C.’s homeless veterans, from becoming newly homeless.

The PIT count, conducted on the coldest night of the year, serves as a snapshot of a city’s homeless population under the HUD definition of homelessness, which is more limited than the definition used by other federal agencies. Another essential tool recommended by HUD for better measuring and assisting homeless veterans is the By-Name list, which is updated monthly with the name of each person within a community’s homeless services system.

“There’s a large number of people experiencing homelessness in D.C.,” said Emily Carpenter, veteran services division director at Friendship Place, a homeless services nonprofit based in Tenleytown.

“There’s a lot more people who are on our By-Name list,” she said. According to Greenwalt, as of Nov. 7, there were about 340 veterans on the list and 76% had been matched to housing resources.

The District faces a higher rate of homelessness per capita when compared to the two adjoining states. According to data collected by the USICH, in 2018 there were 485 homeless veterans in Virginia, which has a population of just over 8.5 million, and 574 in Maryland, with a population of 6 million people, based on census estimates. Those figures compare to the 306 homeless veterans in the District, which has a population of just over 700,000 people.

“It’s mostly the same pressures that are making homelessness hard to tackle everywhere in D.C.,” Rocap said. A lack of affordable housing and the discrepancy

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community and Recognition

At least 15 of our vendors are veterans. Here we are naming only those who have written about their service publicly.

Peter Matlon, a board member of Veterans on the Rise, participates in an outreach effort organized by the nonprofit to seek out homeless veterans and provide supplies to them and anyone living on the streets of Washington, D.C. Photo by Victoria Ebner.

between the high cost of housing and low incomes in the District are major drivers of homelessness, he said.

The National Low Income Housing Coalition found that renters in D.C. in 2019 would need to earn $32.02 an hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment at fair market rent without paying more than the recommended maximum of 30% of their income on housing. The current minimum wage in D.C. is $14 per hour.

The difficult housing market means that it can be difficult to house veterans within the 90-day window required by the USICH benchmarks, according to Greenwalt.

The District also sees people from other jurisdictions seeking services.

A third of unaccompanied single adults experiencing homelessness said they lived outside of the District before becoming homeless, according to a 2019 supplemental survey to the PIT count performed in D.C. Respondents provided different reasons for choosing D.C., with nearly half saying they came to Washington because they were previously residents or wanted to join friends or family. However, 17% of respondents from outside D.C. said they came because it was easier to get shelter. Others said they sought work opportunities or assistance in finding long-term housing.

“People move whether they’re homeless or not,” said Hillary Chapman, housing program manager at the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. The Council of Governments analyzes and publishes the data for the metropolitan region’s PIT count.

It is true that some benefits and services are more accessible in D.C. than in the surrounding areas. The Veteran Affairs system funds transitional housing beds under the VA’s Housing Providers Grant and Per Diem program, which awards daily funding to the grantee organization when that bed is filled.

All of the region’s Grant and Per Diem beds are located in the District, which then includes those individuals within its annual PIT numbers, according to Greenwalt.

The District also has a greater capacity than some surrounding areas for providing “low-barrier” shelter services year-round,

which means people experiencing homelessness can access services without requirements like having to provide proof of residency.

Susie Sinclair, CEO of Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless, which runs the only emergency men’s shelter in Montgomery County, said the facility is currently limited to 60 emergency slots under its county contract. However, she emphasized her organization does not direct people seeking shelter to D.C. and tries to find them housing in their area of origin.

According to advocates working in D.C., technology improvements have been a powerful tool to strengthen the fight against veteran homelessness. “We have better data so we know who we need to house better than before,” Carpenter said.

Better technology has made it easier to work with Veterans Affairs to verify veteran status and to streamline the process.

“The data quality has gotten so much better in the last year and a half,” said Greenwalt.

Among the housing resources allocated to support veterans, some of the most crucial have been permanent supportive units built specifically for veterans.

The John and Jill Ker Conway Residence opened in 2017 on North Capitol Street near Union Station and now provides 60 units of permanent supportive housing for veterans.

Conway’s location, Rocap explained, makes it attractive to veterans already in the District who were previously staying at Community for Creative Non Violence or who need to access other services in D.C. The Conway units have either remained full or been quickly filled, Carpenter said.

Within the next few weeks, an additional 77 units of permanent supportive housing for veterans will become available in Abrams Hall at the reimagined Walter Reed Army Medical Center campus thanks to a collaborative project among six DC agencies and the nonprofit organization HELP USA “When you have the resources, when you’re using data to make strategic decisions … homelessness is solvable,” said Greenwalt. “I think we’re closer than ever.”

This article was co-published with TheDCLine.org

Veterans

(Thank you for your service.)

Marcus Green Barron Hall Chad Jackson Patty Smith Ivory Wilson

Birthdays Eric Thompson-Bey Nov 22 Author/Vendor

Our stories, straight to your inbox Street Sense Media provides a vehicle through which all of us can learn about homelessness from those who have experienced it. Sign up for our newsletter to get our vendors' stories in your inbox.

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Illicit activities provoke bench removal and National Park Service renovation A panoramic photo of the small national park area next to the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church. Cement slabs sit on the ground where there used to be benches. Photo by sean mcbride

By sean McBride sean.mcbride@streetsensemedia.org

o

n Aug. 20, benches adjacent to and across from New York Avenue Presbyterian Church were removed.

At a Sept. 10 full-council meeting of the D.C. Interagency Council on Homelessness, a community member raised concerns about the missing benches at the public comment period that beings each meeting, but no one on the ICH seemed to be aware of the change just outside of the city’s Downtown Day Services Center that opened earlier this year. There were at least eight benches on the north side of H Street NW, at least nine in the small National Park Service area adjacent to the church, and several more on the south side of H Street NW. They had often been occupied by homeless people, increasingly so since the opening of the day center, which is located on the ground floor of the church.

In response to questions about the removal of the benches, the National Park Service provided this statement: “Working with area residents and law enforcement officials, the National Park Service recently trimmed hedges, removed benches and made other improvements to one of our areas along New York Avenue in order to address a recent increase in crime in the area, including drug dealing and prostitution, according to a statement from The National Park Service strives to provide a safe and welcoming environment for

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Life without benches By henry Johnson // Artist/Vendor

Removing the benches from the sidewalk and park by New York Presbyterian Church at 1331 New York Avenue NW was a real problem for me because It hurts me to walk or stand a lot.

Fortunately, my Street Sense Media customers have been very generous and I've used their donations to buy a portable chair to take around with me. It enables me to sit where I want and when I need to, which means I'm less tired than before all this happened. Your generosity has meant a lot to me! So thank you to all my customers who showed how much they care.

But my homeless friends still have fewer places to sit and rest.

The Downtown D.C. BID crew and their workers in red could help by bringing out red chairs and tables like they use in Franklin Park. And other people who work in the area and who used to use the benches can help by speaking up and asking to keep benches available for all people.

all of our visitors in all of our parks.”

Regarding plans for replacement of the benches, NPS Chief of Communications Mike Litterst said, “We will monitor the situation in the park going forward and may make changes accordingly, but there are no further plans for the park at this time.”

This contradicts what personnel at the Presbyterian Church previously told Street Sense Media, which is that plans were in place for “improved shrubbery, rat and rodent abatement, and alternative seating.”

Neil Albert, the CEO of the Downtown D.C. BID, which runs the day center, told Street Sense Media, “As you know, the BID takes care of parks in the downtown D.C. area all the time, so we’re always looking to make them good spaces for everyone, not just people experiencing homelessness. So what we plan to do at the request of the Park Service is provide bistro tables and chairs, you know the red ones that are in Franklin Park, as soon as the Park Service finishes its rehabilitation of the park, [including] cutting back the tree canopy and some new plantings in the area.

The park will be ‘refreshed’ to some extent, and part of that refreshing is to make sure there are tables and chairs in the park.”

“Like any park in the downtown D.C. area, there’s sometimes illicit activity,” Litterst said. “And I know the Park Service has done some stings over a period of time.”

Photo: circular slabs of cement fill holes where bench posts used to be around a tree box on H Street NW // By Eric Falquero.

BencHed

By JaMes daVis Artist/Vendor

How do the homeless feel to be benched?

Is it because of the stench?

Could it be that they smoke K-2 all day?

Either way it doesn’t make any sense!

Of all the subtle ways to discriminate This move by New York Pres. seems like hate.

The courtyard should be enjoyed by all Especially now as we sit, can sit and Watch the leaves fall.

For all the good that they do for the homeless This seems rather dumb.

Is this practicing neighborliness?

It sure sticks out like a sore thumb.

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illustration by Queenie featherstone artist/Vendor

Solutions Please By reginald BlacK // Artist/Vendor

When people complain, things happen.

I think the benches next to the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church on 1313 New York Avenue NW and the benches on H Street around the church were removed because some people who work or frequent the area complained about the people using the benches the most: people experiencing homelessness.

Those complainers don't understand poverty, its pernicious effect on the poor, and what things become predatory to those who happen to be less fortunate. It is not fair to deprive people of their right to congregate or to rest.

Nobody removes benches when people become drunk, make loud noises, and engage in disorderly conduct at sporting events such as Washington Nationals games and D.C. United matches. Some of those people even engage in physical confrontations, often without consequences.

Why complain without producing a viable solution to your perceived problem? It is disgraceful that the poor are disrespected so frequently. If we would help more people escape their crushing poverty, maybe so many would not self-medicate so often.

We need to act with compassion rather than with anger. oPinion

Benches gone By roBert Warren // Artist/Vendor

When I first saw that the benches had been removed in the little park next to New York Ave. Presbyterian Church, I felt bad for the older people in the homeless community who would sit on them throughout their day of travel around the downtown area of Washington, D.C. The new downtown day service center is right there in the church, so a lot of people with a lot of needs come there.

I had heard about complaints from the business community complaints regarding people lying about during the day and evening and how it looks. I thought about people who may or may not have been part of the homeless community who would use drugs and be lying all out on the benches in a dream state of mind, and how bad it might look to the general public.

And I remembered President Trump’s remarks giving the impression that he had solved the homeless problem in D.C., saying that when he became president he cleaned up the area and removed the homeless from around our nation’s capital. Of course, those of us who advocate on behalf of the homeless community knew this was not true — just another one of his lies (I was not shocked).

I have always known that the action of a few of us can make things go from bad to worse. I feel like those of us in the community need to do a better job of policing ourselves, standing up to those people who may or may not be a part of the homeless community that come around to prey on people already traumatized and going through so much.

I understand why people might feel the way they do about seeing the homeless people on the street or lying around on benches. But I still can’t see punishing the whole of the downtown homeless community for the actions of a few.

streetsensemedia.org

The Graham family. Photo by Victoria Ebner

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Family fun time. Photo courtesy of jessica castro

The number of children in DC foster care is going down.

This is how one unique organization helps that trend.

By Victoria Ebner victoria.ebner@streetsensemedia.org

S

everal years ago, a single mother faced an impossible choice while staying in a shelter.

She had to go to the hospital but had no friends or family to watch her two daughters.

Out of options, she picked up the phone and did something unexpected –– she called Child Protective Services on herself. Her children were taken into protective custody as wards of the District.

The woman was eventually reunited with her kids through an initiative called DC127. The project’s community-based support of families has kept 95% of families out of foster care within a month of services since early 2015. The number of children in foster care in the D.C. region has been on the decline for the last eight years –– dropping 47 percent since 2008, according to the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’ most recent annual report on foster care. There were 880 children in foster care in the District at the end of 2017, the most recent data available.

During the annual point-in-time count that was conducted in January, 7.9% of unaccompanied homeless men in D.C. and 13.9% of unaccompanied homeless women in D.C. selfidentified as having been in foster care at least once.

Prevention programs — such as DC127 — are one of the main reasons for this decline and the push for it to continue.

The report said that these programs have gained greater support after President Donald Trump signed the Family First Prevention Services Act in September, which provides these programs with federal funding.

DC127 began as a project to provide loving foster homes through members of District Church, a congregation co-founded lead pastor Aaron Graham in 2010. The foster care program branched out as its own nonprofit in 2015 and the prevention program was started when they were approached to create the initiative by Brenda Donald at Child and Family Services Agency. CFSA did not respond to requests for comment.

DC127 is the only prevention program in the area that provides both temporary hosting, where parents sign up to house children in need for extended periods of time, and a support system of volunteers for birth parents. There are other programs that provide one or the other, said Chelsea Geyer, the executive director of DC127.

It also provides host services to children of all ages while some other agencies have a cutoff.

“That’s been a real signature program of ours,” said Amy Graham, who co-founded the organization alongside her

husband and Geyer. “There’s no other program like it.”

The Grahams have two young adoptive children and have fostered a teenager. They said their Christian faith encouraged them to undergo the process of both fostering and adopting.

“In heaven, we're all adopted, there are no orphans in heaven,” said Aaron Graham, Amy’s husband. “[So] if there are no kids without a mother and father in heaven, then there shouldn't be [any] here on Earth, especially in our nation's capital with as many resources as we have.”

This faith, Geyer added, makes DC127 unique because it recruits volunteers from churches.

“Churches and people that go to churches already have the belief that they should love their neighbors,” she said. “We’re able to give them the tools to carry out loving their neighbor in radical ways.”

Thus, Geyer said, the people the organization serves are provided with compassionate people who are immersed in helping others. Geyer grew up with three foster siblings herself and jumped at the chance to support DC127’s mission.

“We are providing people with volunteers that hopefully go past volunteership and are able to support them in true friendship,” she said.

Jessica Castro first got involved with DC127 after she and her husband moved to D.C. and started attending District Church. They serve as a host home.

They are currently hosting a 2-year-old boy for a young mother that is aging out of foster care. On Friday afternoons

The Bell family. Photo courtesy of Sarah bell

Castro’s husband picks the boy up; they spend the weekend together and drive him home on Sunday night, giving the mother, who takes the children everywhere, a break so she could focus on other needs.

The Castros have hosted once before –– two toddler boys on weekends over the span of four months. They keep in touch with the first parent even though their volunteer time has ended, taking the kids for occasional weekends when needed and attending the kids’ birthday party.

“It’s rewarding to be able to help someone out, whatever they’re struggling with,” Castro said.

Providing stability for birth families is the best way to help prevent foster care, according to Margie Chalofsky, executive director of the Foster and Adoptive Parent Advocacy Center.

“Parenting is very hard,” Chalofsky wrote in an email.

“Parents need not only a curriculum to improve their skills, but the support from others to fill their own emotional ‘gas tank’ so they have enough strength to provide stable homes for their children.”

She wrote that even though these numbers have decreased, providing stable homes remains a critical need.

To decrease the number of children going into foster care, “we have to commit to increasing the stability of [children] who are not coming in through comprehensive, sustainable, wraparound support,” Chalofsky wrote in an email. “By focusing on the parents as early as possible, we serve as the first line of prevention for the entire family.”

Sarah Bell, another host parent recruited from District Church, has four kids of her own. She has hosted eight children over the last four years, both in respite and full time capacity, for months in some cases and years in others.

Bell’s family also spends holidays with past families they have served.

“I felt like it was a clear call [from God] not just in our family but those in the greater faith community,” she said.

“One of those ways we feel called is opening up our home.”

Both Castro and Bell said they would recommend hosting to others.

“Anyone who has a heart for children, a heart for service, for helping families and being engaged in the communities, if you have that type of desire, then you can be equipped to do it,” Castro said.

For Bell, hosting helps her understand those who live different lives than her own.

“My eyes have been opened by being involved in the lives of these families and these children, to broken systems within my own community,” Bell said. “Everybody has something to give.”

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JeFF v. JeFF Unbeknownst to each other at the time of writing, two Street Sense Media vendors responded to each other's political columns from the previous edition of the Street Sense Media newspaper.

Jeffery McNeil is deep in the Trump bubble

no, conservatives don't hate democracy

By Jeff taylor

By Jeffery Mcneil

This piece is in response to Street Sense Media vendor and opinion writer Jeffery McNeil's piece in the last issue. In that piece McNeil made several assertions that I feel need rebuttal.

First of all, the title of that piece, "The more the liberal establishment hates Trump, the more popular he gets," is a whopper of a lie right off the break. Now, I don't mean to accuse Mr. McNeil of intentionally lying, but there simply is no evidence that statement is even remotely true. In fact, since the impeachment inquiry was announced in September, support for impeachment and removal from office has steadily risen in nearly every poll. So, no, the assertion in the title is just plain false.

Second, comparing any political writer to a doctor is laughable if not offensive to the medical profession.

Third, as to McNeil's prediction that Trump would win in 2016, that does not make him some great political prognosticator; that is unless he anticipated Russian interference having an effect on the outcome, which he did not. The GOP, with the help of the Russians, knew just how to manipulate the archaic electoral college for a win. As the popular vote total showed, the majority of the electorate saw Trump for what he was: a con man who didn't pay his bills. Most of us knew the coal jobs weren't coming back. Most of us knew he would enact racist immigration policy. Basically, those of us who were paying attention and knew who Trump was from decades back knew he would be a horrible president who would serve only his own self-interest.

As for identity politics? Trump is a blatant racist. McNeil, as an African-American, should be able to see that and reject Trump on that basis alone. I as a gay man sure as hell do.

Trump doesn't have my interests in mind, nor McNeil's nor any Street Sense vendor for that matter. If you're not already rich, straight, and white, oh well, it sucks to be you.

McNeil feels Trump has been a very good president due to the economy and no major terrorist attacks. The economy was inherited from Obama and there is plenty of talk about an upcoming recession helped along by Trump's ridiculous trade wars. Many small Wisconsin dairy farms have already gone under. No major terrorist attacks? Define major for the victims' families of Dayton and El Paso and other cities. Babies in cages and children ripped from their parents' arms? Lying all day and all night? Self enrichment on the taxpayer dime? A total embarrassment on the world stage? If this is what a very good president looks like then this makes Obama look like Jesus Christ himself.

Obama, now that was a very good president. Not perfect, but hands down one of the best in our nation's history. Trump is one of the worst.

Sometimes I get irritated when liberals try to label you.

I supported Jesse Jackson and voted twice for Barack Obama. The reason I left the Democratic Party was because of op-eds such as Jeff Taylor's in the last issue of Street Sense, titled “Why does the GOP hate Democracy?”

You don't help your cause by insults and namecalling your audience, many of whom happen to be conservatives.

As a Republican, I care about poverty, healthcare and climate change but disagree with the radical left on how active government should be on these issues. I believe free markets could better solve those issues than faceless unelected bureaucrats.

I'm willing to compromise, but the left isn't.

Taylor claims the GOP hates the left, but I can assure him that as a Christian, I hate no one. I disagree with you, that's it. In a democracy, politics is about give-and-take.

When people such as Elizabeth Warren claim they are going to implement Medicare for All and reparations for slavery, how do they plan to pass legislation when they call Republicans Nazis or fascists? Why would states such as Idaho and Wyoming, which had nothing to do with the Civil War or slavery, support reparations?

There is reality in politics. People have to get elected. Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell come from states where Republicans won all but two counties in 2016. Could you imagine if Mitch McConnell sided with Democrats to raise taxes for utopian schemes like Medicare for All and a Green New Deal or worked with Beto O’Rourke on seizing people’s guns? He would be tossed out in a hurry.

Jeff Taylor is a Street Sense Media artist and vendor.

A Response to Jeff Taylor:

This is why Impeachment is pure fantasy.

Democrats have 47 senate seats and need 68 votes to remove a president from office. How do you persuade Republicans to remove him from office when you insult them? It takes no courage to shout impeachment from the confines of California or New York. But if you're a politician from Florida, Ohio or Pennsylvania, you may believe Trump is guilty but don’t want to go against his base.

I can assure Taylor that the Russians had no influence on why I voted for Trump. It was people like you that call names but never hear the discontent that drove me to Trump.

In his article, he claimed Republicans hate Democrats because they give things to others that are not deserved. What Republicans hate is someone deciding for others what is adequate and just. What people can’t stand is the hypocrisy of people such as Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. Both rail against the millionaires and billionaires when they’re millionaires themselves.

Before she became a woke socialist Elizabeth Warren was a bankruptcy lawyer who used to charge as much as $700 an hour to crush the lilliputians she claims to champion today.

At least Trump made his billions the old fashioned way, by building and producing things.

I urge my brother Taylor to look at reality: the economy is doing great and jobs are plentiful.

I see America as the land of unlimited potential. I don’t hate the left. I love liberty and freedom. I am not ashamed of being a Republican or supporting Donald Trump.

Jeffery McNeil is a Street Sense Media artist and vendor.

Join the conversation, share your views - have an opinion about how homelessness is being addressed in our community?

- Want to share firsthand experience?

- interested in responding to what someone else has written?

Street Sense Media has maintained an open submission policy since our founding.

We aim to elevate voices from across the housing spectrum and foster healthy debate.

Please send submissions to opinion@streetsensemedia.org.

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Say ‘no’ to DC’s new sex work bill

Homeless

The Process

By dan hooKs Artist/Vendor

By angie Whitehurst

I support the decriminalization of sex work. But I do not support decriminalization for buyers only.

And that's exactly what the Community Safety and Health Amendment Act of 2019 does as written.

That's like saying slave owners can't be arrested for buying or selling people. Sex work is coercion.

I'm sure there are exceptions, but I've known many people in the business over the years, and not one of them wanted to be there. It's a choice for economic gain. But it's still coercion. It is not a happy job. It is a job of last resort.

We cannot pass this bill. It is harmful and discriminatory, and it is not what my community and city represent. More than 170 people signed up to testify at the 14-hour hearing for the bill last month, and many agreed with me.

We cannot pass this bill. it is harmful and discriminatory, and it is not what my community and city represent.

I beg you to revisit this issue and get it right in the name of human rights. We do not need to create another life-sucking Wall Street-tradable industry.

As an American Black woman, it is an affront that "consensual sex," as presented by a councilperson totally negates and ignores the thousands of enslaved black women, who had no choice but to sleep with the "White Massa." No, you cannot pass this law to reinstitute another systemically strategically constructed one-sided high-tech Jim Crow Renaissance.

Do not further debase, denigrate, disrespect, erode or destroy the fragile freedom gained. Nor should the rewritten man-made definition of what consensual sex is be changed to accommodate and protect a "buyer."

Our laws must serve and protect all of us.

If the DC Council passes this law as written, they are saying sex workers are less than equal, not human, and can be treated any kind of way. We would normalize an immoral, irresponsible, evil practice. I support the decriminalization of sex work, but this bill needs to be amended to apply to everyone involved.

It has to be fair.

D.C. must do better, and we can.

Angie Whitehurst is an artist and vendor with Street Sense Media.

To be homeless must be one of the most stressful things anyone can have to go through. I’ve been homeless since 2012.

I never would wish homelessness on anyone. The things a homeless person must encounter from day to day, are so, so depressing and can drive a person to thinking about taking one’s own life.

Not knowing where you are going to sleep, bathe, eat, and — most of all — use the bathroom, is extremely depressing. I’ve lost everything I had too many times. I come from a family of five and I am the only one living. Holidays are so hard.

The best thing that happened to me was someone telling me about Street Sense Media. Since becoming a vendor with this organization, my life is getting better.

I’m waiting for my apartment to come through. Street Sense helped me connect with a place to live in the meantime. I’ve been to so many programs that have not been about to do anything for me. So, this is a welcome change.

I thank God for Street Sense Media. They’re doing great things for the homeless community.

By reginald denny Artist/Vendor

In this life, we’re gonna have some good times and some bad times. That’s just the way it is.

You can’t go over it and you can’t slide under it.

We have to look life in the face and tread forward and through it.

Everything must change. No thing and no one stays the same.

I am in my process of becoming. There are times when the journey is scary, but I know it is good for me.

Find humility and you will find happiness By reV. John littleJohn Artist/Vendor

Proverbs 3:7 says “Be not wise in thine own eyes, fear the Lord, and depart from evil.”

The antidote to the poison of arrogance is to be humble. And humility comes from God. It is better to be lonely in spirit along with the oppressed than to share the weight of being proud.

Jesus told his disciples “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant and whoever wants to be first must be your slave, just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

There is nothing wrong with receiving accolades for achievements and success. The challenge is to stay focused on the One who calls us to follow Him, saying, “For I am gentle and humble in hearts, and you will find rest for your souls.”

True humility comes from God. Lord Jesus gave us peace and humility as we interact with others today. May we honor you in all we do and say.

As I close, I refer to John 3:16; “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

As it is written for, they say we are killed all the day long, that we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. May, in all these things, we are more than conquerors, through Him that loves us.

The Bible tells about Pride once again and it says in Timothy 3:6; “Not a novice, lest being lifted up with Pride befall into the condemnation of the Devil”.

The Bible talks about the proverb and it says, “in the Book of Luke 1:51, “He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.”

Be humble and share God’s love with your neighbor, and with the poor and the homeless.

Then you shall be at peace.

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natS toWn, ouR toWn By frederic John Artist/Vendor

Victory came slow but sure in our town Your town, my town, and Nats town Rendon sure, Soto pure; Or so we’d like to think.

Somehow we know this victory is rich This triumph did not stink (Our boos at home were not meant to roam Justice preserved in a far away sail)

Illustration (below): Gesture drawings of Anthony Rendon at bat and Strasburg winding up for pitch. Way to go Nats!!!

The Cowboy Poet has been writing about you and cheering you on for years.

The day after the big win

By iBn hipps // Artist/Vendor

illustration by frederic john

The morning after The Nationals won the World Series, I went to work on my corner.

Like every day, I aimed to give my customers a positive spirit and professional attitude. “Good morning everyone,” I would say. “Have a Great day! This is Street Sense Media’s brand-new issue. Have a blessed day.”

We were all coming off of a huge victory for the city, and it was a new edition of the paper to boo. I expected it to be a very positive morning and that most people at my work site would return my greetings. I am thinking to myself, “Today is going to be a good day, The Nationals won the World Series.”

But nope, when you think something is supposed to go a certain way, you’re always let down and left feeling hurt.

“Why? Why are peoples’ attitudes just as mean as any other day?”

I thought to myself. I didn’t understand, but maybe it’s not for me to understand. “Please have a blessed day folks, please have a blessed day,” I said humbly. Very few returned the humility in their responses — most just passed by in silence.

After a big win from the home team, the next day is just like every other. I give thanks from the heart to those who support me. Imagine if — and I pray for this — I got 50 people to donate $20. I could cut my time at the train station and focus more on the positive things I have going for myself. I am trying hard to remove myself permanently from this horrible situation I am in.

For the people that do help: “Thank you very much!”

For the people that pass my by: “Please, pretty please, I need your help.”

Thank you sincerely, Your Friendly Street Sense Vendor

natS! streetsensemedia.org

Don’t give in to the hype

The W

t/

Ve

nd

or

By reginald BlacK Artist/Vendor

is

By ron dudley, A.K.A. “pooKanu” Artist/Vendor

// 13

Pho

to c o u rt e s y o f r

Now let me tell you about the W Even my city starts with a W Where we don’t take Ls Only Ws They say we might not win I say we never lose.

Bryce Harper left my city For a cheesesteak from Philly No, my city ain’t petty But we don’t take no pity We just eliminated the Dodgers This just baseball talk: Who the h*** is Bryce Harper?

No disrespect to Philly But we the Nationals We the Nationals, really!

We rock the red like the Caps You know we puttin’ D.C. on the map Still love my Wizards, still love my Skins Go Mystics! We’re finally champions.

Brought it home for the city Now it’s time to celebrate So let’s get busy We the W, we the DMV We united forever, You know we DC. I woke up this morning With a Natitude We swept St. Louis, Ain’t no gratitude.

My mayor made a bet With the mayor of Houston That wasn’t so political Like Trump and Putin.

Now we got their mayor, And the Houston rockets Rockin’ the red.

Happy Halloween!

The Nats came back from the dead.

What good is a jersey, If it don’t get dirty?

What good is a home run, If my city don’t get it done?

There could never be an “I” in TEAM. Like there could never ever be an “I” in DREAM. Go Nats! We did it together.

We just won the World Series We been waiting forever In the W!

d on

ud

le

y,

t ar

Finally! After Major League Baseball absorbed the Negro Leagues, Washington baseball has won the World Series! (Yes, we needed 95 years...but we’re here.)

The victory may be a great time for official Washington, but the invisible, i.e., the vast majority of the city’s population, still suffers. The locals who used to live in the Navy Yard may get to enjoy a team from their home town in the Series, but it is bittersweet. Many people of color were displaced to transplant the Nationals from Montreal. Winning the Series will not help those impoverished and displaced residents.

They would be helped if only the By roBert Warren Nats’ victory would translate into Artist/Vendor better housing opportunities for those displaced poor. I doubt that, though.

The Series is only bringing more of the I love that away blue same hype we have gotten for the last the Nats wear; decade. Although I am grateful for a it seems to keep them true.

Washington team winning the Series, That home red used to be alright the last team to win a Series was not the before these MAGA Senators. It was the Homestead Grays, hats came into sight. who, as Jacob Bogage notes in the Oct. 25 D.C. Sports Bog, could play: I heard Trump got booed “...Washington’s last World Series that night; team was the 1948 Homestead Grays, He wouldn’t even throw who defeated the Birmingham Black out the first pitch; A tradition Barons, four games to one, to cap for Major League Baseball. perhaps the most dominant stretch of baseball in American history.

But that was a key The Grays, who called both Western to the opposition Pennsylvania and the District home, person who did won nine straight Negro National what he was supposed to do.

League pennants from 1937 to 1945 When Trump’s face appeared and 10 pennants in 12 seasons from on the mega screen 1937 to 1948, considered a greater feat the fans hollered than winning a World Series because “lock him up too.” the championship matchups were not always an annual event. The 1948 Even thought those Nats series was the last one played, and got blown away that night, while the circuit was waning, the talent that win in their away blue remained imposing. The Grays started would lead them to fight Hall of Famer Buck Leonard at first another day base. The Barons started a 17-year-old and finish that fight Willie Mays in center field.” on that magic night.

I expect more displacement on the horizon for the poor residents If we’d lost game seven around the Navy Yard. So, we’d still celebrate. congratulations, Nats. I will be But we won, so waiting for you with every other fair we might climb the new housing advocate in the city, and White House fence we will demand your team and your some night. fans step up and stop displacement.

Now, that would be a hell of a sight!

When the Nats come home after their night of nights maybe Trump will be nowhere in sight.

The Nats

1 4 // st reet sen s e me di a / /

Fun & gameS

no V. 1 3 - 2 6 , 2019

Challenging Sudoku by KrazyDad, Volume 1, Book 2

Sudoku #5 9

9 1 6 7 8 4

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© 2013 KrazyDad.com

Sudoku #4column and each Fill in the blank squares so that each row, each 3-by-3 block contain of the digits 1 thru 9.

SUDOKU: fillall in 7 5 8 2 4 7 3 5 6 1 9 squares If youthe useblank logic you can solve the puzzle without guesswork.

2 1 so that each row, 6 1 5 9 8 4 2 7 3 Needeach a littlecolumn help? The hints page shows a logical order to solve the puzzle. and 4 Use 9 should 7 3solve.

1 the8answers 4 5page 8 it to identify the next square you 2 Or 6 use block if youeach really3-by-3 get stuck.

2 5 6 8 4 7 3 9 1 3 9 contain all of the digits 1-9.

LAST EDITION’S PUZZLE SOLUTION >>

1 8 3 4 5 9 7 3 4 6

7 3 9 6 4 5 2 9 5 1 2 7 6 8 2 4 7 3 1 8 6 1 6 5 8 9 2 4 8 1 2 9 5 3 7

8 9 4

Sudoku #6 4 6 1 5 3 8 7 9 9 2 5 4 6 5 4 8 7 9 2 1 8 1 3 2 2 3 6 7 5 7 8 3 1 4 9 6

9 3 1 5 4 2 8 6 6 9 7 4 1 5 9 7 5 4 3 8 7 1 6 2 2 8 5 9 3 6 4 1 8 7 2 3

Sudoku #8 8 4 2 5 9 7 3 4 6 1 5 2 1 9 8 7 7 5 6 1 2 3 4 9 5 8 9 6 3 2 7 8 4 6 1 3

4 9 5 9 1 8 8 4 7 2 8 9 1 6 3 7 2 4 3 7 1 6 5 2 5 3 6

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By Queenie featherstone Artist/Vendor

1 5 Challenging Sudoku by KrazyDad, Volume 1, Book 2 Sudoku 7 3 2#2 1 2 9 6 7 8 4 4 5 2 6 8 7 3 1 8 6 1 2 5 6 992 3 1 2 56 7 5 44 83 89 63 42 131 97 2 5

7 4 8 2

2 9 9 3 5 6 6 1 4 7 5 2 3 4 8 6 8 2 1 3 1 8 6 7 7 5 9 4

“Still I rise” It is now pitch dark. If you proceed, you will likely fall into a pit.

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Why am I Homeless?

(Part 2)

By laticia BrocK, A.K.A “pWeZZy Village” Artist/Vendor

Home is not where the heart is at Because if you're unhappy in your home Then your keys will never become a set.

So try to build on what is Internal within itself Because whatever you take into your body Can affect your mental health.

And once that becomes compromised It can lead to an infection Until all of a sudden Your personal belongings can be neglected.

So now you have to go Into an out-of-body experience That will definitely have you asking Questions like, “WHY AM I HOMELESS?”

It’s only because of my faith It’s only because I won’t fuss It’s only because I can’t cuss It’s only because I must believe “Still I rise” It’s only because of others, w-ho I call my sisters and brothers, its only Because I’m a role model I know “Still I rise” I’m still learning not to hold A grudge. Can’t, won’t, must not cover In fudge. It’s only because I believe “Still I rise.”

I have a man who helps me All he can, with him I Believe and know “I will rise” “I will rise” “I will rise”

author gene Weingarten is a college dropout and a nationally syndicated humor columnist for the Washington Post. author dan Weingarten is a former college dropout and a current college student majoring in information technology. many thanks to gene Weingarten and the Washington Post Writers group for allowing street sense to run barney & clyde.

streetsensemedia.org

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All services listed are referral-free Academy of Hope Public Charter School 202-269-6623 // 2315 18th Place ne aohdc.org

Bread for the City 202-265-2400 (nW) // 561-8587 (se) 1525 7th st., nW // 1640 good hope rd., se breadforthecity.org

Calvary Women’s Services // 202-678-2341 1217 good hope rd., 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 // 202-232-3066 1830 connecticut ave., nW charliesplacedc.org

Christ House // 202-328-1100 1717 columbia rd., nW christhouse.org

Father McKenna Center // 202-842-1112 19 eye st., nW fathermckennacenter.org

Food and Friends // 202-269-2277 219 riggs rd., ne foodandfriends.org (home delivery for those suffering from HIV, cancer, etc)

Foundry Methodist Church // 202-332-4010 1500 16th st., nW id (Friday 9am–12pm only) foundryumc.org/ministry-opportunities

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 // 202-544-9128 425 2nd st., nW jobshavepriority.org

Loaves & Fishes // 202-232-0900 1525 newton st., nW loavesandfishesdc.org

Church of the Pilgrims // 202-387-6612 2201 P st., nW food (1-1:30 on Sundays only) churchofthepilgrims.org/outreach

Martha’s Table // 202-328-6608 2375 elvans road se marthastable.org

Community Family Life Services 202-347-0511 // 305 e st., nW cflsdc.org

Miriam’s Kitchen // 202-452-8926 2401 Virginia ave., nW miriamskitchen.org

Community of Hope // 202-232-7356 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

BEHAVIORAL HEALTH HOTLINE Línea de salud del comportamiento

1-800-799-7233

Housing/Shelter Vivienda/alojamiento

1-888-793-4357 Laundry Lavandería

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 // 202-333-4949 3655 calvert st., nW stlukesmissioncenter.org

Thrive DC // 202-737-9311 1525 newton st., nW thrivedc.org

Unity Health Care // 202-745-4300 3020 14th st., nW unityhealthcare.org

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

My Sister’s Place // 202-529-5991 (24-hr hotline) mysistersplacedc.org

N Street Village // 202-939-2060 1333 n st., nW nstreetvillage.org

New York Avenue Shelter // 202-832-2359 1355-57 new york ave., ne

// 15

Whitman-Walker Health 1701 14th st., nW // 202-745-7000 2301 mlK jr. ave., se // 202-797-3567 whitman-walker.org

For further information and listings, visit our online service guide at StreetSenseMedia.org/service-guide service-guide

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volunteers become a street sense media volunteer and help further our mission to empower people experiencing homelessness. get to know the vendors and make a difference in their lives and yours! you’ll support hard-working newspaper vendors by volunteering your time, four hours a week, distributing newspapers at the street sense media office. if interested, please contact gladys robert gladys@streetsensemedia.org 202-347-2006 (x10)

Housing Authority and former Barry Farm tenants receive second chance to resolve historic preservation debate

By Clifford Samuels cliff.samuels@streetsensemedia.org

A

Historic Preservation Review Board hearing on Oct. 31 was one more in a series of meetings to work out how to proceed with the development of Barry Farm Dwellings, a property in Southeast D.C. with a storied history and a future that is of interest to many parties.

The HPRB has been working to consider a historic landmark designation for part of the Barry Farm neighborhood that was filed in April. At the Oct. 31 hearing, representatives from both D.C. Housing Authority and the Barry Farm Tenants and Allies Association gave accounts of meetings they had with each other since the last hearing in September.

DCHA representative Cynthia A. Giordano said “There have been email exchanges up until maybe last night around 8 p.m., so I think the housing authority and [its development partner] Preservation of Affordable Housing, Inc. have been very responsive and very active in trying to work things out.''

According to DCHA representative Jose Souza, two of three scheduled meetings were held to highlight an updated plan to increase the number of Barry Farm housing structures that would be preserved from four to 14 units. “We believe the [way to honor the] history of the site is to bring back affordable housing and bring back former residents to the site to reactivate it and create a meaningful place for the District,” Souza said.

Detrice Belt, the chair of the tenants and allies association, said meetings the group had with DCHA and one of its development partners, Preservation for Affordable Housing, Inc., felt rushed.

“They’re saying they were going to give us one house and commemorate the history of Barry Farm,” Belt said. “ To me it didn’t look good.”

Former Barry Farm resident Paulette Matthews said she was ashamed to be learning the rich history of her long-time neighborhood during the landmark application process. She also said moving out to make way for redevelopment had left residents uncertain about the future. “Stability, security, who wouldn’t want it?” she asked the HPRB rhetorically.

Parisa Norouzi, executive director of Empower D.C., the nonprofit advocacy group that organized the tenants and allies association, said the current plan that POAH and DCHA presented to the HPRB has not been shared with residents of Barry Farm in a formal meeting, nor has the plan been approved by the zoning commission. “There have been no meetings presenting this plan,'' she stated. “The last meetings were held about a year ago to get input into supposedly making some changes to the plan, but this updated plan was never revealed.”

Responding to the tenants and allies association and Norouzi,

Part of Preservation of Affordable Housing, Inc’s vision for “Phase 2” development at the Barry Farm site. The plan would includes more than 400 apartments, according to barryfarmredevelopment.org.

Plan courtesy of POAH.

Anthony Waddell, POAH Vice President for Real Estate Development mid-Atlantic region, said there will be 380 units of replacement public housing for tenants to come back and live in as well as extended storage time for residents who need it. “Certainly, the development will take longer than a year, nobody ever said it will take a year,” Waddell said.

Waddell stated that POAH respects the people, history, and architecture of Barry Farm. “What we’re trying to do is to reflect that architecture in the new development, so that's one of the very first things we did is we studied the site,'' he said. “This is taking a step back from the more modern public housing era and looking at the history [that speaks] to Paulette back when there were freed slaves living on the site.”

Waddell described a plan POAH offers to its tenants in federally assisted housing that it markets as a pathway to homeownership. Recipients of federal housing assistance pay 30% of their income as rent. POAH’s initiative, called the Family Self- Sufficiency program, allows participants to save a portion of their rent if their income increases, in order to achieve financial goals, according to the organization’s quarterly report for this fall. “That amount, say if its $100, could be put into an escrow account and can be saved for a down payment on a house, Waddell said. “It could be saved for a college education, it could be saved to start a business.”

POAH took Paulette Matthews and other tenants from the BFTAA to Chicago to visit Woodlawn Park, a site where POAH partnered with the City of Chicago to redevelop in 2008. POAH organized the trip to Chicago to build trust with former Barry Farm residents and ease fears that they will not be able to return to the neighborhood when redevelopment is

complete. Residents in the historic public housing community have feared moving to make way for construction and not being allowed back to benefit from the planned mixed income neighborhood since at least 2012. “We took Paulette and some others out to Chicago with us so they can see and speak to the residents who we worked with throughout that process and hear from the city council person — or alderman — in Chicago about how we worked,” Waddell said.

Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White attended the hearing and voiced concerns on what will come next for Barry Farm and the residents that have been displaced. “We haven’t heard from the developer about where’s the money to bring the people back, so we’ve been asking the question and looking into that,” he said. “We have not yet seen from the developer’s perspective how they are going to fund this project.”

During the hearing David Maloney, the State Historic Preservation Officer, was asked by the HPRB to give his opinion on how to proceed. Maloney proposed a “split action” approach to the voting process. In this approach, the first “action” would be for HPRB to make a Statement of Intent that outlines how it would vote if the two parties do not come to an agreement on their own. Then, DCHA and BFTAA would consider their options and attempt to come to an agreement on their own. In the choice between more affordable housing vs emphasis on historic preservation, DCHA wants more affordable housing and home ownership while the BFTAA is more concerned with historical landmarking.

The second “action” would have the HPRB consider all the issues brought up by each party and then take a final vote. The HPRB has stated that they are in favor of historic designation as well as opportunities for affordable housing and home ownership.

“The Board has made it clear that we support designation [as a historic landmark],” said Marnique Heath, chair of the HPRB. “So that puts more pressure on the housing authority to make revisions of their plans, to do something that is in support of preservation.” Otherwise the Board will be responsible for the planning of what buildings will be preserved on site, which could lead to difficulties for POAH and the housing authority.

The HPRB requested a progress report from both parties on Dec. 5.

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From your vendor Nov. 13 - 26, 2019 | Vol. 17, Issue 1

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Former Barry Farm resident Paulette Matthews sits in the front row of the Sept. 26 HPRB hearing and holds a sign behind her head for other attendees to see. Photo by Clifford Samuels

Jose Souza, representing the D.C. Housing Authority, and Anthony Waddell, representing one of their development partners, Preservation of Affordable Housing, Inc., answer questions at the Sept. 26 HPRB hearing. Photo by Clifford Samuels

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