12 02 2020

VOL. 18 ISSUE 3

$2

DEC. 2 - 15, 2020

Real Stories

Real People

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Real Change

Mutual Aid group helps encampment residents gear up for hypothermia season

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The Cover

The Street Sense Media Story, #MoreThanANewspaper

Ricky McNill sits by his tent on M Street NE during the People for Fairness Coalition’s outreach effort conducted on Nov. 8.

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 case-management 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.

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NEWS IN BRIEF

EVENTS

Hamburg will prioritize homeless people for coronavirus vaccine Will cities worldwide follow suit?

BY BENJAMIN LAUFER Hinz&Kunst

Together We Rise, our virtual celebration December 3, 2020, 6 p.m. - 6:45 p.m. // RSVP at www.tinyurl.com/SSM-celebration-2020 In normal times, the Street Sense Media community gathers together each year for an in-person celebration of our work and our vendors. This year has been anything but normal. The COVID-19 pandemic has upended all our lives, and it has placed an especially heavy burden on the women and men Street Sense Media works with.

Yet, despite all the challenges of 2020, there have been bright spots. We have progress to celebrate, and every reason to come together virtually in an attempt to bridge some of the separation we all feel. Please join us on for a virtual video celebration of all things Street Sense Media. We truly believe that #TogetherWeRise.

FRIDAY, DEC. 4

UPDATES ONLINE AT ICH.DC.GOV

SATURDAY, DEC. 5

It Stops Here: Ending the Cycle of Incarceration to Homelessness

D.C. Interagency Council on Homelessness Meetings

Legal Clinic - Central Union Mission Saturday

Executive Committee Dec. 8, 1:30 pm

10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. // 65 Massachusetts Avenue NW

Youth Committee Dec. 10, 10:00 a.m.

Christian Legal Aid of DC partners with the Central Union Mission to host this meeting at its building across the street from Georgetown Law. Please contact them at 202710-0592 or through their website, christianlegalaid-dc.org, to inquire about an appointment.

1 p.m. - 1:45 p.m. tinyurl.com/incarceration-homeless People exiting prisons with no job, no money, little family support, and a “record” too often find themselves on the streets. Join Homeward Alliance staff for a short presentation on services, peer navigation and more, as well as a Q and A session.

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Real Stories Real People Real Change

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A vaccine against the coronavirus developed by the company BioNTech, working together with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, is reported to be 95% effective after concluding its Phase 3 study. The process of securing approval for it to be rolled out is said to already be underway. “This is a victory for innovation, science, and worldwide collaboration,” said Ugur Sahin, founder of BioNTech.

Hamburg, Germany’s Senator for Health and Social Affairs, Melanie Leonhard, called it “very encouraging news,” according to their street paper, Hinz&Kunst. But it’s also clear that there won’t initially be sufficient availability for everyone to be vaccinated.

The German Council on Ethics, working with local medical authorities and the Leopoldina (the German National Academy of Natural Sciences), has suggested guidelines to help local authorities decide who should be vaccinated first.

Older people, medical personnel, police officers, and others who “have key positions in maintaining the central functions of the state” comprise the provisional priority groups.

The guidelines also explicitly mention homeless people and refugees, those who “live in circumstances which make access to healthcare more difficult.” A determining factor in allocating priority would be “a significantly increased probability, if they become ill, of needing intensive medical care, of suffering serious long-term damage to health, or of death.” (A Street Sense Media analysis found that homeless people in Washington, D.C., are three times as likely to test positive for COVID-19 and die due to complications from the virus more than three times as often as the general population.)

On Nov. 11, the European Union announced it had negotiated an agreement with BioNTech and Pfizer for the delivery of an initial 300 million doses of the vaccine. Germany’s authorities are hopeful of acquiring 100 million doses. “For us, this means that we must push ahead with our own preparations for the likelihood of a vaccine becoming available,” Leonhard said.

The city is currently getting a centrally-located medical center ready for the vaccine’s arrival.

People who are homeless are not currently considered a priority for the 40 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine reportedly ordered by the United Kingdom, according to its street paper, The Big Issue. The UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization is prioritizing elderly people, and health and social workers. The committee insists this plan will “likely result in faster delivery and better uptake in those at the highest risk.”

The advice is in keeping with WHO recommendations, which suggest people who are homeless or experience “extreme poverty” should be among the second stage of vaccinations.

In the U.S., people staying in homeless shelters are also being given priority status and are set to be vaccinated in phase two of the roll-out, according to The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s plan.

Health-care workers and elderly Americans as well as those with underlying health conditions are first in the queue for a vaccine before people without a home are targeted alongside others in prisons, jails, and detention centers.

Liam Geraghty of The Big Issue contributed reporting.

Courtesy of Hinz&Kunzt / The International Network of Street Papers (INSP.ngo). Translated from German by Peter Bone.

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NEWS Opportunity to pass permanent eviction recordsealing bill fades as need continues to grow

A flowchart breaking down how many eviction cases result in a formal eviction. CHART FROM “EVICTION IN WASHINGTON, DC: RACIAL AND GEOGRAPHIC DISPARITIES IN HOUSING INSTABILITY.”

BY SHREEYA ARANAKE // @ShreeyaAranake

A

s the coronavirus pandemic rages and the related economic fallout continues, the U.S. Census Bureau reports that 26.7% of adults in the District live in households not current on rent or mortgage payments, where eviction is at least somewhat likely.

Yet with only one legislative meeting left in the 2019-20 DC Council period, time is running out to pass permanent legislation that would seal tenants’ eviction records that could otherwise stymie their ability to secure housing.

In April, the DC Council passed a bill that banned evictions and prohibited landlords from raising rent and charging late fees as long as the mayor’s public health emergency order remains in effect. Despite those protections, DCist reported that landlords filed 1,100 eviction complaints against tenants, the first step in initiating an eviction proceeding, from March 17 until early May, when the council prohibited the practice throughout the health crisis. While no cases will proceed as long as the eviction moratorium remains in place, the complaints themselves remain a part of the tenant’s rental history.

Landlords make little distinction between an eviction complaint and an actual eviction when screening potential tenants, according to advocates. If either shows up on a potential tenant’s record, their rental application will most likely be denied.

Separate from the ongoing moratorium, the council approved emergency and temporary legislation that includes eviction-sealing requirements like those in the permanent bill. The version now in effect is set to expire Feb. 7, and temporary legislation — which would last 225 days once it becomes law — is still awaiting congressional review.

Meanwhile, the permanent legislation — the Eviction Record Sealing Authority Amendment Act of 2019 — was the subject of an Oct. 30 hearing held jointly by the Committee on Housing and Neighborhood Revitalization and the Committee on Government Operations, giving advocates on both sides of the issue a chance to weigh in.

If passed, the bill would make permanent a requirement that the D.C. Superior Court seal eviction records after as little as 30 days if the case did not result in eviction and after three years no matter the outcome. The bill would also require landlords to provide tenants with a 30-day notice for nonpayment of rent prior to filing an official complaint with the court, and would prohibit discrimination based upon a tenant having sealed records under their name.

The amendment could be especially helpful for tenants who have eviction complaints on their record. At the hearing, supporters emphasized the disproportionate number of eviction complaints compared to actual

evictions. Two researchers from Georgetown University pointed out that, according to their research, 94.5% of eviction complaints filed with the court system never result in an eviction.

“Public eviction records thus create a sort of blacklist that leaves a lasting mark on tenants that have experience of the eviction process,” Georgetown University associate professor Eva Rosen said. “Since many low-income tenants experience income volatility that leads to missed rental payments, it’s not uncommon to have an eviction filing that does not result in an eviction.”

Though she supports sealing eviction records from the public, including landlords and their affiliates, Rosen added that the council should “preserve access to eviction records by researchers” so they can track eviction trends that could help to inform future policy decisions.

Private “data brokers,” such as tenant screening companies, can create particular problems for renters, according to Natasha Duarte, senior policy analyst at the advocacy group Upturn. She told the council that when eviction complaints are filed, brokers access the public records directly from the court website and save them in private databases. Landlords pay the companies to attempt to match applicant names to those records.

“At this step, accuracy is a huge problem,” Duarte testified. “Sometimes [the companies] completely omit the underlying records and simply report that a disqualifying record was found. … Because there are so many different tenant screening companies, renters cannot find out in advance or challenge what a company will say about them.”

Jesse Rabinowitz, the advocacy and campaign manager of Miriam’s Kitchen, said that DC’s current law “disproportionately affects Black people,” with landlords able to use eviction records as a screening tool to “cherry-pick” potential tenants. He also referred to the discrimination faced by voucher holders, whose rent is paid for by the government.

“Beyond being racist and discriminatory, not renting to a voucher holder whose rent is largely paid for and guaranteed by the government because they have faced eviction in the past simply makes no sense,” Rabinowitz said.

Though he supports the bill, Rabinowitz suggested that the council also pass the Fair Tenant Screening Act (which would spell out certain rights, restrictions and responsibilities of landlords and prospective tenants during the screening process) and the Michael Stoops Anti-Discrimination Act (which would protect individuals experiencing homelessness from discrimination) in tandem with the bill in question. The council also needs to invest in more housing vouchers to prevent a severe housing crisis once the pandemic

subsides and DC’s public health emergency is lifted, he added.

Others at the hearing weren’t sold on the bill. Leslie Perry, a multifamily property owner and a former landlord/tenant attorney, said landlords already incur significant costs for legal proceedings.

“During my tenure in landlord/tenant court, I have found many small owners who are left without a competent attorney because they could not afford representation,” Perry said. “These regulations are not fair because they add extra layers of protection to tenants who are adequately protected.”

Perry added that the “scales of justice in the landlord/ tenant [relationship] has bent so far in the tenant’s direction that the small multifamily owners are being forced out of business.” Eviction complaints should not be sealed, he said, because landlords would not be able to determine whether a potential tenant might “abuse the regulation by not paying rent for months or years.”

Dean Hunter — the founder and CEO of the Small Multifamily Owners’ Association, a trade group that represents small apartment building owners and rental housing providers in DC — echoed Perry’s sentiments.

He called the bill “overreaching and broad.” Passing legislation to make the eviction process more difficult, when a temporary moratorium on evictions is already in place, would impose additional burdens on small housing providers who are suffering as a result of the pandemic, Hunter said.

Randi Marshall of the Apartment and Office Building Association of Metropolitan Washington told the council that the draft legislation fails to make a necessary distinction between eviction records for cases of non-payment of rent and those citing criminal activity. “By limiting access to eviction records, you’re mandating that housing providers enter into a business transaction blindly without offering any backstops or protections from bad tenants for those housing providers operating in good faith and compliance with the law,” Marshall testified.

While interest in tenant protections has grown as the pandemic continues and many residents have struggled to keep paying their rent, this legislation was introduced before the health crisis. Ward 3 Council member Mary Cheh and at-large member Anita Bonds, the housing committee chair, introduced a version of it during the 2017-18 council session, although no public hearing took place. Cheh re-introduced it with six fellow council members in June 2019, but to move forward the legislation will have to be reintroduced come January, given that there’s no longer time for votes at two legislative meetings this year.

This article was co-published with The DC Line.

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D.C. unemployment: what’s available, and how to claim it

BY ANNEMARIE CUCCIA annemarie.cuccia@streetsensemedia.org

A

s D.C. residents continue to deal with the health and financial impacts of the COVID19 pandemic, assistance programs like unemployment can be a crucial resource.

Between local and national programs and a series of benefit extensions, there’s a lot of avenues for D.C. workers to receive benefits to make up for lost jobs or hours worked. More than 150,000 claims have already been filed, and while the Department of Employment Services (DOES) is facing criticism for its administration of the programs, they are continuing to process claims and provide benefits. Here’s what those benefits could be, and how to access them.

For traditional workers: If you are not yet on any form of unemployment and qualify for traditional unemployment programs, you are still eligible for the pre-pandemic form of benefits: unemployment insurance (UI). UI requires applicants to be out of work or have reduced hours through no fault of their own, be able and available to work (aside from any COVID-19 restrictions), and meet specific wage requirements over the last 12 months, including earning at least $1,950 in the last year. People who are self employed, independent contractors, or gig workers are not eligible for UI. You may also qualify for UI if you are a healthcare worker under quarantine, are self-isolating or caring for a quarantined family member.

UI recipients receive benefits based on wage history, with a maximum benefit of $444 weekly. Benefits will become available once your claim is adjudicated, and will last for a maximum of 26 weeks, or until you find work.

For self-employed workers, independent contractors, and gig workers:

More than 150,000 unemployment claims have been filed in the District since the start of the pandemic.

PHOTO COURTESY OF GERALT / PIXABAY.

While you do not traditionally qualify for unemployment, the CARES Act included Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) that you may qualify for if the pandemic affected your work. Individuals who have insufficient work history or are seeking part-time, rather than full-time unemployment, may also qualify. PUA also applies to you if you must stay home to provide childcare due to school closures or are high-risk and advised to self-quarantine.

PUA benefits will be at least half of the District’s weekly average of benefits, or $179 weekly. PUA can be applied retroactively for any disruptions to work starting on Jan. 27 of this year. Benefits will become available once claims are adjudicated, and can last for a maximum of 39 weeks, or until you find work. PUA is in effect until Dec. 26.

Those not legally authorized to work in the U.S. are not eligible for either UI or PUA.

For those already on unemployment: If you are reaching the end of your 26 weeks on UI or your 39 weeks on PUA, there are extensions available, but you must apply again to be eligible.

Extending UI: The first available extension to UI is the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) extension, which lasts 13 weeks. The extension is available through Dec. 26, 2020, and participants receive the same amount they received under UI. Information about reapplying can be found here.

After your PEUC benefits expire, you are encouraged to apply to the Extended Benefits (EB) program, which provides a second 13-week extension of benefits at the same level. You will once again have to reapply to receive this extension. This program has been temporarily extended for another seven weeks, meaning the total EB program will last for 20 weeks.

Extending PUA:

Both the EB section of UI and PUA have been extended for an additional seven weeks by the D.C. Council, meaning any workers coming to the end of 39 weeks on PUA can apply for an additional seven weeks of benefits. These benefits will be at the same level as the PUA benefits the workers were already receiving.

For those with lost wages: If you have not yet filed a claim but lost wages due to COVID19, you may be able to recover some of that money.

PUA can apply retroactively, and when you file your claim you can also ask for benefits making up lost wages since you have been unemployed.

From March 29 to July 31, a now-expired Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) added $600 weekly to unemployment checks. If you were eligible for UI or PUA during that time and applied for unemployment before FPUC expired, you may still be eligible to receive the payment retroactively.

For anyone eligible for unemployment, regardless of whether you have filed yet, the Lost Wages Assistance Program (LWA) can provide an extra $300 a week for the dates Aug. 1 to Sept.

5. In order to qualify for LWA, you must answer “yes” to a self-certification in the unemployment portal question asking if you are unemployed or partially unemployed due to COVID19. After you are certified, LWA for the weeks you are eligible will be paid out in a lump sum.

How to apply: If you are eligible for any of the above programs, you can go to http://www.dcnetworks.org/ and navigate to the tab reading “claim unemployment benefits.” You can then choose the tab for the benefits you are eligible for; apply for benefits” for UI or PUA, PEUC” for PEUC, and EB” for EB after being on either UI or PUA. If you are not sure what you qualify for, you can start with the general claim benefits tab. You will then need to answer a series of questions and file your claim.

If you are filing for PUA, you will first need to file for UI, and will be directed to PUA filing once you are rejected from UI. In order to receive PUA or LWA, you must answer “yes” to the self-certification question asking if you are unemployed or partially unemployed due to COVID-19.

In order to apply, you will need to have the following information: social security number or alien registration number; name, address, and phone number of most recent employer; documentation of previous income; DD214 if you are ex-military; and severance and pension information if applicable.

You can also apply via phone at 202-724-7000. The DOES is recommending anyone who can apply online do so, as there are long wait times to speak to someone on the phone.

Once approved, you must file a weekly claim for benefits to continue to receive assistance, and report all earnings from work at https://does.dcnetworks.org/ClaimantServices. You also must continue to be available and able to work.

You will have to reapply for any extension (PEUC, EB) you are eligible for. The DOES will not notify you when benefits are about to apply or that you are eligible for an extension, so you should keep track of when the program you are currently on will expire.

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NEWS

ANC calls on DHS to improve hypothermia season shelter accommodations

BY LEAH POTTER Volunteer

c

ommunity leaders are calling on city officials to scale back the number of people to be sheltered at a Ward 6 recreation center during hypothermia season amid an uptick of COVID-19 cases in D.C. Advisory neighborhood commissioners and neighborhood residents took issue with city officials planning to house up to 60 women — 10 more people than Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office recommended for mass gatherings at the time, and 50 more than the city’s revised guidance — at the Sherwood Recreation Center near the H Street NE Corridor this winter. Community leaders said city officials are compromising the health and safety of people experiencing homelessness in order to create enough shetler spaces during hypothermia season, which typically lasts from Nov. 1 to March 31.

The District government is legally required to provide shelter for all who seek it when temperatures become dangerously cold.

Each year, the D.C. Interagency Council on Homelessness develops a plan to determine how much shelter space needs to be available during the winter months based on shelter usage the previous year. Sherwood has been a recurring hypothermia shelter site in the city’s plan since the winter of 2016-17, when it was used to provide beds for up to 30 women. The following two winters, Sherwood was set up to provide up to 75 beds for women experiencing homelessness.

The winter plan is typically finalized by September, but the 2020-21 iteration was approved in October to allow more time to incorporate realistic adjustments based on the evolving health crisis.

ANC 6A gathered for a virtual meeting on Nov. 12, where several commissioners expressed concern that shelter plans at Sherwood Recreation Center might contribute to the spread of COVID-19.

The concern isn’t new: In May, the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless said it collected signatures from 1,737 individuals and 200 organizations in support of a letter urging the Bowser administration to “immediately offer non-congregate setting placement to all people living in congregate homeless shelters or on the street.”

Officials have instead emphasized steps to make congregate setting safer via social distancing, although medically vulnerable people and those exposed to COVID-19 are eligible for limited spots in several DC hotels. Those who end up in the hotels are prioritized for permanent housing.

D.C. Department of Human Services Director Laura Zeilinger said at an agency event on Nov. 20 that even though the Sherwood Recreation Center may house more than 50 people at once, the District will still be able to accommodate appropriate social distancing procedures, like keeping beds 6 feet apart and providing people with grab-and-go meals.

“I think it’s just foreign to folks who don’t have to rely on shelter to sort of think about social distancing in that way,” she said about concerns of overcrowding at shelters this winter.

“But it’s really a social distancing overlay on our system that allows people to spread out and with the additional measures to ensure safety.”

Phil Toomajian, the commission’s vice chair, said at the meeting that DHS reached out to the ANC twice to invite feedback on plans to house up to 60 people at Sherwood.

The first notice, received Oct. 23, stated the ANC would have until January to provide feedback on the city’s plan to house 60 women in the recreation center’s gymnasium. The second notice,

received Nov. 9, stated that the period for feedback was being shortened and the ANC now had 48 hours to respond.

“The proposal that they’ve put forward is frankly shocking and very hard to understand,” Toomajian said at the Nov. 12 meeting. “Rather than recognizing the dangers posed by the pandemic, the District is proposing housing more people inside a basketball court within a large open recreation center.”

Toomajian said that while the recreation center has periodically been used for shelter space, this year city officials have suggested a “24/7 use,” which he said during a pandemic will contribute to “daily superspreader event potential.”

“None of us would choose to be in a room with 60 other strangers,” he said at the meeting.

As COVID-19 rates continued to rise in D.C. and throughout the country, the mayor’s office and Health Department revised their guidance in late November to further reduce the permitted size of indoor gatherings from 50 people to 10. The maximum in houses of worship dropped from 100 to 50.

Marie-Claire Brown, the commissioner for 6A01, said that while DHS may not consider people being housed in a shelter to be a mass gathering, the “optics and the reality are the same” for both, given that shelters place many strangers together under one roof by design.

“We’re looking for a response that is going to make the community feel some sense of security,” Brown said at the meeting.

During the meeting, Toomajian proposed sending the mayor, DHS, and the Department of General Services a letter urging the city “to seek every available opportunity to provide apartmentstyle or hotel room housing to the unhoused residents this winter.” If recreation centers must be used, the letter suggests that the city upgrade their HVAC systems to improve air flow and set the capacity only after a public health official assesses the facility.

The motion passed 6-0 with one abstention.

Toomajian wrote in an email that he hopes policymakers and budget drafters will provide better shelter space during hypothermia season so that people experiencing homelessness stay healthy.

“I hope the District will provide safe, warm accommodations that do not pose serious risks of COVID spread during the pandemic,” he said. “Those who are served by hypothermia shelters should not have to choose between being safe from the cold and being safe from COVID.” But officials insisted that even though the recreation center might house 60 people, safety procedures in place will ensure the health and safety of individuals housed there.

Melvyn Smith, the homeless services outreach coordinator for DHS, said the recreation shelter probably won’t house 60 women at once, adding that it hasn’t been at full capacity in prior years. He said those being housed in the shelter will sleep head-to-toe and will be required to wear masks except when

People gathered at the Downtown Day Services Center for DHS’s hypothermia awareness event, held outside this year due to COVID-19 concerns. PHOTO BY MEREDITH ROATEN.

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DHS gave away packages of food and water at the Downtown Day Services Center on Nov. 20. PHOTO BY MEREDITH ROATEN.

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AT A GLANCE

Gerald Anderson

they are sleeping, eating, or drinking.

“At no given time are we planning on having 60 women on top of each other; that’s not a very accurate description of our shelter operations,” Smith said at the ANC meeting. “We have been given the bandwidth to use space within Sherwood to keep individuals safe. Individuals are not going to be forced to stay in the gym 24 hours a day.”

John Stokes, the interim associate director of external affairs for DGS, said officials will continue to ensure seasonal cleaning and filter replacements for HVAC systems in shelter spaces to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

“This year we also made sure that there was enhanced cleaning to the facility, so more cleaning than we would normally do,” Stokes said at the meeting. “We have two people around the clock 24/7 at the facility to make sure it stays clean and sanitized.”

When asked why shelters weren’t receiving as many equipment updates as D.C. schools, Stokes said that the configuration of most schools in the District — with multiple rooms throughout the building — meant they needed air filtration updates that buildings like recreational shelters did not require. The mayor’s office released a coronavirus update in October stating that more than $31 million would be invested in safety measures for D.C. schools, including $24 million for HVAC improvements.

Larry Handerhan, the chief of staff for DHS, said during the ANC meeting that the District opened five recreation centers so far this year — Sherwood, Banneker, Kennedy, King Greenleaf, and Trinidad — that together have the capacity to house 300 people. Additional sites in the District, including some ordinarily used only for day programs, added 147 beds for shelter purposes, he said.

Handerhan added that the city is currently housing 810 people in year-round shelter spaces, much fewer than the 1,200-plus beds they usually offer. He said the reduction in bed space is largely due to social distancing procedures, and that in addition to keeping residents 6 feet apart they are also offering grab-andgo meals to reduce viral transmission.

“We can’t say we’re going to prevent every case of community transmission, especially as cases are rising, but we have a lot of experience running sites that are set up relatively similar to this,” Handerhan said at the ANC meeting. “We’ve had a pretty successful experience the past couple of months keeping our residents safe.”

DHS hosted a hypothermia awareness event on Nov. 20 outside the Downtown Day Services Center to inform community members and businesses about the health risks associated with winter temperatures for people experiencing homelessness.

Zeilinger, the director of DHS, said the department hosts similar events annually, though this year’s was held outside with extra safety precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19. She added that the department wants to make community members

aware of the city’s shelter hotline (202-399-7093) and what steps they can take to assist someone, like providing warm blankets and other “survival items.”

“While we can put all the services in place and have outreach on the streets, if there are folks that we’re missing, that neighbors are seeing, then we have not done our job as a community,” Zeilinger said. “[The event] really is a way to come together as a community to make sure that when the weather is cold and threatening, and poses additional risk to people, that they have a way of getting connected.”

Zeilinger said the department has reduced overall shelter capacity by about 60% to allow for social distancing at all hypothermia sites in the city. Occupants are required to sleep 6 feet apart and are subject to wellness checks, where nursing staff take temperatures and ask about COVID-19 symptoms. She said the city has the capacity to house 692 medically vulnerable people experiencing homelessness in hotel rooms.

She said if anyone has a fever or is exhibiting a symptom of the virus, they are provided housing at one of the city’s isolation and quarantine sites where they can get a COVID-19 test. If someone tests positive, they will be able to stay in quarantine until it’s safe for them to return to another shelter location and the department will use contact tracing to determine if anyone else might have contracted the virus, Zeilinger said.

As COVID-19 cases have begun to rise again across the region, the total number of homeless people in DHS’s isolation and quarantine sites grew to 92 as of Nov. 30, about double the number reported earlier in the month. However, only six new positive cases were detected among people in shelter over the same period, increasing from 353 to 359. And the number of lives lost among individuals in the homeless service system has held at 21 since July 16, according to city data.

This year, the winter plan specified how the District would reduce its capacity levels because of the pandemic.

Kristy Greenwalt, the director of the Interagency Council on Homelessness, said in an interview that unlike other cities that might have a fixed amount of shelter space, D.C. regularly expands its shelter capacity to meet community needs. She said the winter plan provides the city a way to estimate how many shelter beds are needed — which may fluctuate as shelter needs peak in January and February — and how the city will pay for them.

“We’re always monitoring our numbers, and if we see that we’re reaching capacity then we would activate additional sites,” she said. “So [the winter plan is] not a cap, it’s just a planning tool.”

Meredith Roaten contributed reporting. DHS requested that anyone interested in partnering on hypothermia related projects contact Community Liaison Scott Sibley at scott.sibley@dc.gov or 202-3138758.

PHOTO COURTESY OF ROLANDO VELASCO

Vendor and artist Gerald Anderson was featured on the DC Public Library podcast.

Listen at https://tinyurl.com/ gerald-anderson-podcast Vendor and artist Ibn Hipps was approved for a housing voucher!

BIRTHDAYS Wendell Williams Dec. 4 AUTHOR/VENDOR

Laticia Brock Dec. 5 ARTIST/VENDOR

Aida Peery Dec. 6

VENDOR PROGRAM ASSOCIATE

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NEWS

Christina Henderson on housing and homelessness

BY GEORGE GURULI george.guruli@streetsensemedia.org

W

hen Christina Henderson takes office next year, the D.C. Council will become majority Black for the first time since 2012 and majority female for the first time in more than two decades. She and incumbent At-large Councilmember Robert White, a Democrat, overcame 21 other challengers in this year’s race for the two at-large seats. Henderson, a self-described “pragmatic progressive,” received 14.77% of the contested votes, defeating former councilmember Vincent Orange, progressive frontrunner Ed Lazere, and the popular moderate Marcus Goodwin — all independents.

Henderson was a former staffer for David Grosso, her predecessor in the at-large council seat who did not seek another term. His endorsement aided her in the race. One of the at-large seats was required to be filled by a candidate of a different party than the council majority (Democrat).

Henderson, an independent, fit the criterion. As she prepares for her new position, Street Sense Media had the opportunity to interview her about her plans for homelessness and housing in the District.

Henderson discussed the housing equity report Mayor Muriel Bowser released in October 2019, which outlines a plan for adding 36,000 units of housing throughout the city by 2025, with over 12,000 units reserved as affordable for low-income residents. She supports the plan but believes that building more housing past that point may be unnecessary, given D.C.’s vacancy rate, which has only increased since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As of November 2019, months before the health crisis, the District government reported there were roughly 9,800 vacant apartments spread across the city. But luxury units accounted for 40.5% percent of those vacancies and 91.8% of the net additions to apartment inventory over the previous year.

“I’ve seen other analyses say that we need more [units].

But I think that many of those analyses were done before COVID. So I feel like if you look at what’s happening now in terms of the housing stock across the city, we have very high risk. Many of those are from market-rate units.

But what can we, the city, be doing to help convert some of those already vacant units to housing folks from lowincome?” Henderson said. “I know that right now, in this COVID environment that we’re dealing with, we’re going to have a situation where we have more units than people.

The question is, do we have units that are affordable for the folks who are in need of housing?”

When asked about the federal measurement used to determine what housing costs are deemed affordable, the area median income, Henderson said that it may be necessary to calculate D.C.’s AMI separately from the surrounding counties.

“I’ve seen a proposal from someone who has suggested that we even need to be more targeted than that, by calculating the income requirements based on ward.” Henderson said. “I think we need to acknowledge that we need more deeply affordable units in more areas across the city.”

Half of the 10 wealthiest counties in the country are included in the geographic area HUD uses to calculate the AMI, which in turn is used by the D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development to issue limits on housing programs. Both the Inclusionary Zoning and the Home Purchase Assistance programs are only available to individuals and families who earn at least 50% of the AMI ($44,100 for an individual, $63,000 for a family of four). Yet

there are more than 50,000 renter households in D.C. that earn at or below 30% of the AMI, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

Henderson said she wants to retool these programs as part of the effort to create housing stock that meets the needs of all people in the District.

One thing she is excited to address as a councilmember is housing preservation, which she has previously said on Twitter can be accomplished through expanding rent control and investing in public housing. She said it is important that the affordable housing units D.C. has now should be maintained rather than demolished. Preservation, according to Henderson, is key to maintaining housing for residents who struggle to afford the local housing market.

“In terms of public housing, we had 11,000 public housing units in 1986, and now we’re down to about 8,000,” Henderson said, “So we got to hold on to what we have.” This is no small feat, as the D.C.

Housing Authority determined in 2019 that its properties were in need of $2.2 billion of repairs after years of federal disinvestment.

She also mentioned supporting community land trusts, where the District puts money to help boost affordable homeownership. “I often feel that in our affordable housing conversation, it focuses only on rentals,” Henderson said. “I’m not of the belief that just because you’re working property in the District that you can’t own property in your city. So how can we help? How can we boost that for families? I feel that the community land trust is an option here.”

Henderson said that maintaining neighborhoods, investing in amenities and services without pricing people out of their homes, is also important for fighting systemic racism in housing policy.

Henderson noted that in the past the federal government would raze neighborhoods, primarily Black neighborhoods, and the residents of those neighborhoods were not properly compensated for losing their homes. Racist exploitation like this adds up, preventing families from building wealth over generations as costs continue to rise. And in the present, increasing housing costs are pricing out current residents at the lower income levels, which are predominantly made up of African Americans, and are a growing burden especially for older residents, according to a 2017 report by Maurice Jackson, the inaugural chair of D.C.'s Commission on African American Affairs.

D.C. was found by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition to be the most intensely gentrified city in the country from 2000 to 2012, when more than 20,000 Black residents were displaced. And while an estimated 46% of the District’s population identified as African American in 2019, more than 86% of single homeless adults and more than 95% of homeless families identified as Black during a count conducted in January. In light of these trends, local advocates are increasingly drawing a connection between housing justice and systemic racism in the District.

Henderson said that it is important for people to be supported in their troubled situations rather than being kept down in their moment of crisis. “I think that housing is incredibly important in terms of justice in our city, especially around racism solutions.” Henderson said.

When asked about moving more people experiencing homelessness into permanent housing in the District, Henderson said she had been critical of the rapid rehousing program in the past.

“The mayor’s office calls it a great success,” she said. “But we look at the percent of people who end up returning to the system and that tells me that it’s not working as intended.”

A 2017 report 2017 by the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless titled “Set up to fail” noted that two out of five families in rapid rehousing were able to maintain their housing independently. However, there is no indication that these families returned to the program, and DHS claims that 85% of rapid rehousing clients did not move back into shelters, though there have been disputes over what that means.

The councilmember-elect noted that many who go into the rapid rehousing program won’t be able to afford market rate rent, but additional vouchers haven’t been offered. She has also noted that it is important to support these individuals through the Department of Human Services, particularly in terms of mental health support and permanent supportive housing.

Christina Henderson will join the D.C. Council in January.

Photo courtesy of Christina Henderson.

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Nonprofits gear up for hypothermia season, provide food and hygiene products during COVID-19

BY ATHIYAH AZEEM athiyah.azeem@streetsensemedia.org

W

ith D.C.’s homeless community experiencing both the pandemic and hypothermia season at once, nonprofits are strengthening efforts to bring aid to these communities.

Staff and volunteers from nonprofit aid groups the People for Fairness Coalition (PFFC), Ward 6 Mutual Aid and the Gonzaga Peace Club were out in NoMa packing and distributing food, water and hygiene products to the neighborhood’s homeless community.

The organizations have been distributing multiple days a week since late May. With hypothermia season activated from Nov. 1 until March 31, they are now offering sweaters, blankets and other warm clothing to homeless communities in the area.

The nonprofits receive most of their items through donations, and PFFC uses money from grants received from the Diverse City Fund and COVID-19 Rapid Response Program to buy more resources.

PFFC is a nonprofit that aims to end housing instability in D.C. through advocacy and outreach. Advocacy Director Reginald Black, who is also an artist and vendor for Street Sense Media, says the organization usually addresses “advanced needs” like addressing obstacles to getting people housing, and creating and advocating programs to end homelessness.

“But due to the pandemic, we see that unhoused people need things like baby wipes and hand sanitizer to keep them safe,” Black said. PFFC does these distributions four days a week, from Thursday to Sunday.

PFFC was formed in 2008, and is led by founder and current director Robert Warren, also a Street Sense Media artist and vendor. The coalition has been reaching out to homeless communities across D.C. for 12 years.

“We were doing outreach to this homeless community before the pandemic,” Warren said. “And so we felt an obligation to make sure that we’re out here, and making sure that we’re advocating on behalf of them.”

Gonzaga Peace Club members offer bags of food and hygiene products to people experiencing homelessness in the area on Nov. 8. PHOTO BY ATHIYAH AZEEM

People for Fairness Coalition Advocacy Director Reginald Black (right) and Director Robert Warren walk down the street in the NoMa area on Nov. 8. They pull carts with bags of food and hygiene products, distributing them to people experiencing homelessness. PHOTO BY ATHIYAH AZEEM

Ward 6 Mutual Aid was created in May in response to the pandemic’s effect on marginalized communities in Ward 6.

They distribute food, water, hygiene products like toilet paper and masks to encampments across D.C. on Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays.

On Sundays, the nonprofits distribute in the NoMa neighborhood, mostly to large encampments on L and M streets NW and by Union Market.

Momma J is a woman experiencing homelessness who has been living on L Street NW since 2012. She says that as the city does not provide consistent help to the homeless community in the pandemic, she has come to rely on the nonprofits to provide her hygiene products.

“Could you imagine going to the bathroom and having nothing to wipe with?” J said. “They make sure on Sundays, we get a pack of baby wipes and a roll of toilet paper.”

Ricky McNill has been living in an encampment on M Street NW for a year and has been experiencing homelessness for two years. He appreciates the help the nonprofits provide, but is disappointed at how much housing assistance from the D.C. government has been slowed due to the pandemic.

“Things are at a standstill, at a snail’s pace,” McNill said.

“The Mayor needs to be more proactive and understanding when it comes to the needs of the homeless.”

Warren is from Washington D.C. He says he remembers when NoMa was largely an open space, home to poor communities in D.C. Now, there are rows of modern apartments with high rent prices.

“A lot of what they have built, wasn’t built for the residents who live in NoMa,” Warren said. The average rent for an apartment in the NoMa-Galludet area is $2404 per month, 8% higher than the Washington D.C. average, according to the rent-analytics website RentCafe. Warren believes this gentrification forced local residents to relocate and put more people on the streets.

Along with food and hygiene products, volunteers slip in flyers that explain PFFC’s Vacant to Virus Reduction program

(V2VR), where the organization intends to house people experiencing homelessness in 10,000 vacant units found in 3000 buildings across D.C. “About a third of those or so are actually Class A, which will be like the luxury units you see over here in Union Market,” Black said.

Students from the Gonzaga Peace Club, an advocacy group based in Gonzaga College High School, also participate in distributions. Henry Sullivan was the club’s president in March, when he and other members testified to the D.C. Council Committee on Health to ask to stop evictions of homeless communities on K, L and M streets.

At the start of the pandemic the Centers for Disease Control advised against clearing encampments, but the DC Department of Health and Human Services continued to clear encampments as recently as Nov. 10, conducting a “full cleanup” on New York Avenue and Montana Avenue, according to their website.

Sullivan has now graduated, and is pursuing a degree in social work at Fordham University in New York, but he continues to help with the club’s efforts to aid homeless communities.

“Ultimately, these folks need housing,” Sullivan said, but he hopes providing hygiene products now will help protect homeless communities vulnerable to COVID-19. “This is a bandaid, really.”

Sullivan and other volunteers say they are nervous for hypothermia season. Due to COVID-19, businesses do not allow customers to dine-in, meaning people experiencing homelessness in the area are unable to stay inside stores for warmth when the weather gets colder. To address that issue, the Gonzaga Peace Club collects donations of sweaters and other warm clothing to distribute to homeless communities.

To Black, doing these distributions and other in-person outreach is integral to bringing accurate advocacy and outreach to homeless communities.

“So we want to continue this presence, so that instead of just moving these NoMa residents, they’re getting housing,” Black said.

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opinion Good riddance, Donald Trump Photo courtesy of Gage Skidmore / Flickr

By Aida Peery

I am so happy that the Biden-Harris ticket won the election!

Donald Trump was never my president because he spoke about not allowing brown and dark-skinned Dreamers into our great nation. America is made up of everyone from all walks of life from religion to culture. The Trump administration has separated small children from their parents at the border to be put into cages.

He spent close to trillions of dollars to build a half wall that professional climbers said could be easily climbed.

All of this happened during Trump's four years in office. Trump didn't take the COVID19 pandemic seriously back in February, and

the population didn't know about it until March 2020, when people were still unsure about the disease. Trump has made my life and others miserable! And a lot of Americans died on ventilator machines. Trump wasn't taking this horrible virus seriously! That's not being a leader in our nation called America.

I just hope and pray that President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris can reverse every evil thing that Trump and his administration have done during the four years he was in office.

Aida Peery is an artist and vendor for Street Sense Media.

A Biden Administration Could Mark a Return to Evidence-Based Homelessness Policies

By Samantha Batko

This blog post was originally published on Urban Wire, the blog of the Urban Institute, on December 1, 2020.

When president-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated in January, he is expected to bring a major shift in policymaking strategies, including in the federal response to homelessness. First, it’s likely the Biden administration would act immediately to extend the federal eviction moratorium and support a stimulus package intended to prevent a wave of evictions. Further, Biden’s housing proposals during his campaign signal that homelessness policies under the next administration could return to evidence-based strategies that have largely been disregarded by the current administration.

In October, the Trump administration released a new Federal Strategic Plan (PDF) to respond to homelessness, which signaled a departure from strategies adopted by previous administrations and Congresses of both parties.

The plan indicated a shift away from the evidence-based Housing First program model, which has proven to be effective at ending homelessness for individuals and at lowering rates of homelessness in communities. Instead, the new plan favors homelessness responses such as transitional housing and law enforcement responses, which studies have shown are not effective at ending homelessness or at improving the lives of people experiencing homelessness.

The Trump administration also removed fair housing protections (PDF) and consistently proposed cuts to budgets for affordable housing and community development programs that help prevent people from experiencing homelessness.

The plan Biden released during his campaign for investing in communities through housing, as well as his actions as former vice president and senator, show that his administration plans to return to an emphasis on evidence-based solutions to homelessness and a commitment to increasing access to and protections for people in affordable housing. Biden’s housing plan proposes several solutions to homelessness and housing instability that are supported by evidence: • Provide a Housing Choice Voucher to every eligible family. Only one in five people eligible for federal housing assistance receive it because

the Housing Choice Voucher Program doesn’t have enough funding. This leaves households one economic strain—such as a decrease in work hours, a health emergency, or a brokendown vehicle—away from a housing crisis that could lead to homelessness. Housing subsidies have been shown (PDF) to end homelessness for families, keep families housed, increase food security, improve adult and child well-being, and decrease child separations and domestic violence.

Fully funding the Housing Choice Voucher Program would ensure all eligible families have access to a home they can afford.

• Ensure federal housing programs use a Housing First approach to ending homelessness. The Trump administration stepped back from what the evidence shows: Housing First ends homelessness. Programs that take a Housing First approach to ending homelessness, including permanent supportive housing and rapid re-housing, have been shown to help people exit and not return to homelessness.

Studies of permanent supportive housing show it helps people experiencing long-term homelessness (including for those with disabilities and other complex needs who cycle in and out of institutions such as jails and hospitals) remain housed, improve their well-being, and lower public costs. Permanent supportive housing also improves family child welfare outcomes. Studies of rapid re-housing show it helps people exit sheltered and unsheltered homelessness quickly and helps people access housing in the private market without ongoing subsidy and without returning to homelessness.

• Finish the job of ending veteran homelessness.

The Obama-Biden administration made great strides in decreasing veteran homelessness by expanding the US Departments of Housing and Urban Development and Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing Program and the Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) program. Biden’s plan calls for permanently authorizing the SSVF program, which rapidly re-housed nearly 350,000 veterans (PDF) from 2012 to 2018.

• Protect LGBTQ people’s equal access to

housing and services. In July 2020, the Trump administration proposed rolling back the 2016 Equal Access Rule, which required shelters and other homeless programs to provide equal access to all people experiencing homelessness regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Transgender and gender-nonconforming people experiencing homelessness are more than twice as likely to be unsheltered than sheltered. Reasserting the 2016 Equal Access Rule and supporting this rule through other administration activities could help reduce the number of people living unsheltered by ensuring everyone has access to a shelter that doesn’t discriminate against their sexual orientation and gender identity.

• Support survivors of domestic violence.

A widely acknowledged advocate for survivors of domestic violence and the Violence Against Women Act, Biden has a history of working to provide survivors with housing protections.

Between 22 and 57 percent of women experiencing homelessness report that domestic violence was the immediate cause of their homelessness. The Biden administration has proposed a multipronged approach to supporting survivors, including giving them housing assistance, which studies have shown drastically increases housing stability and safety (PDF) for survivors experiencing homelessness.

Strategies to address homelessness are just one part of a broader approach needed to improve access to housing in the US, including expanding affordable housing development, boosting resources for housing assistance, and targeting supportive housing services to specific groups such as older adults and people with disabilities.

The incoming administration’s housing proposals suggest that it plans to focus on evidence-based policies to ensure the nation moves toward a future where all Americans have access to a safe and affordable home.

Samantha Batko is a senior research associate in the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center at the Urban Institute. Her areas of expertise are homelessness, housing instability, housing assistance, and supportive services.

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Prison libraries are critically important

By Steve Lilienthal

A new world opened when the door of my hometown’s public library opened and I walked through. I cannot remember that first time. Because my mother was on the library’s board, and a frequent user, I am sure I was quite young and visits occurred often.

Later, in junior high, I discovered on the library’s shelves, James M. Perry’s The New Politics: The Expanding Technology Of Political Manipulation, triggering a lifelong interest in political consulting and political advertising.

I imagine similar library discoveries ignited interests and even led to careers for many children of the baby boom generation from middle class backgrounds.

But not everyone is so fortunate to enter at a young age the door that opens other doors that lead to new worlds. That becomes clear through reading Glennor Shirley’s Journal of the Librarian Who Went To Prison For Money.

Working in libraries serving correctional facilities in Maryland, Shirley encountered people of all races and backgrounds, not just those in poverty. But, all too often, people she encountered, pre-incarceration, led lives on the street, their lives straitjacketed by poverty, broken families, low literacy, poor social skills, and an inability to see the wider world.

Instead of encountering Mrs. Eda Haas, my hometown’s kindly librarian, many encountered drug dealers, carjackers, discouraging or indifferent teachers, brutal police officers.

Many masked their insecurities by bragging and making demands. But thanks to librarians like Shirley, many came away not only finding their correctional facility’s library a safe place but with the knowledge from reading that could help them to rethink their own lives.

I remember watching Shirley deliver a presentation on prison libraries at a Maryland Library Association meeting in 2012, when I was writing an article for Library Journal. Recently retired then, she remains active on library issues involving correctional facilities and reentry.

She is not the only one either to leave paid librarianship but remain active. (The most enduring memory writing that article was the sight of retired New York Public Library outreach specialist Yolanda Bonitch volunteering to help deliver books to residents of a Rikers Island cellblock, many of whom towered over her.)

But when Shirley, an immigrant from Jamaica, started out working in the mid-1980s in correctional facilities’ libraries, it was more for making ends meet than commitment to uplift.

Raising a family and unable to work as a full-fledged librarian because her British Library Association certificate was not recognized by American libraries, Shirley first took a library job with the Maryland Reception-Diagnostic & Classification Center to earn extra money while working in a non-librarian position with Howard County.Then she started working at the Maryland Penitentiary.

What becomes clear from reading Shirley’s book is that being a librarian in a correctional facility is not for everyone.

It demands toughness. (Not everyone rethinks their lives while incarcerated.) Indeed, she recalls the story of an older Christian educator who lacked that mettle and lost

Photo of the inside of the Maughan Library in the UK. Photo courtesy of User:Colin / Wikimedia Commons

her position after confessing to a warden her rule-breaking assistance to an inmate.

Yet it says something about the penal system back then that the most “uncomfortable” Shirley felt in the library occurred when a new security chief took over, intent on proving dominance over others in the institution even if achieved through unethical means. That spurred her temporary departure from correctional librarianship.

After completing her master’s degree in librarianship and a master ’s degree in public administration and working in public libraries, she became state library coordinator.

In an online radio interview, Shirley described herself as “the library doctor,” noting that a doctor treats patients without concern for the crimes they committed. She sought to handle requests in that same straight-forward, cordial, but not overly personal, manner.

In her book she recalls that when some prisoners tried shocking her with outlandish reference questions, Shirley’s serious answers led those behind bars to treat her and the library more respectfully. When prisoners would express displeasure for the library’s lack of desired books, she viewed it positively because it showed their world expanding beyond the four walls of their facility.

To spur that outward focus on the part of inmates further, Shirley started a program in which inmates could read books to their small children. She told corrections.com in 2003: “In prisons [in Maryland], I would see kids in the visitation room and while adults are talking, the children are disengaged,” said Shirley. ”I always thought there should be something focused on education that could keep them occupied.”

Concerned some inmates would hesitate to participate if their reading skills were low, Shirley got funding to obtain one copy of the book for the inmate to practice on and one for the child to take home. The program helped create opportunities to

Thanks to librarians like Glennor Shirley, many came away not only finding their correctional facility’s library a safe place but with the knowledge from reading that could help them to rethink their own lives.

emphasize the importance of education, improve family bonds and even boost the literacy of some incarcerated parents.

Perhaps the most important lesson Shirley imparts is the need to devote more attention to facilitating reentries, particularly for those individuals whose low levels of literacy and social skills prove barriers to employment.

When named by Library Journal as one of its “Movers and Shakers” in 2003, Shirley noted that taxpayers then spent $27,000 a year imprisoning someone. "I prefer my tax dollars to go toward programs that will help the prisoner become a taxpayer later on.” Because internet access was denied to the general population in prisons, Shirley spurred development of a CD-Rom so people soon leaving prison could learn to search online for jobs, and how to write resumes and fill out job applications.

Shirley’s book often reads like a “journal” and sometimes in parts more editing would help. That does not negate the value of her message. The text is always straight-forward, honest and understandable, and reveals the valuable role libraries in correctional facilities can play in the lives of their users.

Over the last decade America has been inching away from mass incarceration. But it’s unlikely to end soon. Shirley’s parting lesson is that even though the doors of a jail or prison may close, there is no reason that means a person’s mind must be locked up too. And that’s why libraries in correctional institutions matter.

Stephen Lilienthal is a freelance writer living in Washington, D.C.

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ART

Treading the Waters, Part 32

BY GERALD ANDERSON Artist/Vendor

When we were last with Gerald on the streets of New Orleans he was telling his long-time friend, Greg, who was fresh out of prison for the first time in a while, about his last few years running the streets with Minew, who had just been busted.

“I don’t know when Minew go to court or nothin’. I be trying to give his aunt and his mother some change to put on the book for him and shit, man. But like I say, man, you’ll love the dude if you ever meet him, man. He like to play with that trigger.

He like to play with the gun and stuff.”

I said, “Greg, man, I’mma tell you, man, this whole world is tripped out, man, I’m telling you. It’s a totally different breed as we gettin’ older, man. We gotta find some way to get in, to fit in.”

We were like 27, 28, 29. Sometime we think if we gonna go, go hard. No sense playin’ around out here.

I said, “I don’t know, man. But it’s like, I ain’t finished school. Least you got a GED while you was in prison.”

They’d all been cheating off the California Achievement Test. Everybody had a copy of the test. They’d show you the answers and everything. Everybody in the prison had a copy of that. It was like, they give the test, everybody coming up with good grades. Some of them might miss one, two, but that’s it.

I’ll never forget that day we was up in the GED class and they pulled out the copy and cheated to get a passing score. And I was like, “Damn.”

Mrs. Weaver was like, “Oh, everybody passed! Gerald, you failed.”

Shit, I could’ve got a GED myself too, but I didn’t want to cheat. They knew I wasn’t especially educated, so how could I get that B average like that?

I told Greg, “I ain’t finish school, but I am what I am. Shit, but y’all cheated, man.”

“Greg, I tell you, man, this world… Like I say, man, nah man, it’s like totally different. We been hustlin’ so long, man. Sometime I just want to get out of the street. Not just ‘cause of the urban environment we in, man. It’s just… If you look around, it’s a lot we can be doin’. You from a good family, your mother work at Charity Hospital.”

Charity Hospital is something like what we call here in D.C. St. Elizabeths. Most of us from New Orleans, born and raised, knew it was a good hospital.

“But we chose these streets, Greg.”

To be continued. Anderson’s first book, “Still Standing: How an Ex-Con Found Salvation in the Floodwaters of Katrina,” is available on Amazon.com.

My Tears

BY ROBERT WARREN Artist/Vendor

And if my tears were raindrops they would fill up a cup 2019 marked a milestone 400 years to the day they say black folks were put in chains tears for my Family struggle just to live and be in 2020 who would believe the crimes against Humanity the cries of my Ancestors ringing out from the grave and how will you be remembered in 2020 for it has been written The Lord counts all of Her tears that Lade of Liberty is wiping Her eyes through the tears of our Fight For Healing Justice Denied and still I cried tears of joy In Love for those who stand up for Healing Justice I know my tears allow me to forgive from the Heart of My Tears

Surviving the “Beast System”

BY JOSEPH WALKER // Artist/Vendor

When I was a kid in D.C. I had a dream of owning precious metals, of being the first rich kin in D.C., of succeeding in my dreams of owning land and creating my own community on my land. Like in a Western, or like the pilgrims, I’d have my land, my own home, my family, and raise a future on it.

But after I graduated from high school and tried to live a normal life for myself, I realized over the years that my life was a struggle. It felt like someone was trying to control my way of life. So I did some research on why some people were attacking me and why my life was a struggle for all those years.

I found that my economic problems were caused in part by a corrupt government system and narcissistic wealthy elites. How can some people be so wealthy even while analysts agree that many people in the country are in a financial crisis? I believe we are headed towards a society controlled by these elites.

The only way to deal with this ”beast system” that we are living under is to fight and survive to the best of my ability.

So what I’m doing to fight and survive this economic beast system is creating my own financial system which I call “spiritual economics.”

Spiritual economics consist of: • Having spiritual connection with God so that he can protect my soul • Thinking for myself and create a positive output to the world • Being my own central bank • Being independent It is my opinion that we as a human race should put our differences aside and come together with peace and love in our hearts and create a positive solution to this problem so that we can live in peace with ourselves and our children on this earth.

COVID Christmas

BY JAMES DAVIS Artist/Vendor

We're having a COVID Christmas The masks were hung on the chimney with care In the hopes that Dr. Fauci would soon be there The house was sanitized, everything was clean Waiting for a delivery of the vaccine My shopping got done early so all is fine Except I'm in the red because I can't get offline The virus don't care who's been naughty or nice Oh, you don't need a mask? Better think twice COVID's starting to take its toll Soon we'll all be moving to the North Pole We're having a COVID Christmas So stay safe and you'll have nothing to fear Peace on Earth and love to all, see ya next year!

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Change I must, or die I will

BY REGINALD DENNY Artist/Vendor

A lot of us have put off until tomorrow what we should have done today, and we suffer from the aftermath of having done such. For some reason, we conjure in our minds that we got time while not realizing our time is running out.

We have done this and we have done that, but didn’t get to where we wanted to be. So we think, “Well, maybe if we do it this way as opposed to the other way, things may go in our favor.” Or, “maybe if I do a little less than what I have been doing, maybe that will turn out for my good. Well, no, I got it now. If I get around good, God-fearing people and people who are doing the right thing, maybe I will become better.”

I’ve heard it said other people can see you oftentimes better than you can see yourself. I have to disagree, because who knows you better than you? You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you definitely can’t fool yourself and God none of the time.

There are times when we think we have gotten away with something when in actuality we have only gotten by. Because eventually the thing in which we erred will come back and bite us on the butt. Therefore, we must strive to do and to be the best us we can be because life does have a strange way of showing up unwarranted.

There is no new thing under the sun. If we did it, someone else has already done it even more. We are not unique. The rain falls on the just as well as the unjust. The conclusion is, what are we going to do now that our coattail has been pulled?

It’s not such a bad thing when we have been exposed for it is now unhidden, where we can do something about it and arrest that demonic spirit that thrives on our excuse-making. We have to nip it in the bud and kill it at the root.

God has kept many of us safe through dangers seen and unseen and we are still here. We should honor and praise God for not allowing us to be taken out during some of our riotous living and exploits. We’ve been blessed by God and we need to not only start acting like it but also start living like we are grateful by taking care of ourselves and our health, as well as lending a helping hand to those who are less fortunate.

Many of us were dying and dead in our trespasses until now and I know we are grateful for where God has brought us from and where He is taking us to. This is how we give back for God bringing us through our “wilderness experience” in these streets! By assisting another suffering, hurting person who has a need, whether it be socially, psychologically, financial, and most of all, spiritually. We live in perilous times, so we need each other even more.

Our mindset should no longer only be “I” and “me” but “we” and “us.” A three-cord strand is not easily broken! We can do more together than as single units. It’s alright that we recognize the COVID19 pandemic and act accordingly by wearing our own PPE to protect those around us. But lest we forget, there is also an epidemic on the rise of drug and alcohol abuse that’s taking our people out in alarming numbers from our neighborhoods and our communities.

There is a poem many of us may have had on a wall somewhere in our houses while growing up. It was written by parent, educator and family counselor Dorothy Law Nolte. She copyrighted it in 1972, but I believe it is just as appropriate for the right here and now: “Children Learn What They Live”

by Dorothy Law Nolte, Ph.D. If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.

If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.

If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive.

If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves.

If children live with ridicule, they learn to feel shy.

If children live with jealousy, they learn to feel envy.

If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.

If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence.

If children live with tolerance, they learn patience.

If children live with praise, they learn appreciation.

If children live with acceptance, they learn to love.

If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves.

If children live with recognition, they learn it is good to have a goal.

If children live with sharing, they learn generosity.

If children live with honesty, they learn truthfulness.

If children live with fairness, they learn justice.

If children live with kindness and consideration, they learn respect.

If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and in those about them.

If children live with friendliness, they learn the world is a nice place in which to live.

These are simple lessons to which we as God’s children need to adhere and re-learn if we are to be successful, productive citizens of society. Many of us have recently emerged from homelessness and poverty and have been given the opportunity to start anew.

Novelist Bernard Malamud wrote, “We have two lives... the life we learn with and the life we live after that. Suffering is what brings us towards happiness.” We need structure in order not to face destruction.

Without structure, we are doomed to repeat the mistakes that made us homeless in the first place.

We have come too far and been through too much to turn back now. We are not alone, we are in this struggle together and we need to recognize that some things we cannot do on our own. We have a higher power, God, who intercedes on our behalf and places ordinary people in positions to help us do ordinary things in whatever situation or circumstance we might find ourselves. There is a force in the earth realm, an evil force, that longs to bring about our demise. But “if God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31).

I leave you with this powerful prayer: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

Message:

Hope

BY KYM PARKER Artist/Vendor

It is all the things that we need in this world to hold us It aches, it's like the innocence of child's play The joy in knowing that it will all be done It is how we dance with the angels In all things, it is love Hope shelters us, blankets us with God's understanding Hope shows us in all things She loves us Hope

Joy

BY JENNIFER ORANGE Artist/Vendor

The joy of the LORD is my strength. How do I apply the joy of the LORD to my life?

In this life I have encountered many difficulties, struggles, disappointments, and setbacks. But how do I keep staying alive and keeping the faith? I have a foundation that was planted in my life when I was a child. I was raised in knowing that GOD will supply all my needs, even through difficult times My joy, my strength, my courage, my love, my power, my endurance, my sufferings come from GOD. First Corinthians 10:13 quotes: “He will put no more on me or you than I or you can bear.”

The joy of the LORD is an everlasting covenant that can not be broken.

A Different Perspective

BY MARCUS GREEN Artist/Vendor

My inspiration comes from other vendors, staff, and volunteers. What has changed since the virus is gratitude, purpose, and making a difference. My belief is that life means more if you put in work with a team instead of by yourself. We feed off each other to be the best we can be. Considering my work schedule at Street Sense Media, I go in the house a lot earlier to get ready for the next day. Also, my workout schedule has changed. Here, I'm a part of the bigger picture.

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Love’s Voice

BY SAUL TEA Artist/Vendor

This is page one of a 12-part song book accompanying the “Hell’s Bottom Congress Of Puppets” folk opera, created by Saul Aroha Nui Tea. The song is loosely inspired by The Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil” and Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good.”

The last edition of Street Sense featured the wrong page of Saul Tea’s book. That page should have come after the one featured in this issue, and was based on the songs “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” and Lauryn Hill’s “Everything is Everything.”

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.

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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

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Covenant House Washington 202-610-9600 // 2001 Mississippi Ave., SE covenanthousedc.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 D.C. Coalition for the Homeless 202-347-8870 // 1234 Massachusetts Ave., NW dccfh.org

Father McKenna Center // 202-842-1112 19 Eye St., NW fathermckennacenter.org

Patricia Handy Place for Women 202-733-5378 // 810 5th St., NW

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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

JOB BOARD Program assistant Catholic Charities

Full-time The program assistant oversees daily shelter activities; enforces program rules and regulations; performs intake process and log entries; provides a safe and orderly environment; addresses client behavior issues; and maintains cleanliness and safety of the facility.

REQUIRED: High school diploma or equivalent.

APPLY: https://tinyurl.com/catholic-charitiesjob

Therapy aide Medstar Health

Full-time // Day shift Thrive DC // 202-737-9311 1525 Newton St., NW thrivedc.org

Unity Health Care 3020 14th St., NW // unityhealthcare.org - Healthcare for the Homeless Health Center: 202-508-0500 - Community Health Centers: 202-469-4699 1500 Galen Street SE, 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, 555 L Street SE, 3240 Stanton Road SE, 3020 14th Street NW, 2700 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE, 1717 Columbia Road NW, 1313 New York Avenue, NW BSMT Suite, 425 2nd Street NW, 4713 Wisconsin Avenue NW, 2100 New York Avenue NE, 2100 New York Avenue NE, 1333 N Street NW, 1355 New York Avenue NE, 828 Evarts Place, NE, 810 5th Street NW

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 1701 14th St., NW // 202-745-7000 2301 MLK Jr. Ave., SE // 202-797-3567 whitman-walker.org

The therapy aide will provide effective and efficient patient care under the supervision of a licensed therapist. They will need to operate equipment such as stretchers, oxygen tanks and wheelchairs and maintain communal areas.

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Custodial worker Federal government, legislative branch // House of Representatives office buildings

Full-time // $18.73 to $21.83 per hour The individual selected for this position will perform a wide range of custodial duties in areas such as hallways, buildings, office spaces, storage areas, restrooms and restaurant facilities.

REQUIRED: Must be an American citizen, be able to pass a drug test, and have job-related elements on their resume. Veterans are preferred.

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Team member Union Kitchen // Arlington

Full-time or part-time Team Members run the register, steam lattes, make sandwiches, prep all stations, maintain the grocery sections, keeping the store clean, and more.

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

Hiring? Send your job postings to editor@StreetSenseMedia.org

Random Acts of Kindness:

A birthday I never thought I’d see

BY WENDELL WILLIAMS // Artist/Vendor

On Dec.4 I’ll be celebrating my 70th birthday. That’s unbelievable after all I’ve been through and managed to survive. It’s not just that I am alive, but I am actually thriving this late in life and doing some first-time things I’d never thought I’d have a chance to experience.

There’s no way you could have convinced me when I started this journey that I’d be enjoying the life I now lead. I am experiencing a lot of personal bests. I’ve been sober for close to a decade, housed pretty much for 13 years, and recently set a personal record of being in the same apartment for 5 years, which is a milestone considering the number of times I’ve been evicted for nonpayment of rent.

I’ve been banking at the same credit union for over 12 years and even financed and paid off a better car for myself with them after driving a series of rent-a-wrecks for years. I’ve had the same phone number for 15 years. I went back to school and became employable. And I was able to repair and now enjoy a great relationship with my daughter and now grandchildren.

The list of personal bests just continues all because of the random acts of kindness I’ve been blessed to receive from friends old and new, strangers and the compassionate people the God of my understanding has placed in my path.

The latter group would include my many great friends who are supporters of the Street Sense newspaper I’ve sold on and off for 17 years. I now distribute my papers at two markets. My longtime home away from home has been the Del Ray Farmers Market in the neighborhood I used to live in. And my new found home is the Takoma Park Farmers Market thanks to my dear late friend Valerie. She was a long time Takoma Park resident and one day just suggested I try it. “It’s a great fit for you and they are Street Sense people,” she said. And she was right. This validates my favorite African saying: “It takes a village to raise a child.” In my case as I wrote in my first Random Acts of Kindness column years ago it takes a village (the fine people of those two markets and elsewhere) to reclaim a life — mine.

I cannot underestimate the power of kindness to change lives because of my experience with some powerful people whose superpower was their compassion for me and others.

They were able to leap the tall buildings of trouble. They were faster in helping me solve my problems than the speed of a locomotive, and they helped fly me over the difficult periods of my life like a plane. Yes my friends to me are like Superman and Superwoman with real “S”s on their hearts and souls.

In my life they helped smash almost every mental and emotional villain that was attempting to crush my spirits. Not by just tangible gifts of support, but by always encouraging me to keep fighting for my life knowing they were there for me. The things I truly cherish are the times when my life was not going so well and many of them took the time to inquire about my well-being. One supporter once told me “You look disheveled, is everything ok?

Are you on your meds?” Another once asked, “Are you drinking again?” Those were our golden moments as friends. Even though many of my supporters were at different stations in life I knew they really cared. And in the following years right to today I continue to seek out their counsel on many issues from relationships, travel, medical care to employment decisions.

After years of knowing one such friend I found out during a casual conversation that he was a doctor and he would guide me through my many health concerns. He was able to clearly answer all my questions about my operation this past September when I was scared to death. When I had already written my epitaph he took the time to reach out and assure me all would be well. I can never thank the people enough

Wendell Williams with the owner of Tucker’s Breakfast Restaurant in Cincinnati, who Williams said was a “great supporter of the cause of ending homelessness.” PHOTO COURTESY OF WENDELL WILLIAMS

who have helped me reach this milestone in my life. There’s no way I would have bet I’d live this long let alone begin to prosper as a person. I have finally gotten to know who I am and believe in myself.

This all started by selling a street paper on a downtown corner during a bitter cold winter day in Ohio, where I had run to escape myself almost 24 years ago.

If I could line up the people who have helped change my life the line would stretch around a city block. And most of those faces I can’t even close my eyes and see them. But I remember their deeds and they live on in me as I pay them forward. At the strangest times I’ll recall a moment of their kindness, stop what I am doing and just smile wishing I could see them again to let them know how powerful their gift was against the forces of negativity trying to destroy me and that just for today we continue to win.

These folks were like the Good Samaritans of biblical fame: they did what they did and rode off. Like the guy in the white Ford who I met while distributing the paper late one night in Old Town. He asked when was the last time I had a good night’s sleep after looking closely at me. After learning I was living in my car he had me follow him across the 14th Street Bridge and wait as he went into a major motel chain office.

He returned with door key in hand and gave it to me,saying “You have a room for the weekend, get some rest and enjoy yourself.” Then he drove off into the night and I never saw him or his car again.

With winter coming, I think of the couple in Cincinnati who encountered me distributing the local street paper as they were leaving a restaurant downtown. It was the middle of a snowstorm that only a homeless person or an idiot would be out in. They had compassion for me as I was dressed only in a trench coat, without a lining and sweater while shivering. The husband took off his hat then his gloves and placed them on my head and hands while his wife wrapped her giant knitted muffler around my neck and tucked it in my coat before wishing me well and walking off in the snow. That was over 20 years ago but still feels like it was last night. Their kindness is still fresh in my mind. And there was the owner of a breakfast place in Cincinnati who was a regular supporter of the street newspaper and homeless causes.

He would not only buy my papers but would feed me and allow me to warm up on those cold mornings after being out all night with no place to go. Recently while visiting the city I sought him out at his restaurant and finally had a chance to thank him and tell him of the importance of his act and he remembered me.

These are the images of humanity I want to take to my grave. They are the reason I’ve written more than 20 essays about the power of kindness for this paper. And to my surprise a couple of them were even nominated for writing awards. I even started wearing tee shirts, hoodies and blue hats that say “Make America Kind Again” (MAKA), to remind people of my experience with the power of kindness. It’s not political

because I am positive there were nice people from both parties in those bands of angels sent to rescue me over and over.

I never planned on living this long. I allowed the milestones of my life to pass by uncelebrated. I didn’t have 21st , 30th, 40th, 50th, or 60th birthday acknowledgements. But since this has turned out to be the favorite decade of my life and reaching 80 I’ve been warned is not a lock, I wanted to share my 70th with the people who made it possible for me to get here: the people who supported the street newspaper movement. You dear reader, are invited to my 70th birthday celebrations at the places our friendships blossomed. In yet another act of kindness the people who run the Del Ray Farmers Market and the Takoma Park Farmers Market are helping me celebrate. Please try to stop by and say hello so that I can personally convey my sincere thanks and gratitude for your continued encouragement, prayers and support. Because of you, I am.

I’ll be at the Del Ray Farmers Market on Mt. Vernon Ave. in Alexandria on Saturday, Dec. 5 from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., and at the Takoma Park Farmers Market at Eastern Ave. and Laurel on Sunday, Dec. 6 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Thank you for reading Street Sense!

From your vendor DEC. 2 - 15, 2020 | VOLUME 18 ISSUE 3

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