McPherson Square is melting

JAMES DAVIS

All the tents at McPherson are gone.

Where can the tenants now call home?

Standing strong amongst the trees, someone get them housing please.

Some are moving near Constitution Hall. Why can’t we have housing for all?

Sadly, many organizations seem less concerned about showing care for the homeless, and more interest in getting publicity for themselves.. Too many homeless advocates want to be like Rihanna and be the center of attention, rather than be behind the scenes working to create a better image about homelessness.

I was so shocked and embarrassed to see people I knew and worked with doing interviews with Fox News and the New York Post. They didn’t understand that all publicity is not good publicity. Some media outlets want to put homeless people on TV simply to reinforce the stereotypes that homeless people are scary and need to be removed from society.

No one respects or takes the homeless voice seriously. The media focuses on too many people that babble incoherently and say outrageous things in order to depict homeless people as the problem in D.C.

If the government can find billions of dollars to send to Ukraine, why can’t we find housing for the thousands of homeless residents living in Washington, D.C.?

Homelessness is in a crisis because the media keeps the issue polarized. Furthermore, many homeless advocates don’t appear to be about solutions but instead about spreading their ideology and making everything political. We don’t need to be divided; both conservatives and liberals agree that there are homeless people who are mentally ill. But there is no reason for these disagreements

For those that want to help, I tell them to learn from churches. Most pastors have street smarts about the poor and homeless. Some advocates think helping homeless people means connecting them to $15-an-hour jobs. But panhandlers are smart, and they understand that a $15-an-hour job isn’t a reasonable tradeoff when the average apartment in D.C. costs $2,400. So the panhandler refuses the job to continue panhandling.

This brings us to the root of addressing homelessness. The issue is the people that need homes but unfortunately there are two many special interest more concerned about their status than the status of the homeless

Jeffery McNeil is an artist/vendor for Street Sense Media

Even with vouchers a place is still hard to find It’s enough to drive the unhoused out their mind Outreach workers come around and scurry Others wonder why they are in a hurry If they don’t leave now they’re hosed Because in February, the park is closed.

James Davis is an artist/vendor for Street Sense Media