The National Park Service and D.C. agencies cleared out multiple homeless encampments in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood on Thursday morning, affecting about 70 people.
People packed up their belongings and moved at about 9 a.m. Workers in white jumpsuits hauled items into a garbage truck.
Starting Thursday, six encampment sites will be shut down, mostly in the Foggy Bottom area. They are on sites overseen by local and federal officials:
- San Martin Memorial Park (Park Service)
- Rawlings/Wittman Parks (Park Service)
- 26th and L streets NW (Park Service)
- 20th/21st Street, E Street and Virginia Avenue (DC)
- 25th Street and Virginia Avenue (DC)
- 27th and K Streets (DC)
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The Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services cited safety concerns with the encampments.
“The District’s Encampment Response Team was activated to protect residents on District property after dangerous circumstances arose, including fires, danger of traffic collisions, multiple assaults, and growing rodent issues,” a statement from the office said in part.
About seven months ago, the Park Service made a notice about clearing three sites. News4 obtained a letter to the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services. It said the Park Service would gradually resume its no-camping regulation, which was relaxed during the pandemic.
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Volunteers with Miriam's Kitchen and the National Homelessness Law Center, among others, helped support people who were moved out on Thursday and provided information on resources.
Adam Rocap of Miriam’s Kitchen questioned officials’ actions.
“If one or two people out of a group of 50 are creating a legitimate threat to, you know, usually it's mostly to other encampment residents, have a targeted response to that, not a blanket – everything here is being closed,” he said.
Rocap said they have been able to help almost 100 people in encampments across the District in the past six months. He said encampment shutdowns by law enforcement set service organizations back in trying to help people.
“When you think of an outreach worker who's maybe spent months or years building a relationship with someone, if we either lose track of them because we don't know where they went or because they've gone through a really traumatic experience and they maybe associate us with a city closure, it's now harder for us to have that relationship and try to connect them to things like housing,” he said.
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The Office of the Deputy Mayor said D.C. continues to offer social services, including shelter resources, for people removed from D.C. and federal land.
