On February 15, the Biden-Harris administration forcibly removed unhoused people from McPherson Square before all unhoused individuals in the encampment were housed, an action strongly condemned by the National Coalition for Housing Justice (NCHJ) – of which NLIHC is a member – as cruel and counterproductive to efforts to end homelessness.
By forcibly removing people experiencing homelessness from McPherson Square and destroying their limited possessions, the Biden-Harris administration prioritized the comfort of housed neighbors and surrounding businesses over the urgent need to reconnect unhoused individuals to homes and services. The administration’s failure to follow the best practices and proven solutions called for in its own federal strategic plan provides communities nationwide looking to sweep unhoused people out of public sight with an unjustifiable excuse to follow suit.
Forced removal from encampments is cruel and not a real solution to homelessness. Because forced removals disconnect individuals from service providers and frequently lead to lost documentation and possessions, this action will ultimately make it more difficult for individuals to exit homelessness. As the Biden-Harris administration’s federal strategic plan makes clear:
“Unless encampment closures are conducted in a coordinated, humane, and solutions-oriented way that makes housing and supports adequately available, these ‘out of sight, out of mind’ policies can lead to lost belongings and identification which can set people back in their pathway to housing; breakdowns in connection with outreach teams, health care facilities, and housing providers; increased interactions with the criminal justice system; and significant traumatization—all of which can set people back in their pathway to housing and disrupt the work of ending homelessness.”
The destruction of the McPherson Square encampment is a stain on the Biden-Harris administration’s House America initiative and its goal to advance racial equity. Black people represent 45 percent of the general population of the District of Columbia, but they account for 93 percent of people experiencing homelessness in the city.
NCHJ and its partners, including NLIHC, made repeated offers to the Biden-Harris administration and Bowser administration to convene stakeholders, including the residents of McPherson Square, to develop a plan to rehouse unsheltered individuals as quickly as possible using best practices and proven solutions and to address the city’s ongoing challenges in addressing homelessness. Rather than accept NCHJ’s offer, the Biden-Harris administration and the Bowser administration moved forward with forcibly removing individuals from McPherson Square.
NCHJ and NLIHC urge the Biden-Harris administration to stop all future efforts to forcibly remove unhoused people from national parks and instead prioritize efforts to immediately connect individuals to housing, paired with the supportive services individuals may need and want, such as mental health and substance use counseling and employment services, among others. To end homelessness, the administration and Congress must ensure rental assistance is universally available to all eligible households, expand the supply of housing affordable and available to people with the lowest incomes, and ensure critically needed services are widely available.