District officials cleared a homeless encampment at 21st and E streets on Tuesday morning, evicting about 14 people.
Employees from the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services arrived at 10 a.m. to conduct the cleanup, which involved spraying Pinalen — a disinfectant solution — on former residents’ tents, mattresses, tables, chairs and sleeping bags before crushing and discarding the belongings in a dumpster on Virginia Avenue. A local governing body in July requested that officials postpone Tuesday’s clearing — which follows record-high temperatures in the District — until more beds free up in at-capacity unhoused shelters.
A DMHHS spokesperson said officials scheduled the cleanup because the District Department of Transportation needed the space cleared for upcoming and future “scheduled maintenance” and to ensure human waste does not affect “ventilation mechanisms.” A large air vent located in the green space toward the corner of 21st Street and Virginia Avenue blows air from the E Street Expressway when cars drive through the tunnel.
Yannik Omictin, a member of the Foggy Bottom and West End Advisory Neighborhood Commission, said at a meeting last month that encampment residents gathered around the air vent on hot days to keep cool but did not put any permanent items on the grate. He sponsored the governing body’s resolution denouncing the city’s plan to clear the encampment and requested that officials wait until more shelter space becomes available.
“ANC 2A urges DDOT to work constructively with encampment residents to ensure access to the tunnel ventilation grate and clear any temporary impediments to work on it,” the resolution reads.
The DMHHS spokesperson said the office received the resolution and Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Wayne Turnage sent a response to the ANC on July 29.
“DMHHS always takes bed availability into account when determining a course of action,” the spokesperson said in an email.
Representatives from Miriam’s Kitchen, a local nonprofit working to end homelessness, and Stop the Sweeps D.C., a group that works to end encampment clearings across the District, helped people pack up their belongings on Tuesday morning before DMHHS workers arrived at 10 a.m. At least one resident relocated to a spot by the E Street Expressway.
Department of Human Services representatives and two Metropolitan Police Department officers accompanied DMHHS and stood on the sidewalk while workers sprayed the area with disinfectant.
At about 11 a.m., a DMHHS worker began an hour-long process of breaking down and transferring belongings to a dumpster using a CAT skid steer loader. The workers completed their work and left at about noon.
The DMHHS spokesperson said officials put up signage to alert residents of the cleanup time and date on June 28. DDOT is required to post signage around any area officials intend to clear at least 14 days before the clean up, according to D.C. protocol.
Someone taped a sign that reads “Where else are we supposed to go” to a tree above one of DMHHS’ signs. Other signs taped to trees read “Hey Mayor Bowser, evictions don’t work,” “Housekeys not handcuffs” and “When will you stop wasting resources on displacing people instead of helping them.”
Tuesday’s clearing marked DMHHS’ 10th and final “encampment protocol engagement” scheduled for this summer and followed seven Foggy Bottom encampment clearings in May, according to the office’s website. The DMHHS spokesperson confirmed the office has not yet scheduled or posted dates for future cleanups.
