The End of D.C.'s Political Tent City

You may be wondering what has become of the tent city that was erected in July on a vacant lot owned by the D.C. government (and the citizens of the District) called Parcel 42. Well, after three months, it has been shut down by city officials. This action was part of a national effort to bring attention to the need for housing as a human right. Many of the participants are part of the National Right to Housing Movement.

This particular plot of land was chosen for the action so that we could highlight the broken promise of the outgoing mayor Adrian Fenty to build affordable housing on this lot that has sat vacant for several years and promises to sit vacant for at least a couple more. Plans were drawn up and development slated to begin in December 2009. No ground has been broken yet and the official word is that it may be at least two more years before ground is finally broken on this "planned" project.

Community activists have floated ideas for interim uses such as a community garden, outdoor theatre or a recreational facility. But no one has stepped forth so as to take on the tedious tasks of gaining public support for any of the aforementioned ideas and making it happen.

Nonetheless, on September 22nd, a city official posted a sign warning that the tent city would be demolished in two weeks. (This is in compliance with D.C. law which mandates that a 14-day notice be posted warning that an encampment will be dismantled.) Fifteen days later, the city moved forward with the demolition. During the 15-day grace period I made calls and sent e-mails encouraging people to retrieve their belongings and some did.

An eyewitness/tent city occupant gave his account of events:

"Between 8:20 and 10 this morning, a bulldozer tore down all the structures. A garbage truck carted everything marked as trash to the dump, while a separate truck carried off a whole lot of belongings deemed valuable to a storage site. New gates and locks were installed, and 'No Trespassing' signs were hung on the fences.

A small contingent of cordial police officers, along with a genial man named "Chris" from the mayor's office, and two other unknown suits were present. However, none of the residents happened to be on site while all this was going on. I returned just when the trucks were about to take off, and in the nick of time, after being hoisted onto the truck, I retrieved intact a suitcase, tent and knapsack that I had set aside.

Craig Keller, team leader of the Homeless Outreach Program at D.C.'s Office of Homeless Services, who had been to the site a couple of days ago and had cautioned that the removal was imminent, supervised the separation of materials as valuable and trash. Some critically important personal belongings of mine got mistakenly sent to the dump, but Mr. Keller kindly drove me there. The garbage truck driver was alerted to await our arrival, and he tipped his load only after we reached, and I was happily able to locate what I was missing.

En route to the dump site, I left a wallet belonging to a resident Stan with a receptionist at Bread for the City, for her to hand over.

C'est la vie. All in a day's work. RIP, Tent City: The End of an Experiment in Outdoor Living."

Even though the tent city lasted for three months, we the participants feel that the city has yet to get the message. The shutdown was generated by the complaints of some well-off residents who complained that the tent city had become a messy eyesore. That said, there was a MESSage in the "MESS" that they saw. Sadly, people only saw that their neighborhood and property had been devalued by the presence of the tent city.

It's similar to the reasons that people don't want homeless shelters, housing for the homeless, drug rehab centers or other agencies or accommodations that help the poor brought into their communities because they believe, often incorrectly, that it will devalue their neighborhoods and property. I guess they don't understand how horrific they make poor people feel when they say that they don't want those people around because they'd rather that their inanimate belongings retain their value — a value which is evidently greater than that of a human life.

We plan to have other tent cities and to use new tactics as well until the D.C. government and D.C. citizens get the MESSage. We have already begun to make plans for our next action. We will continue to be a thorn in the side of officials and a burr in the shoe of the area's unconcerned citizens until housing is a realized human right in this "Human Rights City." Among other things, the organizers of the tent city have learned that we must be persistent if we want the city to meet our demands. It ain't over til it's over.

Photo credit: Edyta Materka