Housing the Homeless

It’s been cold in Washington, D.C.-- especially at night, and especially for those who are homeless this winter. We are in the midst of a severe housing crisis in this city, where the winter is the worst in 50 years. Shivering people gathered around open fires in vacant lots and families with their possessions out on the street have become familiar sights. The fast pace of real estate speculation and the renovation of inner city housing for the affluent re-entering the city are pushing the poor out of their homes in almost every neighborhood.

Mary Ellen Hombs herein describes the effects of the back to the city movement upon the poor, and Mark Lee describes the year-long history of an effort by the Community for Creative Non Violence to provide housing for home less people. In recent months Sojourners Fellowship joined C.C.N.V. in their proposal to the District government asking for transfer of title to a large multi-family dwelling at 1361 Fairmont Street, N.W. to a neighborhood land trust. The property would then be rehabilitated, staffed, and funded, at no cost to the city--as an emergency shelter for evicted families. While literally thousands of families and individuals were being driven out of their homes, the city steadfastly refused to make available the Fairmont Street house or any of the other 5,000 vacant housing units it holds deed to.

After months of discussion with city officials, the D.C. government was asked to respond positively to the proposal by January 7. Because of the city’s continued refusal to respond, C.C.N.V. and Sojourners worked together on a public campaign challenging the city’s present policy and appealing to the religious community in Washington and surrounding areas to help provide for the poor in this urgent situation.

If necessary, on January 7 four persons would have set up cardboard boxes in front of City Hall, to live there until the campaign was ended. This would be an attempt to make visible and concrete what had become invisible and abstract--to portray the life that many are forced to live. If there were no arrests, support from around the city and elsewhere would be mobilized. If arrested, people would have pleaded guilty, refused bail, fines, and special privileges, and would have returned “home” to their cardboard boxes upon release.

In a letter to C.C.N.V. just prior to the January 7 deadline, the city agreed to the proposal to turn over title on the Fairmont Street house, which had become a symbol of the city’s housing crisis. We welcomed the decision as one which best served those in need, and which resolved conflict without confrontation. We hope the action will set a precedent for future use of houses and land in the public domain.

The most critical need this winter here and across the frozen North has been to provide emergency housing for those who have nowhere to sleep at night and who face the very real threat of freezing to death. In Washington, D.C. we are asking Christians in the city to open their churches and their homes--to be used temporarily to house homeless people, especially at night. C.C.N.V. and Sojourners have both been housing people and now serve as clearinghouses connecting homeless people with those willing to offer shelter.

Here, the city was asked to accept its responsibility and to no longer obstruct efforts to house the homeless poor. But the Christian community has a special mission to act in response to the frightened and cold faces of the homeless.

When I was a stranger, you gave me no home.
Lord, when was it that we saw you a stranger, and did nothing for you?
I tell you this: anything you did not do for one of these, however humble, you did not do for me.

(Matthew 25:43-45)

Jim Wallis was editor-in-chief of Sojourners when this article appeared.