00:30There is a problem in homelessness.
00:32This is not the way to solve it.
00:34This is not going to solve it.
00:36This is going to make it worse for the people who are experiencing homelessness.
00:38The way to solve it
00:42is to help people, is to house people,
00:44is to, you know,
00:46make connections with them.
01:00Our outreach team is out there,
01:14just basically trying to alert everybody
01:16as to what's going on to the best of our ability,
01:18like knowing that there's increased police,
01:20you know, presence here,
01:22that the National Guard is being called in,
01:24that, you know,
01:26we're starting to learn more now
01:28about, like, what this actually might look at,
01:30like, but so far, like, we hadn't known that.
01:32And so, like, you know,
01:34just basically giving people heads up,
01:36encouraging people, like, hey, go to shelter if you can,
01:38if you can stand it,
01:40if you have anybody you can stay with,
01:42get off the street, you know,
01:44and seek safety, and, you know,
01:46let us know what we can do for you.
01:48In that position last September,
01:50prior to that, for seven and a half years,
01:52I was on our outreach team.
01:54The vast majority, I don't know what the percentage is,
01:56it really is, but like the majority, certainly,
01:58and probably the vast majority,
02:00of people who are unsheltered, homeless,
02:02or just, you know, unhoused here in DC,
02:04are from DC.
02:06And they grew up here, and they were raised here,
02:08and this is their home.
02:10And,
02:12and they don't want to leave.
02:13And even though, like, the city is, like,
02:14become too expensive for them,
02:15this is where they're from,
02:16their connections here, their roots are here.
02:18So when we're talking about, like,
02:20taking people out of the city,
02:21we're removing people from
02:24their homes, from where they are.
02:26They may be homeless, but they do have homes.
02:28And so that's, in a way, also why we use
02:30unhoused.
02:31Unhoused, you don't have a roof over your head,
02:33you have a home.
02:34Your home is Washington, DC.
02:37So homeless individuals will be given the option
02:40to leave their encampment,
02:42to be taken to a homeless shelter,
02:44to be offered addiction or mental health services,
02:47and if they refuse,
02:48they will be susceptible to fines or to jail time.
02:51Again, these are pre-existing laws that are already on the books.
02:54They have not been enforced,
02:55which is part of the reason for this nationalizing,
02:59federalizing of the National Guard,
03:01to bring in this assistance for law enforcement.
03:04While we are targeting criminals
03:07and trying to remove criminals off of the streets,
03:09we also want to make DC safe and beautiful,
03:11and that involves removing mentally disturbed individuals
03:15and homeless encampments as well.
03:17I don't believe that camps should exist,
03:20but I say that and not that they shouldn't exist.
03:22I say that they shouldn't exist
03:24because I think people should be housed.
03:26I think if people are sleeping outside,
03:28a tent is shelter, a tent is safety,
03:30a tent is a little piece of their own thing
03:33when they have nothing.
03:35You know, but I don't know what it will be,
03:40and I don't know that it will be.
03:42Like, everybody has an individual and unique, you know, story.
03:46And I've worked with folks who've got a sixth-grade education
03:49or who have graduate, you know, degrees from Ivy League schools.
03:54The thing that they had in common
03:55was they couldn't afford a place to live, right?
03:58Like, that's what we're talking about.
04:01How do you end homelessness?
04:07You house people.
04:08Like, that's what we believe, and that's what we know works.
04:10Like, the reason why homelessness exists in this country,
04:13to the degree that it does,
04:14is because there is a terrible lack of affordable housing
04:17across the country, especially in cities.
04:19Like, that is why, what is at the root of it,
04:22and it's only getting worse,
04:24and it's only going to make more and more people homeless, right?
04:28Like, that's why.
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