Tick Tock Sheptock

On Tuesday, August 23rd at 1:51 PM much of the east coast of the United States experienced an earthquake. As a homeless advocate, I must say that I'm glad that there weren't any reports of serious damage to non-governmental buildings and, as far as I know, no one was made homeless by this earthquake. However, the wall near my bed at the CCNV Shelter now has a hirzontal crack and I'm wondering how much of this large building which holds 1,350 homeless people (one-fifth of DC's homeless population) has now been compromised. At the time that the quake struck, I was walking down the sidewalk toward the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library where a lady friend and I were planning to feed and show the movie "Freedom Riders" to a large group of homeless people. As I passed by the construction site which is adjacent to the library, I noticed that many of the workers were standing idle and heard one of them say that he heard a rumble which he thought was a su...

PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY Come Join The SHARC Attack At Wilson Building On Monday, June 13th!!!!! Help ensure that much-needed Human Services funding is restored to the DC budget. The group of mostly homeless homeless advocates who've been meeting at the CCNV (Community for Creative Non-Violence) Shelter every week since April 26th, 2011 (SHARC) will make a final push on Monday, June 13th to ensure that funds which Mayor Vincent Gray sought to take away from Human Services is restored by the DC Council. We will impress upon the DC Council the need to go beyond simply funding shelters and to ensure the continual creation of AFFORDABLE HOUSING across the city as well as LIVING WAGE and other policies that will empower the poor community and enable them to become self-sufficient. WE WILL NO LONGER SIMPLY ORGANIZE FOR SHORT-TERM GOALS LIKE SAVING SHELTERS AND RESTORING FUNDING FOR SERVICES THAT MAINTAIN HOMELESSNESS. WE WILL DEMAND THE CONTINUAL CREATION OF AFFORDABLE ...

It's been more than 40 years since Martin Luther King, Jr. began his "POOR PEOPLE'S CAMPAIGN" which he never got to see through to its fruition, due to his assassination. It's been more than 20 years since the homeless marched to Washington, DC en masse. This might begin to explain why the powers that be seem to have forgotten about the poor, homeless and dispossessed. In some instances it seems more like they have waged an all-out "war on the poor". Let's face it: politicians often speak of helping the middle class, while neglecting those living in abject poverty. When they do acknowledge our existence, it is only to say that they are going to stop funding some much-needed social service. It's high time that we came out in large numbers and had a real show of force. Coincidentally, as I sat down to write this blog post earlier today, I went to my Facebook fan page entitled "Homeless Homeless Advocate Eric Jonathan Sheptock" and ...

This will be the main topic of discussion at the next Homeless advocacy meeting at the CCNV Shelter. But it is a good question for all homeless/housing advocates to address: Now that the DC Council has restored funding for homeless shelters and certain other Human Services, will you be satisfied or fight for even greater improvements like the creation of affordable housing and the realization of housing as a Human Right? Come answer this question with us. The homeless have begun to organize around the proposed budget cuts to Human Services. We have been meeting weekly at the CCNV (Community for Creative Non-Violence) Shelter since late April. Meetings are: Mondays 1 PM to 3 PM 425 2nd street NW Washington, DC 20001-2003 (2 blocks from Judiciary Square Metro and 3 blocks from Union station -- both on the Red Line; D6 or D3 buses.) In the basement (accessed from sidewalk on 2nd Street) All concerned citizens who want to do something about homelessness (and other ...

On April 14th, 2011, the Coalition of Housing and Homeless Organizations (COHHO) held its monthly meeting. We discussed the devastating impact that Mayor Vincent Gray's proposed budget cuts to Human Services for FY 2012 will have on DC's poor and homeless community. (There were about 30 people in the room of which about 5 were homeless or formerly homeless.) A formerly homeless man asked, "Who's going to tell the many poor and homeless people in DC about the cuts that are going to affect them?" In response to his question, several people said that they would remain after the meeting to plan an outreach strategy. I secured a meeting room in the basement of the CCNV (Community for Creative Non-Violence) Shelter and we scheduled a meeting for April 26th.(There were about 30 people in the room of which about 25 were homeless or formerly homeless.) That Tuesday we decided to meet every Monday thereafter. At the May 2nd meeting we had about 50 people present. The...

A NEW, "REVOLUTIONARY" WAY OF ENDING HOMELESSNESS Some of the shelters in Washington, DC are threatened with closure in less than a year. The "Doom's Day" Date is April 1st, 2012. This is nothing new. We've been here before. But it's definitely much worse this time around. When the Randall Shelter was closed the 801 East Shelter was opened as a replacement. (I believe it was in early 2005, the year I moved to DC and a year before I became a homeless advocate.) When the DC Village Family Shelter was closed in October of 2007, families were placed in a housing program (though I've been told unofficially that some have since been ejected from the program and are sleeping in cars with their little ones). When Franklin School Shelter was closed, the Permanent Supportive Housing program was initiated and has since housed at least 1,200 people. But now the conmversation is about closing several shelters which hold at least 1,300 homeless people total. Pro...

UPDATE: On April 10th I did a blog post about how I chased down a robber whom I'd witnessed taking a woman's camera. I ended my post rather abruptly and failed to say that the culprit was caught by police less than 5 minutes after I indicated where I'd last seen him and only a half block away from where my chase ended. We don't need to give people a reason to stop feeding the homeless or the cops a reason to clear the homeless out of the parks where they are often fed by churches and other groups of do-gooders. A Homeless Revolution Is Unfolding DC Mayor Vincent Gray's budget proposal was released on April 1st with horrendous cuts to Human Services. The homeless advocacy community, service providers and government officials working on Human Services have all been in an uproar over the negative impact these cuts will have if the budget is passed by the DC Council. Everyone is worried. I have DC Councilmen Jim Graham and Tommy Wells on video saying how terrible it...

On Valentine's Day in Washington, D.C more than 60 people came out to the Russell Senate Building to defend affordable housing with the message "Have a heart; save our homes." With Congress and the Obama administration looking to cut the deficit on the backs of poor and working people (in effect dispossessing them), this protest brought a human face to the cuts. Demonstrators formed a picket line outside the building carrying signs that said, "Don't balance the budget on the backs of poor people" and "We the people need housing, No cuts to Section 8." The demonstration was organized by local non-profits Empower D.C. and One D.C., who joined with hundreds of tenants from about two-dozen cities for this coordinated day of action. Because D.C. doesn't have senators, groups of people who live in Section 8 buildings in the city visited Senate offices, including that of Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin. While meeting with Hill staffers, protesters dem...

On Tuesday, January 25th many Americans sat with their eyes glued to their television sets as President Obama gave his State of the Union Address. I watched it with several dozen of my best friends at Busboys and Poets (@ 5th and K streets in NW DC), a local restaurant/bar which is frequented by activists. Obama drew much applause as he emphasized the need for quality education. He also gained favor as he promised to create more green jobs. He even supported the "Dream Act" without calling it by name. He said things that appealed to all segments of the American populace (and avoided some hot-button issues like the Israel-Palestine conflict). But the advocate (or sycophant) in each of us quite naturally causes us to focus on the issues that interest us the most. And I'm no exception to the rule. So, I was pleasantly surprised when Obama said toward the beginning of his speech that, "Due to the invention of robots, a hundred workers in a steel factory can now do wh...

NOTE: I encourage you to scroll down to the previous post about holiday giving, as I'm sure that you want your gifts to the homeless to be put to the best use possible. (It can also be seen on NPR's "Two-way" blog -- www.npr.org) The homeless often have to make some very tough choices. If a job would require someone to work until 5:30 PM and shelter check-in is at 4 or 5, that person has to choose between working and having a bed to sleep in that night. If the person is broke and all feeding programs open at 7 AM or later, they may have to choose between working and eating or may have to work hungry for a day until they get paid by the day-labor office. That's not to speak of the many people become homeless through medical bankrupcy. They may have had some chronic illness which required that they choose between paying the doctor bills or paying the rent. Oddly enough, DC homeless get free healthcare AFTER becoming homeless. The tough choices don't end ...

ONE DC (Organizing Neighborhood Equity) and its partners recently organized a community block party and a tent city which were intended to publicize DC's affordable housing crisis. The block party took place on Saturday, July 10th and was immediately followed by the setting up of the tent city, which is about to enter its fifth day. However, the process of organizing these events wasn't an easy one. I traveled to New York City January 27th through 29th of this year to meet with about 40 other activists from 13 U.S. Cities and to help organize the May Month of Action during which people would perform various direct actions in their respective cities. Our intent was to raise the social consciousness of people and bring attention to the issue of housing as a human right. In February, I met with Rosemary Ndubuizu of ONE DC and we began to contact others who might want to help organize a direct action around the right to housing. We had our first planning meeting with others ...

While my previous post described how I got to the U.S. Social Forum and some of the interesting connections that I made, it didn't address what was discussed in Detroit. However, some very interesting things were said there. I'd be remiss if I were to fail to address some of the ideas that were set forth. Bear in mind that there were over 1,200 workshops of which I only attended about 5. (Many of the workshops were 4 hours long.) Even so, I picked up on certain themes that were common to many of the groups and individuals that I encountered -- in the workshops, in the halls and at other venues like nearby restaurants. The most common theme was that of revolution. Some people spoke with great anticipation about the revolution that promises to arise (objectively) out of the increased social awareness that people across the country are developing. Some spoke of wanting a more subjective and deliberate effort to force our national government to care for its poorest, most vulnera...

I made some edits to a previous post by removing some sensitive info that might compromise our plans: As you may know, members of Take Back The Land and ONE DC (organizing Neighborhood Equity) are working together to plan a direct action that will publicize and politicize the need for affordable housing and will hold the local politicians' feet to the fire so as to make them follow through on their December 2008 resolution which declared Washington, DC to be a human rights city. The United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights declared housing to be a human right. Furthermore, many people are being made homeless by the present economic crisis, which makes it imperative that we act now to prevent any more people from becoming homeless and to rehouse those who are living on the streets and in the shelters of the richest nation on earth. Since our attempts at getting the mayor to follow through on his promises to create a sufficient amount of affordable housing have f...

In Washington, DC homeless advocates tend to align their activities with the annual budgetary cycle. They know that the mayor began to formulate the budget for Fiscal Year 2011 in January 2010 and that there will be budget hearings from February to May. For these several months, advocates for the poor and homeless will do their best to have a sufficient amount of tax revenue put into the budget for the specific populations that they serve. As budgets are cut in the middle of the present fiscal year, many of the same people will return to City Hall to demand that those budget cuts be restored and that the social safety net be preserved. This has been the method to the madness for quite some time. However, that is beginning to change. The safety net is becoming a thing of the past. As indicated in a previous article of mine, DC Government tried to cut the budget for homeless services by 30% a few months ago. But, when Catholic Charities threatened to cease its shelter operations ...

Reposted for Facebook viewers I've made the rare move of doing 2 blog posts in 1 day. Please see the REVISED post below this one if you haven't already. In a previous post I described the tenuous situation created by recent cuts to DC Government's Homeless Services budget. The loss of $12 million almost resulted in the closure of 6 homeless shelters which serve 900 men, 400 women and 600 children. The Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness (TCP) is contracted under DC Government to provide homeless services to the District. Catholic Charities is subcontracted under TCP to provide the majority of the homeless services. This enabled Catholic Charities to do a power play on DC Government. So, when they heard that the budgets for all DC homeless shelters would be cut by 30%, Catholic Charities said "All or nothing. If we can't provide a robust array of services that include substance abuse counseling, employment services and life skills training...

The Unwelcome Homeless In November of 2008 a Washington City Paper article indicated that the homeless are not welcome in the libraries of our nation's capital. An August 2009 New York times article addressed the criminalization of poverty nationally. Then, a September 2009 Washington Examiner article mentioned that the homeless are not welcome in the parks of Downtown Washington, DC. It's no military secret -- the homeless are America's most unwanted. What's most disturbing about this news is that our public officials are often the ones leading the charge against the homeless. Most homeless advocates wouldn't take offense to any reasonable request, such as wanting a homeless person to be presentable and well-mannered; but the mentally ill are one of the most underserved populations in the city, often leading to some very public psychotic episodes. And many of the homeless wouldn't loiter around businesses and other public places if they had some...

I hereby give my express permission for the following to be published on any and all printed and on-line publications including but not limited to newspapers, websites, blogs and forwarded e-mails. Please distribute widely, as the following is a true and accurate account of DC Mayor Adrian Fenty's actions against the homeless..... (This is intended to become a STREET SENSE article, though I suppose it will not appear in the 9/16 issue but will be in the 9/30 issue.) DC MAYOR TRIES TO RID CITY OF HOMELESS In a recent STREET SENSE article I pointed out that the homeless often have "no place to go". This article can be seen as an addendum to that. I came out of the subway system at Judiciary Square just before noon on Wednesday, September 9th, having used the 4th Street exit. As I walked from the escalator toward 4th street, I saw several homeless people speaking to a HAWK ONE security guard who was doing a glorified disclaimer by telling people that he only carrie...