The Washington Post - USA (2021-12-22)

B2 EZ SU THE WASHINGTON POST.WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 22 , 2021

of “ups and downs” as the District

sent mixed messages to its un-

housed residents.

On one hand, Bowser pledged

D.C. would spend a record

$400 million on affordable hous-

ing through 2022. However, the

pledge came as local authorities

cleared long-established tent

communities at New Jersey Av-

enue and O Street NW and near

Union Station, where one resident

was injured by a bulldozer during

the removal.

The D.C. Council, meanwhile, is

scheduled to vote Tuesday on

emergency legislation sponsored

by Brianne K. Nadeau (D-Ward 1)

to halt encampment clearances.

“They can vote to support the

Nadeau legislation, thereby in-

creasing ... safety and access to

services, or they can vote to con-

tinue to criminalize homeless-

ness,” Rabinowitz said. “We hope

we can cap tomorrow off with a

win.”

Brian Carome, CEO of the out-

reach organization Street Sense,

said the pandemic has left empty

office space downtown that must

be turned into housing, as Bowser

recently proposed.

“It’s imperative that we take

advantage of the opportunity this

provides to convert at least some

of that empty space into housing,”

he wrote in an email. “Doing so

would most certainly save lives.”

After the church service, at-

tendees marched on 14th Street

NW to Freedom Plaza escorted by

police, shouting, “Housing is a

human right!” and bearing “Black

Homes Matter” signs. In a city that

saw a violent insurrection less

than a year ago, the short protest

garnered little reaction from on-

lookers, some of whom filmed the

march on their phones.

In Freedom Plaza, Coleman rec-

ognized a nearby hotel. He had

panhandled in front of the build-

ing for many years, he said, and

“almost died” there many times of

drug and alcohol abuse.

He got off the street by “getting

involved,” he said. As tempera-

tures plunged below 40 degrees,

he was here to continue the fight.

“I’m trying to help my people,”

he said.

[email protected]

BY RACHEL WEINER

Three federal judges have
agreed that the most serious
charge faced by those accused of
participation in the Jan. 6 riot at
the U.S. Capitol is constitutional,
a victory for the Justice Depart-
ment and a blow to the defen-
dants fighting those accusations.
The ruling came Monday eve-
ning from U.S. District Judge
Amit B. Mehta, who is overseeing
the prosecutions of more than a
dozen people associated with the
Oath Keepers, a self-styled mili-
tia group. Mehta joins judges
Dabney L. Friedrich and Timo-

thy J. Kelly, both of whom have

moved to uphold the obstruction

charges in other cases.

The same legal challenge has

been raised by defendants in

various Capitol riot prosecu-

tions, from single-person indict-

ments to sprawling conspiracy

cases. One judge who has ques-

tioned the use of the obstruction

charge has yet to rule on the

issue.

Without that felony charge,

prosecutors would be left with

only minor charges against many

they view as playing a major role

in the riot. The Justice Depart-

ment has avoided charges of

sedition, a rarely used law, and

not all those accused of acting as

key instigators were seen as-

saulting police officers.

The ruling also has broader

implications. Rep. Liz Cheney

(R-Wyo.) has suggested former

president Donald Trump could

be charged with obstruction of

an official proceeding.

Mehta had previously ex-

pressed concern that it was un-

clear what conduct counted as

felony “obstruction of an official

proceeding” as opposed to mis-

demeanor disruption of a con-

gressional hearing — a difference

between a potential sentence of

six months and 20 years behind

bars.

But after months of consider-

ation and legal arguments on

both sides, Mehta ruled that the

government had it right.

“Their alleged actions were no

mere political protest,” he wrote.

“They stand accused of combin-

ing, among themselves and with

others, to force their way into the

Capitol building, past security

barricades and law enforcement,

to ‘Stop, delay, and hinder the

Certification of the Electoral Col-

lege vote.’ ”

Defendants had argued that it

was unclear whether the certifi-

cation of President Biden’s victo-

ry counted as an “official pro-

ceeding.”

Charging participants in the

Jan. 6 riot with obstruction, they

warned, could turn even peace-

ful protesters into potential fel-

ons.

Mehta said the “plain text” of

the obstruction law covered the

group’s actions, and that “even if

there were a line of ambiguity...

their alleged acts went well be-

yond it.” Because the law re-

quires the obstruction to be

undertaken “corruptly,” he add-

ed, it does not imperil constitu-

tionally protected free speech.

Prosecutors say the Oath

Keepers prepared for Jan. 6 with

“military-style and combat train-

ings,” Mehta noted, and armed

themselves with tactical gear

and in some cases bear spray

before entering the building.

According to the government,

they stashed guns in a hotel

nearby in Virginia. Inside the

Capitol, they confronted police.

One grabbed an officer and

yelled, “Get out of my Capitol!”

If those charges are proved at

trial, the judge said, “a convic-

tion... would not violate the

First Amendment.”

[email protected]

THE DISTRICT

Judges rule obstruction charge in riot cases constitutional

The District typically sus-

pends efforts to sweep homeless

encampments when a hypo-

thermia alert has been declared.

This is typically done to mitigate

the harm of displacing people

and taking away their belongings

during cold weather.

But several council members

said the mayor’s office is not

legally obligated to leave home-

less individuals who are camping

in public spaces alone for the

entirety of the season, noting

that a clearing had been sched-

uled for Tuesday morning at a

site across the street from the

4th District police station in

Brightwood, just hours before

the council convened.

[email protected]

Justin Wm. Moyer contributed to this

report

statement criticizing the mayor’s

pilot, known as the Coordinated

Assistance and Resources for En-

campments program, for break-

ing up communities and making

it more difficult for those not

placed in housing to access ser-

vices. The ACLU also noted a civil

rights concern.

“The Fifth Amendment re-

quires that the government not

deprive people of property with-

out due process of law. Yet, by

establishing ‘no camping zones,’

the Bowser administration is cre-

ating zones of public land subject

to ‘immediate dispossession’

with no notice, no right to appeal

or challenge the decision, and no

proof that the government has

any special concerns for their

property,” the group wrote. “This

threatens the rights and liberties

of unhoused D.C. residents.”

ment to clear such encamp-

ments. Critics say what has re-

sulted is an even more confusing

and inequitable system in which

some people get to effectively

skip the line for housing vouch-

ers while others are literally left

out in the cold and forced to

search for a new place to sleep as

three new no-camping zones

have been established in NoMa,

under the Metro overpass on L

and M streets, and at the New

Jersey Avenue park.

Homeless advocates, 75 elect-

ed members of Advisory Neigh-

borhood Commissions from each

of the District’s eight wards and

members of the legal community,

including D.C. Attorney General

Karl A. Racine and the ACLU, had

urged council members to vote

yes on Tuesday.

The ACLU of D.C. issued a

argued that the council needed

to place guardrails around the

mayor’s pilot program and other

efforts to clear sites where people

camp.

“Nothing in this legislation

requires the District to leave

these residents in tents,” said

council member Robert C. White

Jr. (D-At Large), who supported

the bill. “It simply removes the

punitive and traumatic closures

of encampments, which is not a

necessary part of... getting

people into housing.”

The bill had become the latest

battleground in a conflict over

the District’s efforts to address

homelessness and stem the

growing number of people sleep-

ing in tents across the city.

Bowser launched a pilot pro-

gram aimed at studying the effec-

tiveness of using housing place-

mayor for health and human

services, shuttered a sprawling

encampment where a homeless

resident had died in a tent fire

this year at New Jersey Avenue

and O Street NW.

As the council convened Tues-

day, about 20 demonstrators car-

ried a coffin to the steps of the

Wilson Building, chanting

“Housing is a human right!” The

coffin, the centerpiece of an over-

night vigil held annually to re-

member homeless people who

died in the District, represented

the 69 residents that advocates

say died “without the dignity of a

home” in the District this year. At

least 22 of them had been accept-

ed into voucher programs but

died before they could move.

The bill’s proponents, includ-

ing its author, council member

Brianne K. Nadeau (D-Ward 1),

aims to do the right thing — put
people in warm beds — though
most council members said the
approach so far had been clumsy
and needlessly traumatic.
“What I’ve seen of huge, heavy
equipment being used with lots
of law enforcement is unneces-
sary,” said council member Ken-
yan R. McDuffie (D-Ward 5), who
voted against the bill. “I also have
heard from my constituents, par-
ticularly around New Jersey Av-
enue, about the real quality-of-
life concerns, the real health and
safety and concerns, that they’ve
raised.”
Some advocates had pinned
their hopes of stopping the may-
or’s pilot program on this bill,
which was introduced just days
after Wayne Turnage, the deputy

COUNCIL FROM B1

D.C. Council blocks measure to pause the clearing of homeless encampments

“I think they would have lived a
lot longer had they never been out
on the street,” Turner said. “Those
conditions only worsen. ... You
can’t medically turn back the
hands of time.”
Bobby Watts, CEO of the non-
profit National Health Care for the
Homeless Council, said that be-
cause of inconsistent record-keep-
ing, it is not clear how many home-
less people die nationwide each
year. Estimates based on 2018 data
show the number could exceed
45,000, Watts said, and probably
has gone up because of the pan-
demic and an increase in drug
overdoses. Meanwhile, a homeless
person’s life expectancy is 25 years
lower than that of the overall pop-
ulation, according to Watts.
“We’re seeing tremendous loss

of life prematurely,” Watts said.
“We view homelessness not just as
a housing crisis but as a public
health and moral crisis.”
About 100 people attended the
Luther Place ceremony — a return
to normalcy after the memorial
was mostly exiled to Zoom in 2020
amid the pandemic and wide-
spread protests in which home-
less people were displaced from
Lafayette Square and the church
vandalized by white suprema-
cists.
With the number of local coro-
navirus cases reaching record
highs, nearly all attendees were
masked. The vigil commenced
hours after Mayor Muriel E. Bows-
er (D) reinstated the city’s indoor
mask mandate to combat the new
omicron variant of the coronavi-
rus.
Speaking in front of a coffin — a
reminder of those who died in
2021 — Mike Coleman, who was
homeless in the District for about
25 years before finding a home in
2011, waved a list of those who had
died.
“Next year, my name might be
on this list,” he said.
Jesse Rabinowitz, senior man-
ager for policy and advocacy at the
outreach organization Miriam’s
Kitchen, said 2021 had been a year

VIGIL FROM B1

Advocate: City sent mixed messages to homeless in 2021

PHOTOS BY MICHAEL S. WILLIAMSON/THE WASHINGTON POST

“We’re seeing

tremendous loss of life

prematurely.”

Bobby Watts, CEO of the National

Health Care for the Homeless Council

LEFT: Mike Coleman, who was

homeless in D.C. for about

25 years before finding a home

in 2011, waves a list of those

who had died this year.

BELOW: People fill the pews at

Luther Place Memorial Church.

Subscriber Exclusives

Dr. Wen Is In – Get Our New Health Newsletter Every Thursday

Don’t miss The Checkup With Dr. Wen, a Washington Post newsletter brought to you by public health expert and Post contributing

columnist Dr. Leana Wen. Every Thursday Dr. Wen breaks down the week’s biggest health news and answers questions about life

during the pandemic. Last week’s newsletter covered a “two out of three” rule for indoor functions, traveling over Christmas break,

and whether existing vaccines can fight the new strain omicron. Dr. Wen recaps major news headlines and highlights key scientific

studies. She also interprets them in the context of how we live our lives.

Sign up now at washingtonpost.com/newsletters.