The morning after President Donald Trump posted on social media that D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser must clean up homeless encampments or federal officials “will be forced to do it for her,” Bowser told reporters she had been notified about the issue.
“I said, ‘Thanks for the notice, we’ll take care of it,’” Bowser told reporters during a Thursday morning event.
She didn’t specify where the encampment that she’d been contacted about was located, but said D.C. “responded to the location identified.”
According to D.C.’s list of encampments, a group of tents at the E Street Expressway NW was slated to be cleared on Friday with many more happening throughout the rest of this month.
Asked if the District was acting at the behest of the president or if it was ramping up efforts to clear homeless encampments that dot parts of D.C., Bowser told reporters, “We already have a ramped up effort. We already do.”
D.C. keeps a list of encampments scheduled for clearing, but Bowser said, “We operate on a schedule of notice, because that’s what has worked for us.”
She added that D.C. works to avoid simply moving encampments to new locations.
Bowser said action isn’t taken until there are plans for housing for those living in encampments, and that takes “repeated contact and trust-building until they come inside.”
“Keep in mind that we’re talking about people who have a lot of hurdles and a lot of resistance to coming inside to safe housing,” she added.
When encampments pop up on federal lands, Bowser said that takes coordination with the National Park Service.
“We’re still here to help, so we’re not saying, ‘It’s you, it’s not us,’” who should take charge of clearing residents and their tents from public land, she said.
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