By the time I pushed Z, in her wheelchair, back to their encampment on April 10, city officials had already used a knife to slash their tent open, searched through their belongings, and thrown their furniture into garbage trucks. The couple, who asked to be identified by their initials for their safety while living outside, had just left the hospital to try to save their belongings.
But they were too late. After waiting an hour and 47 minutes for the couple to return, staff from D.C.’s Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services (DMHHS) began removing the encampment at the 1000 block of Howard Road in Anacostia.
The couple was not present when the closure began because Z, who is seven months pregnant, had been in the hospital for the previous few days for a severe infection in a bone in her leg. Knowing the closure was that day, they left the hospital before the infection was fully treated…