This reporting project is a collaboration between Street Sense Media, The 51st, and American University’s Investigative Reporting Workshop. It was reported with support from SpotlightDC: Capital City Fund for Investigative Journalism. This article is also part of the D.C. Homeless Crisis Reporting Project in collaboration with other local newsrooms. The collective works will be published throughout the week here.
Melvine Perkins has spent years trying to pull herself out of poverty — working temp jobs, applying for rental aid, and doing everything possible to stay in housing. But in a city where rent costs outpace wages and assistance often runs dry, each step forward seems to push her two steps back. Now, after years of fighting to stay in her one-bedroom apartment, she’s again facing eviction.
“It’s just by the grace of God that I have the mental bandwidth to not crash and burn. I’m telling you I have been through it,” she told Street Sense/The 51st. “I’m not in this situation because I want to be.”…