3 in 4 Washingtonians say they support clearing DC homeless camps: poll

A large majority of Washington, D.C., residents say they support the city’s plan to clear a number of homeless encampments and provide support for the residents, according to a poll from The Washington Post.

According to the poll, 75 percent of respondents said they supported shutting down the homeless encampments. Six percent had no opinion, and 19 percent oppose the move.

The effort from Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) has been criticized by some advocates and council members as well as the American Civil Liberties Union, the Post reported. 

“I really have mixed feelings. I understand why the clearings are necessary,” Kristina Svensson, a 53-year-old D.C. resident, told the Post. “I don’t really want to walk downtown much now because it’s not pleasant, and also because it’s a security thing.”

Svensson also cited things like job training and mental health resources that “are the two issues that are feeding into the homelessness problem that I feel aren’t being addressed now.”

Other residents said that the homeless encampments were a reflection of broader housing concerns in the city.

“The homeless encampments are a symptom of D.C. not building enough housing,” Chris Jordan, Columbia Heights resident, said to the Post. “We shouldn’t touch [the camps], we should be building more housing.”

The poll found that housing was one of the most frequent responses or top concerns and problems for D.C. residents, second only to crime.

It also showed that 69 percent of D.C. residents said it would be somewhat or very difficult to afford housing in their neighborhood if they were to move from their current home. 

The poll was conducted between Feb. 2 and Feb. 14. It included a sampling of 904 D.C. residents and had a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.