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Cold,Harsh, and Unending Resistance: the District of Columbia Government's Hidden War Against Its Poor and Its Homeless

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Cold,Harsh, and Unending Resistance: the District of Columbia Government's Hidden War Against Its Poor and Its Homeless COLD,HARSH, AND UNENDING RESISTANCE: THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA GOVERNMENT'S HIDDEN WAR AGAINST ITS POOR AND ITS HOMELESS A REPORT BY THE WASHINGTON LEGAL·CUNIC FOR THE HOMELESS Washington, D.C. Edited By: I. Michael Greenberger, Esq. Elizabeth M. Brown, Esq. Anne R. Bowden, Esq. November 22, 1993 Since 1986, the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless has provided assistance to families and individuals who are homeless or at risk of homelessness in the District of Columbia. Founded on the principle of making free legal services easily accessible to its clients, the Legal Clinic, through more than 250 volunteers from over 130 law firms and organizations, takes its services into the community -- seeing clients at ten different shelters, soup kitchens and day centers on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. While many of its clients seek assistance with public benefits, shelter, and other poverty law issues, many others present questions stemming from a wide range of civil legal matters. Since its inception and as a result of its direct service work, the Legal Clinic's initial role has broadened. Through first-hand knowledge acquired through contact with homeless clients, the Legal Clinic has identified systemic problems and mobilized resources to address them. This work has made the Legal Clinic a major force in protecting the rights of people who are poor or homeless in the District of Columbia. The Legal Clinic's systemic advocacy takes many shapes: class action litigation, administrative and legislative advocacy, and community coalition work. The Legal Clinic is uniquely positioned to pursue in any number of arenas the best possible solution for its clients' needs. It has been involved in lawsuits challenging conditions in and closings of shelters, cut-backs in public benefits, and improper implementation of the food stamp and public housing programs. It has provided testimony to both the D.C. Council and Congress about the shelter and permanent housing needs of those it serves. The Legal Clinic has worked in coalition with other providers of services to homeless people to provide the best possible services to its clients. In April 1993, the work of the Legal Clinic was honored with a citation from President Clinton in the President's Volunteer Action Awards Program. COLD, HARSH, AND UNENDING RESISTANCE: THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA GOVERNMENT'S HIDDEN WAR AGAINST ITS POOR AND ITS HOMELESS A REPORT BY THE WASHINGTON LEGAL CLINIC FOR THE HOMELESS Washington, D.C. November 22, 1993 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This Report is the result of a collaborative effort involving many dedicated individuals. The Legal Clinic offers its special thanks to the eighteen authors who devoted their spare time to chronicle the cases discussed herein; to Shea & Gardner law clerks, Jessica R. Aberly and Laura F. Matlow, both of Northeastern University School of Law, who provided invaluable research and editorial assistance; to Michele Doll and Joy Dysart at Shea & Gardner who were, in large part, responsible for the final compilation of the Report and offered their own astute insights; to Shea & Gardner's paralegals and to its summer associates, Courtney Simmons of Yale Law School and Erik Olson of Stanford Law School who assisted in the initial months of the project; and finally, to the editors, I. Michael Greenberger, a member of WLCH's board of directors, Elizabeth M. Brown, a volunteer attorney with WLCH for five years, and Anne R. Bowden, attorneys in the Washington, D.C. law firm of Shea & Gardner. The Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY 1 I. FOSTER CARE 19 LaShawn A. v. Kelly 21 By: Barbara K. Kagan, Esq., Steptoe & Johnson II. EMERGENCY SHELTER 43 A. Atchison v. Barry 45 By: Lois G. Williams, Esq., Howrey & Simon B. Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless v. Kelly 57 By: Katherine D. McManus, Esq., Howrey & Simon C. Fountain v. Kelly. ....................................73 By: Thomas J. Karr, Esq. and Steven J. Harburg, Esq., O'Melveny & Myers D. Lampkin v. District of Columbia 89 By: Kerrie C. Dent, Esq., King & Spaulding E. Johnson v. Dixon 99 By: Drew Fossum, Esq. and Tamar Snyder, Baker & Botts F. Walls v. Barry 111 By: Lynn E. Cunningham, Esq., Neighborhood Legal Services Program III. PUBLIC HOUSING 117 A. Pearson v. Kelly 119 By: Lynn E. Cunningham, Esq., Neighborhood Legal Services Program B. Samuels v. District of Columbia 131 By: Joel Polin, Esq. C. Stone v. District of Columbia 147 By: Lynn E. Cunningham, Esq., Neighborhood Legal Services Program IV. PUBLIC BENEFITS 153 A. Franklin v. Kelly 155 By: Douglas Kendall, Esq. and Laura Smith, Crowell & Moring B. Little v. Kelly 169 By: L. Anthony Sutin, Esq., Hogan & Hartson C. Feeling v. Kelly ................................... .. 183 By: Robert Berlow, Esq. - ii - Page D. Wellington v. District of Columbia ..................... .. 201 By: Rochelle Brobroff, Esq., Terris, Pravlik & Wagner E. Quattlebaum v. Kelly ............................... .. 213 By: Elizabeth M. Brown, Esq. and Anne R. Bowden, Esq., Shea & Gardner F. Notes on Jones v. Barty and Motley v. Yeldell 231 By: Lynn E. Cunningham, Esq., Neighborhood Legal Services Program V. MENTAL HEALTH , 235 Dixon v. Kelly 237 By: Elizabeth M. Brown, Esq. and Anne R. Bowden, Esq., Shea & Gardner VI. JUVENILE JUSTICE 253 Jerty M. v. District of Columbia 255 By: Elizabeth M. Brown, Esq. and Anne R. Bowden, Esq. Shea & Gardner VII. PRISON CONDITIONS 277 Overview of the Crisis in the District of Columbia's Correctional System 279 By: Jonathan M. Smith, Esq., D.C. Prisoners' Legal Services Project, Inc. - iii - VIII. THE HUD-D.C. INITIATIVE 319 By: The Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless IX. THEMES AND RECOMMENDATIONS 325 - IV - INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY - 1 - ~ 2 ~ COLD, HARSH, AND UNENDING RESISTANCE: THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA GOVERNMENT'S HIDDEN WAR AGAINST ITS POOR AND ITS HOMELESS INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY To paraphrase Shakespeare's Richard III, this has surely been the "Autumn of Our Discontent." In the early Fall, District residents were collectively stunned by a crescendo of violent activity culminating in two illustrative and chilling acts of wanton conduct. A four year old girl was fatally wounded by random gunfire while watching a pick-up football game at a Southeast elementary school. Almost simultaneously, there was a brutal armed robbery -_. graphically captured on a hidden video camera -- of a jewelry store on Georgia Avenue. Three gun-wielding thugs pistol-whipped clerks and fired shots into the back of the store owner laying prone on the floor. By late October, the District had declared a "crime emergency." On November 1, 1993, The Washington Post ran a front-page story, "Getting Ready to Die Young," which focused on dozens of District of Columbia youngsters, so conditioned to fatal, random acts of violence that they have carefully planned their own funerals. On Sunday, November 7, 1993, the Post ran a front-page story sadly demonstrating these children's foresight. The article concerned a young father, who, when suddenly forced to stop his car at night in Anacostia, grabbed his one year old daughter to escape. While running away from their pursuers, the father was shot in the back and the head, and his daughter was hit in the leg, probably by a bullet that passed through her father's chest. The article reported that "[r]escuers had to pry the wailing child from [her - 3 - father's] grasp" and that "[t]he shooting was one of seven attacks during five hours Friday night that left four people dead and nine wounded. Three of the dead were teenagers . .. ."y On November 5, 1993, the Post reported that a young woman brought up in D.C.'s foster care program fatally beat her two year old niece. Although the child was not in a foster care placement at the time, she was an at-risk child and, therefore, coincidentally would have been a member of a class action suing the District for its grossly inadequate foster care services. Neighbors reported having made repeated calls to warn of possible child abuse to the Department of Human Services' child protective services unit and the youth division of the police department. Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly has responded to these violent episodes with a series of short-term crime fighting measures, including unsuccessfully requesting from the Federal government the right to call out the National Guard. However, the most insightful comment about the violence came from D.C. Police Chief Fred Thomas. He called the D.C. Government's plans to respond to the recent violence no more than "[a] quick fix. [The problems] will be back next week, next year, because we're not getting at the core of the problem. Until we get at the core ... the apple will continue to rot." Remarks of D.C. Police Chief Fred Thomas at Ward 3 Anti-Crime Armory (WJLA, September 29, 1993, 11 p.m. News). The "core," according to the police chief, are the adverse social and economic conditions within the District leading to crime. Short of leading to crime, these conditions, borrowing from the words of Federal District Judge William B. Bryant, certainly "degrade and Y See also Castenada, "Baby Who Was Injured In Shooting Goes Home," The Wash. Post, Nov. 10, 1993, at D3. - 4 - dehumanize" individuals to such an extent that they are lost as productive and contributing members of society. This Report by the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless ("Legal Clinic"), to use the words of Chief Thomas, deals with "core" problems. It concerns the District's refusal and/or inability to administer its own social programs to ensure that poor families and especially poor children are properly cared for and properly sheltered. The Report is about District-funded shelters in which individuals and families needlessly lived among rats, lice, and scabies; in beds with unwashed blankets stained from human excrement and blood and pus from open sores; and with toilets clogged and backed up into living areas.
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