Homelessness

Rachel Wood shows her voter registration card with her address at the Gales Shelter on Massachusetts Avenue. I befriended Rachel during a demonstration at the shelter to stop the closing of the Gales Shelter in 2003. (c) Nancy Shia, 2020
People march and rally in Freedom Plaza in 2003 to save the city shelters that were still downtown. (c) Nancy Shia, 2020
For many years, Mr. Lee was the face of homelessness in Adams Morgan. He sat sometimes with bags, sometimes with nothing or just an umbrella, along the sidewalk of Columbia Road. One of his favorite places to sit was on the front steps of my apartmen
The Community for Creative Non-Violence held an action where they set up beds for the homeless in Union Station. (c) Nancy Shia, 2020
Here Mr. Lee sits on the wall of a vacant building on Columbia Road. (c) Nancy Shia, 2020
In 1980, women were displaced from a women’s shelter on Massachusetts Avenue and relocated to the House of Ruth, another women’s shelter in the same area. (c) Nancy Shia, 2020
When the women were being moved, they expressed a level of fear and distrust in making the move. They were not happy about being displaced. (c) Nancy Shia, 2020
The women were moved to The House of Ruth, which welcomed them with open arms and gave them a high level of reassurance that they would be okay in their new home. (c) Nancy Shia, 2020
When the women moved to The House of Ruth, the doors flew open to welcome them to their new home. (c) Nancy Shia, 2020
When Ronald Reagan took office, the Community for Creative Nonviolence created a spectacle in Lafayette Square they called Reaganville in the winter of 1981. (c) Nancy Shia, 2020
On Thanksgiving in Reagan’s first year in office, CCNV served a Thanksgiving meal to the homeless in Lafayette Park. (c) Nancy Shia, 2020
Homeless people line up for a free Thanksgiving meal in Lafayette Park, a sight that had to be visible from the White House. (c) Nancy Shia, 2020
Members of the Community for Creative Non Violence serve homeless people a Thanksgiving meal in Lafayette Park. (c) Nancy Shia, 2020
By 1983, 1717 Columbia Road was a vacant building that was attracting homeless people to hang out on the front porch and drink alcohol. (c) Nancy Shia, 2020
In 1983, there was a Panamanian American man named Terry living on the 3rd floor. Terry would often hang out on the front porch. (c) Nancy Shia, 2020
An old man takes his afternoon nap sitting up on the steps of 1717 Columbia Road. (c) Nancy Shia, 2020
While someone sleeps on the porch of 1717 Columbia Road, a group of men gather along the wall of the front yard to share drinks and conversation. (c) Nancy Shia, 2020
Terry’s clothes are laid out on the 3rd floor of 1717 Columbia Road. (c) Nancy Shia, 2020
A Cuban Marielito man and African American woman find close friendship while hanging outside the vacant building at 1717 Columbia Road. (c) Nancy Shia, 2020
Mitch Snyder was a tireless advocate for the homeless in Washington DC and the founder of the Community for Creative Non Violence. (c) Nancy Shia, 2020
Piloto swinging the bat with his friends who hang out in front of 1717 Columbia Road NW. (c) Nancy Shia, 2020
Piloto was a popular character. Here he sits with fellow Marielitos holding his portable radio on the front porch of 1717 Columbia Road NW. (c) Nancy Shia, 2020
Marielito Freddy was one of the regulars who hung out around 1717 Columbia Road NW. (c) Nancy Shia, 2020
Marielito Roberto Ortiz was one of the regulars who hung out around 1717 Columbia Road NW. (c) Nancy Shia, 2020
Marielito Aurelio was one of the regulars who hung out around 1717 Columbia Road NW. (c) Nancy Shia, 2020
Marielito Jacinto was one of the regulars who hung out around 1717 Columbia Road NW. Jacinto had a serious alcohol problem and seemed to always be instigating something. (c) Nancy Shia, 2020
Reaganville was again created in Lafayette Park in the summer of 1984, to draw attention to the number of people who have died of hypothermia due to homelessness. (c) Nancy Shia, 2020
Tents were set up in Lafayette Park to house the homeless in the summer of 1984. They also put up mock tombstones signifying the number of people who have dies in each state. (c) Nancy Shia, 2020
The La Casa Shelter on Irving Street NW. (c) Nancy Shia, 2020
Entrance to the trailer section of La Casa Shelter on Irving Street. (c) Nancy Shia, 2020
When La Casa Shelter was closed, makeshift shelters grew up in the alley behind the shelter. (c) Nancy Shia, 2020
Signs on the front door of the shelter on the Irving Street side. (c) Nancy Shia, 2020
Residents of La Casa Shelter were forced to line up in the alley in back of the shelter to enter each night. (c) Nancy Shia, 2020
People hold up banners and signs in Freedom Plaza asking the government not to close the downtown shelters, but rather to renovate them in 2003. (c) Nancy Shia, 2020
A people’s banner pleads with the city to keep shelters open in the upcoming winter in 2003. (c) Nancy Shia, 2020
An elderly man carries a sign in Freedom Plaza at the rally to keep the downtown shelters open in 2003. (c) Nancy Shia, 2020
“Imagine how you would feel to sleep on the street!!!” A sign held by a homeless woman in Freedom Plaza across the street from the John Wilson DC Government Building. (c) Nancy Shia, 2020
Brian Anders and Linda Leaks, two longtime housing organizers in DC, rally in Freedom Plaza to ask the DC Council to keep the downtown shelters open in 2003. (c) Nancy Shia, 2020
Demonstrator carries a sign addressed to Mayor Williams. “Don’t close Gales Shelter,” the sign implores. (c) Nancy Shia, 2020
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