Every night longtime Washington, DC, resident Jeff Padgett packs up his two chihuahuas, his sketch pad and other belongings in a black canvas rolling cart to cross the bridge over the Potomac River and disappear into the woods in Virginia.
Padgett, 60, has been living unhoused on the streets of the nation’s capital for about eight years. But for now, he sleeps elsewhere.
“I don’t stay in the district anymore at night,” Padgett said, describing his daily routine of picking up meals at the Georgetown Ministry Center before hightailing it to Virginia. To avoid getting “harassed, or locked up, or given an ultimatum,” he says, “I’ll just keep pushing out.”
The White House says more than 50 homeless encampments have been cleared “by multi-agency teams” since President Donald Trump’s law enforcement surge in DC began in early August, and authorities are working “to locate and clear additional encampments.”
But the Trump administration has not delivered on other promises to provide places to stay or mental health services. Advocates and unhoused people who spoke to CNN say federal officials just told homeless people to move from encampments when they were cleared, with some describing having to leave behind possessions in the chaos.
Jeff Padgett speaks to CNN on Wednesday. – CNN
As the federal surge has progressed, homeless residents like Padgett have begun taking extraordinary measures to avoid law enforcement sweeps. They are constantly on the move, struggling to blend in during the day and hopping on and off city buses at night to catch snippets of sleep. They aren’t pitching tents or sleeping on sidewalks but hiding in wooded areas.
That has left homeless residents exhausted and afraid and advocates questioning the point of Trump’s efforts without long-term solutions.
“There’s fear and anxiety and anger around it, but mostly it’s disruptive, because folks feel like they don’t have a place to go,” said Andy Wassenich, policy director for the homeless services provider Miriam’s Kitchen. “It’s disruptive to receiving services.”
“We’re seeing a lot of exhaustion, a lot of confusion. We’re seeing an increase in guests visiting our drop-in center. They’re coming for safety,” said Claire Wilson, executive director of the Georgetown Ministry Center, which serves meals and provides showers, clothing and other services to dozens of homeless people each day.
“I know we’re all really tempted to call it political theater, but I really don’t know what else to call it because there is nothing beyond sort of the act of removal,” she added.
Padgett’s chihuahuas, 13-year-old Puppet and her 10-year-old daughter Luna, accompany him everywhere in his cart as they stay on the move, often barking when strangers approach.
“I’m hauling this this thing around with my belongings in it because I’m afraid my stuff is going to be taken. Thrown in the trash, discarded,” he said. “It’s kind of the way that I’m sort of feeling, like I’m trash.”
White House promises
Three days after the federal law enforcement surge in DC began, Trump posted on Truth Social that the homeless must move out “IMMEDIATELY,” pledging: “We will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital.”
Two days later, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that homeless residents would have the option to be taken to a homeless shelter and get addiction or mental health services or “be susceptible to fines or to jail time.”
But nearly a month later, homeless advocates say the federal government has still not provided any shelters or mental health services. Only the city government has continued to provide those services, they say.
Pressed by CNN on whether any additional federal help will be offered, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said the city has shelter space available. “This will make D.C. safer and cleaner for everyone,” Jackson said of the homeless encampment sweeps.
A bicycle is seen on a bulldozer, as an encampment is cleared on August 14. – Astrid Riecken for The Washington Post/Getty Images
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat who has clashed with Trump in the past, has emphasized that she wants to work with federal officials to lower crime and combat homelessness. Meanwhile, her city administration says it has tried to step into the breach.
The mayor’s office said the district added more than 100 shelter beds during the surge and “accelerated outreach to connect residents to services and housing.” City officials say more than 80 additional residents have accepted shelter from the city during that period.
Bowser spokesperson Daniel Gleick said the city’s Department of Behavioral Health has offered mental health services for anyone who needs them, as it did well before the surge began. He did not have data on how many have taken advantage of that in the past month.
Last week, the city conducted a census on unsheltered people and counted 764 individuals who were still living outside.
Advice for homeless residents
The Trump administration also hasn’t made good on the threat to fine or jail homeless people, according to advocates and unhoused residents who spoke to CNN. That hasn’t stopped advocates from advising homeless clients to be careful.
Wilson, of the Georgetown Ministry Center, said they are telling clients to stick together in pairs whenever possible and to “not engage law enforcement.”
“We’re encouraging them to, if possible, not sleep in public spaces outside,” Wilson said, adding that they aren’t putting up tents because “that is not safe for them.”
Taylor Bush, an outreach advocacy manager for the ministry center, told CNN her advice is to “try to be less visible” and avoid lingering in the doorways of shops, restaurants and apartment buildings.
Dispensing this kind of advice, Wilson said, has been “incredibly painful.”
“To look at an individual and say, ‘My advice to you is to either leave this community or make yourself invisible,’ it’s a terrible message to deliver to an individual.”
Law enforcement officers for US Park Police and Homeland Security Investigations watch as a homeless individual gathers their belongings after being questioned in Washington, DC’s Franklin Park, on Tuesday. – Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP
Wilson emphasized that offering shelter beds is not enough. She said many homeless people view shelters as places “they cannot thrive,” or where they have had past experiences that have been “extremely traumatizing or negative for them.”
Now, she said, many of their clients are constantly on the move and hiding. They often seek shelter in libraries or other public places to get out of the heat, she said, but are trying harder to blend in and move along more frequently.
Gary Mercer, 62, has been unhoused in the district, on and off, for decades. “If you’re smart and you’re intelligent, keep moving,” he said.
Some, like Padgett, cross over into Virginia for the night.
Contacted by CNN, a spokesperson for Arlington County, said they have not tracked a major influx of homeless people in the Northern Virginia county, which would be the immediate destination for most people who cross the Potomac.
A note detailing a scheduled encampment cleanup from the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services is posted on a tent near Washington Circle in Washington, DC, on August 14. – Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
The spokesperson said county outreach teams are monitoring the situation, and that “our proactive approach will continue to help us evaluate and respond to any potential changes.”
Wassenich said Miriam’s Kitchen is ramping up its communication with clients. “To the degree that we are able, we give people flip-phones so they can stay in touch with us,” he said.
But with the pressure placed on the homeless population during the law enforcement surge, Wassenich said, his teams have lost contact with at least 25 people. He worries that many of them won’t receive critical help as long as they’re unreachable.
“If that person was getting a prescription or getting an inhaler regularly from [our] medical provider, and now we can’t find them, then how are they getting it?” he asked.
Wassenich points out that many Americans are one lost paycheck or one crippling medical bill away from becoming homeless themselves. “Most people have more in common with people who are living on the street than they do with the wealthiest people in this country.”
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