By Holiday Johnson
Often forgotten, overlooked and pitied. The District’s homeless population exists. A little less than 12,000 residents are without turn-key homes. They are living in the streets, shuffling from shelter to shelter, and some making a home in a tent.
After returning to Washington, D.C. in 2014, I noticed something along my commute into the city that I had not seen in a long while: tents. More and more tents were aligning high-traffic areas, and people were living in them. The only choice, for some people, is a tent. Over the past few years, homelessness has been on the rise in the District.
In my quest to find more information about the people living in a tent, I met up with a community located under the Whitehurst and Potomac Freeways, known as “The Bridge” among the residents. They live in tents within a mile of the Kennedy Center and Watergate Complex in Northwest D.C.
Carmelo, from Mexico, kept showing me his “papeles,” which means papers in Spanish, during the course of our conversation. He also shared how a gang of men jumped him somewhere on Georgia Avenue for money, creating a permanent gashing scar in the back of his head. He came to the District to find work. He has had no success.
Carmelo displays documents that support his citizenship in the United States.
Photo by Holiday Johnson
Another man, Constant Johnson, 42, says more about what it is like living in a tent in one of the wealthiest parts of the District.
Often referred to as “Buddha,” Johnson’s tent-dwelling days are common, and have become a way to live in the District. “I have been here for four years,” Johnson says. “Three years ago, I was sleeping at Rock Creek Park,” Prior to that move he was sleeping at the Waterfront.
According to a city mandate, posted five feet from their residence, tent-dwellers are required to vacate from this location. Johnson believes that he and others are being forced to leave because, “the patrons are tired of seeing us, it makes them sick to their stomach,” he concludes. “I think people look at us as refugees.”
We have a lot of mysteries to go on around here, he says. “I’m not trying to be racist but, we have the Dopamines who live inside the bridge, we have the amigos and the Mexicans across the street, and the whites, blacks or African-Americans are here,” as he triangularly pointed to the different sections of community within 100 feet of each other.
The District of Columbia Government’s Notice to residents. A clean sweep of the area is scheduled to happen anytime after midnight, Tuesday. The sign is posted within 100 feet of the Watergate Complex, in the background.
Photo by Holiday Johnson
When it comes to Johnson’s family, some relatives have helped within their means. “They may ride through here and there – some say they are coming for me, but they don’t,” he admits to himself. “Some family members are embarrassed by me being homeless.” He has tried living with relatives, but has found that his comfort was better living in his own space outside.
“You can be homeless, but you don’t have to look like it.” Johnson proclaims. “I keep this joint clean 24/7 – the only thing rugged is the rats and foxes.” Before buying a tent, Johnson slept on an exposed mattress. He raises money through panhandling whenever he needs to make necessary purchases like tents, detergent, toothpaste, and clothes or pay a phone bill. This is his second tent at this location.
The last tent was vandalized during his winter stay in shelters. “They cut holes in my tent, and stole my clothes and everything,” he said. Various churches donated items like clothes and toiletries to replace his losses. He bought a new tent from Target.
He was employed as a maintenance worker while living in a tent. This proved to be a challenge because he was making just enough money to cover his transportation to and from work. “I will get off at eight and nine in the morning, and then I had to go from Huntington, Va. to Fort Belvoir, Va., and I come all the way back here.”
Working two jobs to save up money to move out of the tent failed because more than half his time and nearly all of his earnings were spent in traveling transportation. On top of that, all of his possessions were stolen from under the bridge, while working at one of his jobs. Important documents like a birth certificate, social security and identification cards are needed to gain employment. Johnson is just now receiving his new credentials back from that theft during the winter. He is looking for work in the District.
Johnson is the father of 14 children – seven boys and seven girls. His eldest son is 22 years old, and also lives in a tent next to him with his fiancée. He’s proud that all of his children, from 10 mothers, know each other and is happiest when he gets to spends time with all 14 of them. “I dream of putting my kids through college,” he shares. “I want to eventually open my own catering business and lounge bar.” In the meantime, Johnson hopes to gain employment in food and maintenance industry since clearing up his stolen-identity situation.
Buddha, birds, and books continue to inspire Johnson daily. “The birds bring me peace in the morning when I’m reading; I am a Buddhist — my surroundings have to be peaceful,” he says about tent-dwelling in the District.
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