{"id":122,"date":"2013-05-23T15:10:52","date_gmt":"2013-05-23T15:10:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/history.american.edu\/whosedowntown\/?page_id=122"},"modified":"2014-11-15T03:43:07","modified_gmt":"2014-11-15T03:43:07","slug":"the-ccnv-and-the-fight-to-create-the-federal-city-shelter","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/whosedowntown.humanitiestruck.com\/?page_id=122","title":{"rendered":"The CCNV and the Fight to Create the Federal City Shelter"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Federal City Shelter, which rests on 2nd<\/sup> Street NW between Avenue D and E and plays an integral role in serving DC\u2019s homeless, only exists today as a result of the struggle led by the Community for Creative Non-Violence in the 1980s.\u00a0 This struggle, spearheaded by Mitch Snyder, was pivotal in raising the national consciousness about homelessness during that decade. Inspired by a radical branch of Christian pacifism, the group had its roots in the anti-war movement of the 1970s.\u00a0 As more and more people were left with out homes throughout the decade, the group shifted its focus to address the emerging crisis.<\/p>\n

\"As<\/a>
As the CCNV shifted its attention downtown, it also drew the federal government into its struggle and gained greater media attention. Image used under the Fair Use provisions of the copyright law.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Following the loss of Fairmont House, CCNV turned its attention towards downtown where a growing number of people without homes found refuge on the heating grates.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In late November of 1978, the group organized a takeover or \u201clive-in\u201d of an unused portion of the newly renovated National Visitor Center.\u00a0 Mitch Snyder argued the target was deliberately chosen because of its \u201cnatural organic centrality.\u201d[1]<\/a>\u00a0 With the action, the group shifted its strategic focus and brought the federal government into their struggle to address the needs of the homeless.\u00a0 The group demanded that more shelters open in the city and that the demeaning intake procedures at those that existed be eliminated. \u00a0\u00a0Officials at the Department of the Interior warily watched as close to 200 people joined the group each night.\u00a0 In the second week, they ordered the shelter closed, and CCNV led a series of sit-ins that lead to nearly fifty arrests. As the pressure mounted and Christmas loomed, the city relented and agreed to meet the group\u2019s demands.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

With this significant victory in hand, CCNV increasingly pressured the federal government to address the homeless crisis during the 1980s as President Ronald Reagan took office. \u00a0On Thanksgiving Day 1981 CCNV established \u201cReaganville\u201d in Lafayette Park, across from the White House.\u00a0 Intended to remind Americans of the dilapidated and ironically named \u201cHoovervilles\u201d of the Great Depression in 1930s, this protest illuminated the plight of DC\u2019s homeless and the dire need of a resolution to their problems.\u00a0 President Reagan, initially refused to accept that the federal government had any responsibility for the issue.\u00a0 He argued, \u201cpeople who are sleeping on the grates\u2026the homeless\u2026are homeless, you might say, by choice.\u201d[3]<\/a> \u00a0The city government continued to maintain that it had things under control as officials \u201cdenied \u2026 that the plight of the city\u2019s homeless had reached crisis proportions.\u201d[4]<\/a> As both the federal and city government refused to even recognize that there even was a problem, CCNV redoubled its efforts to raise awareness about the plight of the homeless and successfully fought for the right to keep \u201cReaganville\u201d open across from the White House throughout his administration.[5]<\/a><\/p>\n

\"With<\/a>
With the passage of Initiative 17, Washington, DC became the first city in the country to guarantee the right to shelter. Image used under the Fair Use provisions of the copyright law.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the district level, the group became one of the primary backers of a referendum movement in 1984 to pass ballot Initiative-17, which sought to guarantee, \u201csafe, sanitary, and accessible shelter space, offered in an atmosphere of reasonable dignity” for the homeless. Critics of I-17 argued that mandating housing for the homeless would result in their being warehoused, and that a great strain would be put on what was already an encumbered budget.[6]<\/a> District of Columbia voters, however, overwhelmingly approved by a 72% margin Initiative-17, the nation\u2019s first referendum guaranteeing homeless people the right to overnight shelter, on November 6, 1984.[7]<\/a>\u00a0 Advocacy did not stop with the passage of Initiative-17, though, as Mary Ellen Hombs of the CCNV said, \u201cThe first step is to get people off the streets. You can\u2019t\u2026provide social services to people who are living on grates.\u201d[8]<\/a><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The increasingly bold actions of CCNV pushed the group onto the national stage as it became renowned for its activism on behalf of the homeless. Image used under the Fair Use provisions of the copyright law.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Throughout the Intiative-17 campaign, members of the CCNV continued to put pressure on the federal government.\u00a0 During Reagan\u2019s 1983 State of the Union address, the group organized a sit-in at the Capitol Rotunda that resulted in 163 arrests.\u00a0 In December 1983, the Reagan administration shifted its approach to the group and agreed to turn over the vacant Federal City College building on 2nd<\/sup> Street to use as an emergency winter shelter.[9]<\/a>\u00a0 In January 1984 the group moved into the 2nd<\/sup> Street building as members of Congress held a hearing and press-conference in the building\u2019s basement.[10]<\/a> After the event, Justin Brown of the CCNV said that “\u2026to date our greatest obstacle has been simply lack of recognition of the size of the problem\u2026.here it’s visible.”[11]<\/a>\u00a0 Despite poor conditions that made the occupants susceptible to health problems and vulnerable to fires, the building operated at capacity. At the shelter, anywhere from 600-1000 people seeking refuge came per night.\u00a0 As winter ended, the federal government threatened to evict the group to make way for the sale of the building, but relented after CCNV organized a large march to the White House.[12]<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Mitch<\/a>
Mitch Snyder’s successful hunger strike in 1984 propelled him to become an iconic figure in the movement to end homelessness. Image used under the Fair Use provisions of the copyright law.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In an attempt to get the federal government to commit to rectify the abysmal conditions within the building, eleven CCNV members went on a fast. When asked \u201cDo you think that eleven people fasting are going to change an entire administration\u2019s policy,\u201d Mitch Snyder answered \u201cOh, I think one decent person with enough commitment and enough integrity and enough concern for their neighbors could turn the world upside down.\u201d[13]<\/a> As it turned out those eleven people did have enough commitment. Mitch Snyder fasted for 51 days and ended his protest on Nov. 5th<\/sup>, the day before the 1984 Presidential election. He did so after long deliberations with the federal government ended with the government agreeing to renovate the shelter.[14]<\/a><\/p>\n

The struggle for the shelter, however, was not over.\u00a0 After the election the Reagan administration rescinded its promise to rehabilitate the building and instead contracted with the DC Coalition for the Homeless to relocate the emergency shelter to Anacostia. \u00a0Resisting the government\u2019s effort to push the homeless out of public sight and also seeking to preserve the central access that the Federal City provided, Mitch Snyder and CCNV activists engaged in a new hunger strike.\u00a0 The Reagan administration relented and promised five million dollars towards the renovation of the Federal City Shelter.\u00a0 After completing the renovations, the federal government turned the building over to the city of Washington, DC on July 7, 1986 under the stipulation that it would serve as a shelter for at least thirty years.<\/p>\n