Emails detail federal pressure behind Washington encampment clearings

Emails obtained through public records requests show federal officials coordinated with D.C. Agencies before police cleared homeless encampments around the White House in August 2025. At least 14 of 25 documented sites were removed, displacing more than a dozen people.

The effort followed President Donald Trump’s creation of a task force focused partly on removing homelessness from federal land and his invocation of emergency powers in the District. The crackdown reduced notice and outreach before clearings, while D.C. Officials later shifted toward closing encampments rather than maintaining them.

The effects continue a year later as the White House promotes criminalizing sleeping outside through executive orders and funding decisions, and D.C. Projects closing twice as many encampments in 2026 as in 2025.

Read the full story at streetsensemedia.org.