Blocks from White House, a freezing tent is home
WASHINGTON: Two sleeping bags and “many blankets” are not enough to keep Jin Yang-Hun comfortable in the pup tent in which he lives just blocks from the White House. Yet Jin isn’t going anywhere, even as dangerously cold wind chills are forecast to sweep across the eastern United States this weekend. Jin, a US citizen originally from South Korea, is among almost 7,500 homeless people in the United States capital. Many stay in emergency shelters but some like Jin prefer to live outside even in below-freezing temperatures. “My situation is terrible,” says Jin, 54. Scattered on sidewalks in the city’s business and university district, the tents are an incongruous site which the city’s more fortunate pass on their way to offices, bars and restaurants.
In the past five years Washington, DC’s homeless numbers have “increased dramatically,” says Kate Wiley, marketing and communications manager of the non-profit group So Others Might Eat (SOME). She thinks Washington’s numbers are the highest per capita in the country, and cites the lack of affordable housing as a major cause. “It’s very hard for people to be able to afford rent if they’re not making really high salaries,” says Wiley. SOME, among numerous charities helping the poor in one of the world’s wealthiest societies, offers a range of services including job training, housing for about 1,000 people, and a dining room that serves daily breakfast and lunch for hundreds.
‘It’s so cold’
With temperatures around 20 F (-7 C) outside, SOME opened its dining room all morning on Friday to give the needy a warm place to gather and watch a movie, its sound blaring in the packed hall. “It’s so cold outside, obviously we don’t want people to be outside any longer than they have to be,” Wiley says. Holding about 100 people at a time, the dining hall has a warm feel. A Christmas tree stands at one end of a faux-brick wall decorated with seasonal bells proclaiming “joy” and “hope.”
There is a painting of slain civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr on another wall, and cool jazz music plays as the diners file back in for lunch. Wearing tuques and winter jackets, some bring suitcases and bags. —AFP