In cooperation with the National Coalition for the Homeless and Empower DC, the Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library’s Teens of Distinction Program is tackling the problem of homelessness. Last night, they hosted a panel on gentrification and homelessness, featuring panelists from NCH, Empower DC, and Organizing with Equity.

The evening started out by defining gentrification, which Michael O’Neill of the coalition took from online sources, as an influx of middle-class people to neighborhoods, in the process displacing lower-class workers.

If you’re anything like me (and I hope not), you came to this city knowing nothing about gentrification, much less its sociological and economic effects. This panel sought to fill in the knowledge gap.

The panelists talked about how a “mixed-income community” isn’t the problem at all, but it’s that there isn’t mixing, only displacement. Residents whose buildings are renovated or reworked often aren’t capable of moving back, and two-thirds instead move onto “equally distressed neighborhoods.” Their problem isn’t being addressed, just moved to a different location, said the panelists.

The Hope VI Program, which bills itself as revitalizing distressed housing, is “state-sponsored gentrification,” said panelist Donald Whitehead. Those who are moved out fail the credit rating test now necessary to move back into their own building.

Furthermore, public housing itself is being given the proverbial shaft. According to the panel, 63,000 public housing units have been demolished and 20,000 more are slated. Public housing is attached to buildings, and, when the contracts expire, landlords have the option to not renew it. Thus, those in public housing are unceremoniously left without a roof over their heads.

What happens to those moved out of their communities is guesswork. No comprehensive data exists on where people go, but the likelihood of homelessness or equally low-income new residences is hardly irrational. With the prospect of the former, some more issues arise.

O’Neill, in a discussion with census-takers, was told that the bureau “did not have to count the homeless.” Exclusion from the census further marginalizes the homeless and legitimate concerns they may have.

The panel warned for future events on the horizon. Mayor Fenty’s proposed waterfront agenda, said panelist Linda Leaks, “scares people to death.”