Mayoral Candidate Vince Gray’s campaign team registers homeless voters in Franklin Square

By Brittany Pope, volunteer

On a sunny afternoon in late August, Franklin Square Park is abuzz. DC mayoral candidate, City Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray is scheduled to make an appearance, and many supporters line the benches awaiting his arrival. Despite the diversity of the crowd, they share common concerns — most are struggling with unemployment and homelessness.

Just as Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign focused largely on a desire for “change,” the same sentiment seems to be widely felt among the people gathered to await Gray. They say they hope that their issues, the needs of the homeless and poverty-stricken will be brought to the forefront of the September 14 Democratic primary race between Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and Gray, his main rival. Here in this park, overlooking a former homeless shelter, discontent with the mayor seems pervasive.

“I want to see what Gray can do, how he can turn things around,” commented a woman who wished to remain anonymous. Having spent the last year homeless on the streets of DC, she has frequented the city’s homeless shelters and spoke on the “universal problems” plaguing the system, including “rodents, maintenance problems and frequent police activity.” She believes that homelessness is rapidly growing in the city, and looks to Gray for hope.

Homeless Outreach Coordinator Tony Murphy is leading the Gray campaign outreach in Franklin Square by passing out flyers and voter registration forms.

“We want to get as many people registered as we can!” he proclaims. Since 2005, Murphy has been working with the homeless and ex-offenders, engaging them in the voting process and providing transportation services to polls. He works the streets, identifying the needs and concerns of the homeless and encouraging them to vote. Murphy is convinced Gray is a man with a “vision of compassion for everyone.”

And Gray does have a long history of working with the needy. He was appointed as Director of the DC Department of Human Services in 1991, and became the first executive director of Covenant House Washington in 1995, a program that offers support, counseling, hot meals and job training to homeless teens and young adults.

The “change” these Gray supporters wish for, is a more focused attention on the plight of the poor and homeless—something they claim the Fenty administration lacks.

But Fenty has been quick to fight back when he has been accused of neglecting the poor. In an Aug 18 debate on WAMU’s Kojo Nmamdi show, Fenty accused Gray of mishandling the homeless services budget when he was head of human services.

And the Mayor often proudly points out that over the past two years, his Permanent Supportive Housing program has placed over 1,000 homeless people into apartments and provided them with services to address the problems that led to their homelessness. Fenty says his goal is to get 2,500 housing units for the homeless by 2014.

But even as he has pursued the permanent supportive housing initiative. the Mayor has also been shaking up the much-criticized DC homeless shelter system, raising anxiety among some who remain dependent upon it. Looming over Franklin Square is Franklin School, a National Historic Landmark that in 2002 was converted into a shelter for homeless men. Two years after he was elected Mayor, in 2008, Fenty closed the shelter, amid protests and street marches. Some of the men who had stayed there were moved into permanent supportive housing, but others were moved to other shelters.

Bitterness lingers among some who cite a continuing need for emergency shelters at a time when a declining economy and a national recession are pushing more individuals and families into the streets. Distrust of Fenty has been further fuelled among some gathered at Franklin Park by a flap over the city’s Summer Youth Employment Program.

“I heard Fenty was changing funding from homelessness to the youth program,” worries Street Sense vendor Mark Wole.

In August, the DC City Council blocked an effort by Fenty to shift $4.3 million in federal money for poor families to enable the youth program to run for an additional seven days. City Councilman Michael Brown said the money would be better spent housing 250 homeless families. Fenty has continued to insist the federal money was intended to fund such initiatives as the Summer Youth Employment Program.

The crown perks up when Vincent Gray arrives at Franklin Square Park, shaking hands and exchanging words with his supporters. Carlos Coleman, who is deaf, looks to Gray to create more jobs and housing for the hearing impaired.

Gray’s sparks hope in the hearts of the people in the park—maybe the change they need is fast approaching. “We are a unique population,” says the homeless woman who wishes to remain anonymous. “And we need something to suit our needs.”