Trump wants to clear homeless camps in D.C.; Mayor says his policies hurt the city

President Donald Trump recently warned D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser that federal officials may step in to clear homeless encampments in the city if she does not act, calling areas near the White House and State Department “unsightly.”

On Morning Edition, Bowser pushed back, saying, “The actions of the federal government are working against our ability to invest in our city,” highlighting the challenges of managing homelessness amid federal budget cuts and mass layoffs.

On the planned removal of the Black Lives Matter street mural just north of the White House, Bowser shared a shift in stance, saying, “We’re going to evolve,” without clarifying what that means, while acknowledging that the mural, once meant to be permanent, would now be painted over to address changing circumstances.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Michel Martin: In recent days, President Trump demanded that you clean up homeless encampments, or federal officials “will be forced to do it.” What is the disconnect here?

Mayor Muriel Bowser: Well, I think the President doesn’t think there should be any homeless person in the nation’s capital. I mean, if I’m being, like, perfectly blunt. I think that there is an opportunity, and there has been in all the years I’ve been there, to work with the federal government, because a lot, unfortunately, of encampments appear on federal park space. I think one thing that I want your listeners to understand is we have shelter space for every person that you see outside. Dealing with an encampment population is among the most difficult human services work that you will do because people have decided that they want to stay outside and not go into shelter. But we have been successful. I think in the last two years, we’ve seen the number of tents and the number of encampments cut almost in half.

Martin: His view of the crime environment in D.C. also seems to be a pain point. So let’s talk about the street crime issue. 

Bowser: Cities deal with crime, and cities deal with homelessness. It’s urban life. But what isn’t normal is having massive firings and layoffs that are tanking the economy of the nation’s capital, which will create a situation that is antithetical to what the president and I agree on. How to make Washington D.C. the most beautiful city in the world? You don’t make a city beautiful by gutting its workforce. You don’t make a city beautiful by leaving buildings vacant. The actions of the federal government are working against our ability to invest in our city.

Martin: What is the impact so far of these mass firings?

Bowser: Well, we estimate that 40,000 D.C. residents will be put out of work through no fault of their own in this process. And we also recognize that there are a lot of questions about the legality of these actions. What it will mean for us immediately is a decrease in what we estimate in the revenue that we’re going to bring in. When people are out of work, guess what? They don’t pay taxes; they don’t shop at stores; they don’t go to restaurants; they don’t book hotels. The actions of the federal government are working against our ability to invest in our city.

Martin: There is this bill to force you to rename the two-block stretch of 16th Street Northwest from Black Lives [Matter] Plaza to Liberty Plaza.

Bowser: That came from Congress. Anyone who was paying attention at that time would recognize that our mural allowed us to get control of our city at a very dark time in American history.

Martin: But you are going to paint it over.

Bowser: We’re going to evolve.

Martin: The district has a governance system that is unlike that of other areas. Given that, how do you move forward here in expressing the wishes of your constituents and trying to navigate this period when, as you said, there are some stark ideological differences about what is best for the city?

Bowser: We are unique in the American system. We are a city, county, a state, all at once. We pay federal taxes, but we’re not represented, and so there is no jurisdiction that has the type of relationship that we have with the federal government, both in geographic proximity, but also in a legal relationship. So that’s why the D.C. mayor and the American President always work closely together. And so what I hope you recognize is that unlike a lot of Democrats in my position, we do go directly to the President. We do work with the President, and we will defend our city.

Alice Woelfle edited the digital version of this interview.