National Park Service to clear two DC homeless camps

The National Park Service is preparing to clear two homeless encampments in Washington, D.C., that are located on federal land, leaving the city government scrambling to find a new place for their inhabitants.

The park service expects to close the two camps, one located in Columbus Circle outside Union Station and the other at the intersection of New York Avenue and I Street Northwest, in early May after receiving multiple reports of criminal activity and violence. The park service has made a request to the city’s Office for Health and Human Services to provide housing for the people at the camps, although it’s not entirely clear how that process will be carried out.