The National Park Service plans to clear a homeless encampment on federal land in McPherson Square on Feb. 15, two months ahead of its previously planned clearing.

NPS says it moved the clearing date up from its initial date due to crime and drug issues that have made D.C. social workers and mental health specialists feel unsafe at the site, a claim the residents of the encampment and advocates contradict. The downtown site is the largest encampment in D.C., according to NPS and D.C. officials, and the announcement has sparked panic among the 70 or so people that live there, according to one advocacy group. The decision follows years of disputes over efforts to clear homeless encampments, which often involve federal and local officials butting heads with unhoused people and the advocates who support them.

Jeffrey Reinbold, the National Mall and Memorial Parks superintendent, sent a Jan. 27 letter on behalf of NPS to Wayne Turnage, the D.C. Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services. In the letter, which DCist/WAMU has reviewed, Reinbold wrote that he was responding to a request Turnage made on Jan. 9 to move the date of the encampment clearing from April 12 to Feb. 1. Turnage’s office had concluded that the encampment’s size had surpassed the city’s ability to “provide effective social services at this location,” according to the letter.

Reinbold continued: “Specifically, the District reports that contracted social service providers and mental health clinicians feel increasingly unsafe working at McPherson Square and are unable to provide on-site services to an encampment of this size.” The Washington Post first reported on the NPS letter.

Reinbold added that U.S. Park Police have seen an increase in criminal activity at the McPherson Square site possibly due to the December closing of a nearby encampment in Scott Circle, which saw regular violence and illegal activity. Over the past year, Park Police say they have made 30 arrests, and three individuals have died from drug overdoses at McPherson Square, the most recent death taking place Jan. 21. The federal agency said it would work with multiple D.C. government agencies to conduct the clearing. On Monday, NPS posted signage around McPherson Square notifying residents of the Feb. 15 date, following District rules that require 14 days notice before a camp is closed.

“The NPS is not a social service agency and relies on the District and its contracted social service providers for expertise and recommendations on unsheltered encampments,” Reinbold wrote in his letter.

Reinbold wrote that NPS originally scheduled the clearing for October 2022, but moved it to April to avoid hypothermia season and give social workers time to move unhoused individuals to permanent housing. NPS then moved the date to February to “address imminent health and safety risks,” per the letter to Turnage.

Unhoused people at the McPherson Square site and local activists have pushed back on the District’s and NPS’ explanation of the situation.

A Twitter account that goes by the handle @McPhHomeless tweeted Tuesday that DMHHS has not sent the social services it promised and that the claims of unsafe and illegal activity are unfounded. In a statement sent to DCist/WAMU, the account said it represents some of the 70 people that live at the encampment.

“We are aghast, upset, pissed, blindsided, and more,” the group’s statement reads. “We know NPS hates us, but to find out that it is DHS/Wayne Turnage who requested that NPS kick us out earlier is devastating. I want you to know and to share with the public that the ‘intensive social services engagement’ NEVER happened.”

The group added that volunteers including college students, church groups, and other residents have served the site since 2020 without feeling unsafe; any claims that mental health clinicians feel unsafe are untrue since those clinicians never showed up, the @McPhHomeless group alleges.

In addition, activists have expressed concern that the Feb. 15 camp clearing is scheduled during hypothermia season, when freezing temperatures create dangerous situations for the District’s unhoused population. The season ends April 15, per DHS.

In December 2021, the D.C. Council voted against a bill introduced by Councilmember Brianne Nadeau (D-Ward 1) that would have banned clearing of encampments until the springtime. The legislation was an attempt to curtail Mayor Muriel Bowser’s pilot program aimed at permanently shutting down encampments at three locations across the city and connect people who lived in them with more stable housing. A shortage of case managers stymied the program and it has not been spread citywide, according to DMHHS and a report on the pilot program’s results is still under mayoral review.

But weather is not the only factor that has some locals worried about shutting down the encampment. In October 2021, a man was hit by a bulldozer in the process of a tent removal. There’s also the issue of informing people their tents will be bulldozed and their belongings will be cleared out if they don’t move ahead of time. Last spring, a Street Sense Media report revealed that several people living at the Union Station site weren’t aware it was scheduled to get shut down.

“Encampments offer unhoused people bits of security, community, and stability that help those who want take steps to exit homelessness,” wrote Remora House, a local mutual aid group, on Twitter. “Evicting encampments reduces trust and slows down the housing process. We should focus on making encampments unnecessary, not illegal.”

Deputy Mayor Turnage said in an emailed statement to DCist/WAMU that the District has increased efforts between agencies towards outreach, hygiene and warming supplies distribution, and connecting encamped residents with housing services, depending on their needs.

“The District has rendered collaborative outreach and engagement services at the McPherson Square Park encampment location since the pandemic, and more intensively so during the past 6 months starting with the heat wave experienced during the summer of 2022,” Turnage said. “These efforts will continue up to and post the scheduled NPS park closure.”

The District will stage a 30-passenger bus at the McPherson Square site from 1o a.m. to 4 p.m. on Feb. 1, 8, and 13 to provide case management and address residents’ concerns, Turnage said. The bus will also serve as a “hub” for hypothermia supplies and warm clothing distribution, he added.

It’s likely this won’t be the last encampment closure — Turnage says NPS has a goal of returning “all parkland and governed spaces to their intended use by the end of October 2023.” In the meantime, he says, the District will continue assessing each camp site and “respond accordingly” if they pose significant health and safety issues.

Aja Drain contributed reporting to this story. This story has been updated with additional information from the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services.