Homeless Prepare for Winter

Photo of people surviving with tents and sleeping bags under an overpass in southwest Washington, DC, steps from a super-luxury hotel.

Mr.TinDC / Flickr

The Community Council for the Homeless at Friendship Place hosted a free workshop called “Surviving the Cold.” This workshop was held at St. Columbia’s Episcopal Church on Dec. 14 to detail D.C.’s 2011-2012 winter plan for protecting the homeless during the winter months and address concerns from the public. The cold season officially began on Nov. 1, according to the plan.

During the event, Chapman Todd of the Interagency Council on Homelessness, and Robert Swart of the Coalition for Homeless and Housing Organizations, addressed the effectiveness of the plan and the progress that has been made with it.

“The number of people staying outside (during the winter months) has decreased significantly in the last five years,” Todd said. “More people are sheltered here (in Washington) than in most large cities.”

As with previous years, this season’s winter plan includes emergency hypothermia shelters, which will be utilized only when hypothermia alerts are issued, and low barrier shelters, which are open year-round and expand capacity during the cold season. Also, the United Planning Organization will again be deploying vans to help transport clients to shelters and will operate the Hypothermia Hotline. The District’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency issues hypothermia alters whenever freezing temperatures are reached or are forecasted.

Despite the progress the District’s winter plan has made, some complications still exist.

“There’s an issue on who collects the data and where they collect it,” Swart said. “I get my information from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, but they collect their data from the airport. The weather conditions at the airport could be different from in downtown Washington.”

“The problem is someone at the desk deciding if they should issue an alert meanwhile someone living on the street thinks, ‘Gee, it’s cold, I wonder if it’s an alert night?’” Todd said.

To address this problem, the winter plan is using several means of keeping information easily accessible, including a heavy advertising campaign, the utilization of safety and maintenance ambassadors who will identify and assist persons in need in designated areas, and text message alerts of dangerous weather conditions through the emergency notification system, Alert DC. The ultimate goal is not only to inform the homeless of weather conditions and services, but also to keep the general public aware of how they can help.

“Often the homeless will be known by their neighbors, they see the same people every day,” Todd said. “We want people to know who they can contact to help their neighbors.”

Additionally, vans provided by the the United Planning Organization will run 24 hours a day during the season to assist in the transportation of clients between shelters.

Clients in need of shelter may contact the Hypothermia Hotline at 1-800-535-7252 or the Mayor’s call center by dialing 311. You can also sign up for the Alert DC text message alerts online at www.textalert.ema.dc.gov.

“Surviving the Cold” was Friendship Place’s final monthly workshop of 2011. Workshops are typically held on the second Wednesday of the month. Previous workshops have addressed veterans experiencing homelessness as well as civil rights and homelessness.


Issues |Living Unsheltered|Weather


Region |Washington DC

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