After a D.C. Superior Court judge ruled Monday that the city must house homeless families in private rooms or apartment-style shelter on cold nights, rather than place them in recreation centers, an attorney for the District of Columbia responded that the city would not be able to comply with the order. “If the court orders this, the District will probably be found in contempt,” lawyer Kim Katzenbarger said. But that was not the case last night.

Department of Human Services spokesperson Dora Taylor said the agency “placed families in emergency shelter that is in full compliance with the judge’s ruling, and will continue to do so during hypothermic conditions.” Further information was not provided.

Allison Holt, one of the attorney’s who successfully lobbied for a preliminary injunction for the families, said in an email she believes the “families were placed in proper private room placements,” including at District hotels, but could not specify where.

Katzenbarger said Monday the city plans to appeal the ruling. The District of Columbia Court of Appeals denied an administrative stay of the preliminary injunction and also ordered that the motion for a stay be “held in abeyance pending further order to the court.”

Judge Robert Okun sided with three homeless families in his ruling, saying the Homeless Services Reform Act requires D.C. to house these families in private rooms, if apartment-style shelter is not available, on nights when the temperature falls below 32 degrees. Okun said sheltering this “vulnerable” population in recreation centers divided with partitions caused irreparable harm.

Update: Here’s more info via the City Paper: “According to the D.C. attorney general’s office, the city placed all 11 families in need of shelter in hotel rooms, at a cost of $159 to $224 per room.”