Photo by Devin Smith.

On the first day of hypothermia season, D.C. activated an alert that requires the city to shelter all homeless residents, as blustery conditions pushed the wind chill below 32 degrees.

The same thing happened the next night — Sunday, November 2 — and the alert was activated again.

In total, the United Planning Organization received 353 calls while the alerts were activated, with 1,723 men and 571 women sheltered over both days. That breaks down to 854 men on Saturday and 869 on Sunday, and 292 women on Saturday and 279 on Sunday. It’s possible the same people sought shelter on both nights. There are 1,579 beds available for homeless men and 479 for homeless women each hypothermia night. Nearly 300 blankets were given out.

Ten families asked for assistance during the alerts, according to the Department of Human Services, and three were denied. The other seven were placed and then required to go to the Virginia Williams Family Resource Center on Monday to complete an assessment, according to a spokesperson.

At the moment, 122 families are living at the D.C. General shelter, where 409 units are available in total. The city expects 840 families to seek placement during hypothermia season, which began on November 1 and ends in March.

Councilmember Jim Graham, the chair of the human services committee, has expressed extreme concern that the city is once again not adequately prepared to shelter homeless families this winter. The city’s budget does not provide funding for hotel rooms for overflow sheltering of homeless families. A hearing held on the Interagency Council on Homelessness’ Winter Plan last Wednesday was recessed at the Gray administration’s request, as information on procuring additional beds listed as “TBD” in the plan was not able to be shared.

Originally scheduled for Friday, the next hearing on the plan was pushed to Monday, November 10, again at the administration’s request. It will be held at the Community for Creative Non-Violence shelter at 1 p.m.