With the end of an unusually mild winter, the Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH) has met regularly to discuss the setbacks of this winter’s hypothermia season in order to make adjustments for the coming year.
Since emergency shelters cannot open unless weather conditions are officially considered
hypothermic, it leaves many of the homeless out in the cold with no way of knowing when the
emergency shelters are open.
Hilary Espinosa, member of the ICH and senior case manager at Miriam’s Kitchen, expressed her
frustration with the alert system during an ICH board meeting.
“It is as effective as it can be, but there is room for improvement,” she said. “The improvement is
the need for more consistency.”
The District’s Winter Plan is supposed to provide that consistency. It sets
guidelines for how things should operate during difficult circumstances, such as freezing temperatures. However, some things, like moving the hypothermia season temperature higher, cannot be changed by the ICH because it is a matter of legislation.
The alerts to warn of hypothermic temperatures are sent out via e-mail by the District’s Homeland
Security and Emergency Management Agency (HSEMA). That information can then be found on the ICH’s website or the weather hotline. However, many of the homeless do not have access to these alerts
and are therefore ill-informed of the weather advisory.
The ICH is in the process of mak- ing adjustments for next year’s Winter Plan, and the changes
include things such as more accessible transportation
and alerts.
