Illegally Cut Off From Shelter

Homeless Family's Hotline Rejection Seen as Symbol of D.C. System's Failings

David McCullough, center, with wife Michelle, left, and Matthew, was told by a homeless hotline worker that there were no options, he said. (Photos Nikki Kahn -- The Washington Post)

On a cold night recently, the McCulloughs, a homeless family, dialed the District's 24-hour emergency hotline to request a warm place to sleep. They were turned away.

David McCullough, 38, said a hotline worker told him that D.C. Village, an emergency family shelter in Southwest Washington, was full. When he asked about other options for his family, he said, the worker told him he didn't have any and abruptly ended the call.

McCullough called a homeless advocacy group that night, Feb. 1, to complain. Then, with his wife, Michelle, 37, and their son, Matthew, 11, at his side, McCullough put his faith in the public.

The family sat on the ground on First Street NE near Union Station, with a gray blanket as a buffer from the cold sidewalk, and they displayed a cardboard sign: "Homeless Family Please Help God Bless." With quick thanks, the McCulloughs accepted folded $1 bills from strangers. They collected $54.50 to rent a hotel room in Virginia and enough to buy food.

City officials confirmed that the city had violated the law by turning away the McCulloughs on a night a hypothermia alert was declared by the District. They said the city had investigated the incident and had taken steps to prevent it from happening again. "Our policy is that no one gets turned away, especially on a frigid night," said Lynn C. French, senior adviser to Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) on homeless policy.

The McCulloughs moved to Washington from Florida during the summer to petition for Social Security benefits after David McCullough was injured in a car accident. Although the family is atypical of most of the city's homeless families, who are generally longtime residents of the District or the region, advocates said the family's shelter experiences point to the shortcomings of an overburdened system that is struggling to keep up with rising demand.

The McCulloughs spent four months in a District family shelter last year and raised money by panhandling. Like many homeless families that seek the city's help, the McCulloughs said they have not found permanent housing.

Last year, there were 3,326 applications for family shelter space in the District, according to the Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness. The number of family shelter units, which by law are supposed to be apartment-style for the safety of children, declined from a high of 1,216 in 1991 to 110 this year, according to the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless.

On any given day, there are about 200 pending applications for family shelter, French said. On nights that the city has declared a cold-weather alert, she said, there were a few times when there were only two or three vacancies for families out of 191 beds set aside. "We know we're dancing on the edge here," French said.

The city also has been unable to meet a commitment to open 75 additional beds for families this winter because it could not secure a building that it had planned to use as a shelter.

After the McCulloughs were turned away, the city sent a notice to shelter providers, reminding them that during the hypothermia season, all families seeking shelter must be placed on the day that they request assistance.

Dana M. Jones, interim chief executive director for the United Planning Organization, which has a $543,000 contract to operate the shelter hotline, said workers are supposed to arrange only for transportation to shelters. "I want to apologize to the family because we have no role in deciding who gets admitted where and when," Jones said.

Marta I. Beresin, a staff attorney for the Legal Clinic, said the city needs to have better contingency plans.

Beresin called city officials Feb. 1 to say that the McCulloughs told her they had been turned away. French arranged to get shelter for that night, but Beresin could not locate the family, which was panhandling during the day and spending the nights in hotel rooms.

"What if the McCulloughs didn't know me or didn't have my cell phone number or my home number, or didn't get the money to get into a hotel that night? Someone could have died," Beresin said.

While waiting to hear from the city, the McCulloughs were at Union Station, sitting on their blanket and accepting donations from strangers. Matthew, a fifth-grader, sat with drawing books filled with comic book sketches and excitedly described the comic book heroes. Other times, he silently watched as commuters ignored his family.

"I just don't understand why they walk by," he said.

On Sunday, the city referred the family to a shelter for families on the grounds of the former D.C. General Hospital in Southeast that is open during the winter season. The McCulloughs were given a seven-day placement. They are not sure where they will go next.