Washington, DC winters can be brutally cold and deadly. Thus, area citizens and the DC Government came together to create a means by which homeless persons would be given the opportunity to be transported to a warm shelter on the very cold days/nights. The Hypothermia Hotline was born to provide that needed service. Now called the Shelter Hotline, vans are ready 24-hours per day, seven days per week, moving throughout all neighborhoods.

To avoid deaths, Shelter Hotline drivers make every attempt to convince homeless individuals to ride the specially outfitted van to a nearby warm shelter facility. When, for whatever reason a homeless person refuses transport, he/she will receive offers of warm clothes, blankets, as well as hot soup.

Funded by the DC Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness, the UPO activity employs 16 workers.

Over a one-year period, more than 18,000 calls were received mainly from DC, Maryland, and Virginia. Some 12,275 individuals were transported to area shelters. Families with children are transported to DC Village located in southwest Washington, DC.

If a person is hypothermic, the DC emergency response unit is immediately called.

According to Ruth Walker, program director, the hotline swings into action especially when temperatures reach 32-degrees or below with wind chill.

See the March 2000 issue of the UPO REPORTER for more on the Shelter Hotline --- Click here.


Ruth Walker, program director, checks manifest with
Bobby Houston, driver/outreach worker.

UPO Shelter Hotline - (202) 399-7093