The Nation : D.C. Judge Orders More Homeless Beds

About 300 homeless people stood in the courtroom and applauded for a full minute when District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Harriett Taylor ordered the city of Washington to provide an additional 620 beds for the homeless, saying the district’s existing shelter policy for an estimated 3,000 to 6,000 people is “inadequate and inept.” The ruling was the result of a class action lawsuit filed by Community for Creative Non-Violence that charged the city has not provided adequate shelter for its homeless as required under the 1984 D.C. Right to Shelter Act, a ballot initiative passed by city voters. The suit cited crowding and poor conditions at shelters and charged people were turned away from cramped facilities only to lose fingers or toes to frostbite after sleeping on the street.