Frigid temps force homeless into shelters

The recent blast of bone-chilling arctic weather has caused many students to seek refuge in their dorms or apartments over the weekend. But for many homeless people, the below-zero wind chills mean they will have to spend a night, or even a week, in a shelter. In order to get as many people as possible off the street, the City of Philadelphia has invoked a "Code Blue," a move which allows city workers to take homeless people off the streets. There is no indication it will be called off any time soon, said William Parshall, deputy managing director for Special Needs Housing. A Code Blue is invoked when members of the city's Outreach Services Program and Office for Services to the Homeless and Adults agree that the weather is too dangerous for people to be outside, Parshall said. "When the combination of temperature, windchill and precipitation makes it feel like ten degrees Fahrenheit or less, a code blue is invoked," he said. Code Blues are implemented using the 'COTS' – Court Order for Transportation to Shelter – procedure. COTS allows outreach workers to seek a court order that a person be transported to a shelter, said Parshall. "Sometimes just the threat of using [COTS] gets people to go along," he added. Parshall said the Code Blue has been effective, adding that in the last three nights, outreach workers have placed nearly 100 people in city funded shelters. In fact, the census of city-funded shelters has gone up from 2,518 on Dec. 22 to 2,950 in the last few days, he added. In past years, city shelters have had difficulty keeping people for an extended period of time. "A lot of times you can bring [people] in, but you can't keep them," said Intake Caseworker Roberto Pagan. This year, however, due to a policy change, Outreach workers have been able to concentrate their efforts on people still on the street, rather than on convincing people to stay, Parshall said. According to Accu-Weather meteorologist Paul Yeager, bitterly cold air and strong winds will be returning during the day on Tuesday. In order to be safe, he suggested the 'typical common sense things.' "You want to cover all exposed skin, wear gloves, a hat and a scarf, and try to limit the amount of time you're outside," he said.