Even though the hypothermia season has begun and despite the District reporting plenty of empty beds, some homeless people continue to avoid the city's shelters.

Jessica Forres reports…



Lounging on a sidewalk in Tenleytown, Tyrone Murray tilts his head toward the sky and thanks a woman who just gave him fifty cents…

[NAT: GOD BLESS YOU]

I'M DISABLED SO I GET A DISABILITY CHECK FOR 637. I STILL AIN'T GOT A PLACE TO STAY. ALL THAT MONEY I GET THERE WITH A LITTLE BIT OF MONEY FROM THE PEOPLE I GET ON THE STREET, I PAY 70 DOLLARS EVERY DAY AT A MOTEL.

Murray says he has his reasons for avoiding the shelters…

PEOPLE IN THE SHELTER, THEY STEAL FROM YOU, THEY STEAL A LITTLE BIT OF STUFF THAT YOU GOT. I'VE LOST A LOT OF CLOTHES AND THEN I CAUGHT CRABS AND SCABIES AT THE SAME TIME.

City councilman Tommy Wells has been making daily checks on shelter vacancies since the end of September when the Fenty Administration closed the Franklin shelter in Northwest…

I'M VERY CLOSELY MONITORING THIS. I'M SURE I'LL MISS SOME THINGS. BUT THERE'S A LOT OF INFORMATION AND MISINFORMATION THAT I'M HEARING THAT'S WHY I WANT TO BE HANDS ON TO BE SURE THAT OUR HOMELESS FOLKS ARE GETTING AS BEST WE CAN AS A CITY GETTING THEM WHAT THEY NEED.

In recent weeks, the District's daily shelter vacancy rate has exceeded 62 beds.

Jessica Forres WAMU 885 News

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Some homeless people in DC continue to sleep outdoors even though there are plenty of empty beds at the District's shelters every night.

Jessica Forres reports…



Phillip Roberton sells copies of Street Sense, the newspaper written by homeless people, and paces a sidewalk in Tenleytown.

He says he became homeless five months ago, when he couldn't pay 25-thousand dollars in medical bills after losing his job and house...

I HAD SURGERY I WENT INTO THE HOSPITAL AND WHEN I CAME OUT OF THE HOSPITAL I BECAME HOMELESS.

Every night, he returns to the place he now calls home...an alley behind an electronics store... where he says he feels safer than sleeping inside a city shelter...

I'M AFRAID OF BEING ROBBED AND BEING HURT INSIDE THE SHELTER. YOU'D BE SURPRISED THAT'S WHY A LOT OF HOMELESS PEOPLE SLEEP OUTSIDE.

City council member Tommy Wells says he doesn't know why people such as Roberton choose to sleep outdoors despite the help available to them...

I THINK THAT A NUMBER OF PEOPLE THAT END UP HOMELESS ARE OFTEN PEOPLE WITH SOME EMOTIONAL OR MENTAL HANDICAPS AND FOR THOSE WHO ARE MOST SEVERLY HANDICAP AND DEVELOPMENTALLY CHALLENGED, WE CREATED HOUSING FIRST FOR THEM AND THAT'S WHERE WE MOVED 4-HUNDRED MEN AND WOMEN INTO HOUSING.

The District provides 1 thousand ,7 hundred 15 beds for men and 6 hundred 55 for women whenever nighttime temperatures fall to or below 32 degrees.

Jessica Forres WAMU 885 news