AS MERCURY DROPS, CONCERN FOR HOMELESS RISES

AREA SHELTERS OVERFLOWING

Erna Steinbruck stood inside the front of Alexandria's Carpenter's Shelter for the homeless yesterday with a worried look on her face.

"We have to be the hypothermia unit for Alexandria," said Steinbruck, who serves as director of the month-old, 150-bed center. "On the very cold nights, the numbers go up . . . . I could never turn anyone away in this kind of weather."

As the Washington area braced for temperatures that were expected to fall to the teens last night, the Alexandria shelter's capacity had long since been filled and as of 3 p.m. yesterday, an additional 35 people had signed up to sleep overnight.

The National Weather Service predicted that the low last night would reach 15 to 20 degrees, with little relief today when the high was expected to be somewhere between 25 and 30 degrees. Tonight the temperature is expected again to drop to between 15 and 20 degrees as a low-pressure center developing off the coast of New Jersey continues to pump cold Canadian air into the Washington area. Today's forecast is partly cloudy but no snow.

With its regular homeless shelters overflowing, the District this weekend opened the second public building in a week to house the homeless.

The Old Trust Clinic building, which opened Friday at 14th and Q streets NW, and Hagen Hall, on the grounds of St. Elizabeths Hospital in Southeast, will admit the homeless at least through tomorrow morning, said Ernest Taylor, chief of the office of emergency shelter.

The Clinic building, which has a 75-bed capacity, has been designated for men between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. Hagen Hall, which has been furnished with 50 beds, is slated for women during the same hours.

"This is a safety net," Taylor said. "I didn't want to take any chances with this weather."

Under legislation passed last January, the District must house anyone in need of shelter when the forecast predicts temperatures below 25 degrees. Taylor said last night that the city's shelters were full, including five new city trailers at Seventh Street NW and Mount Vernon Square.

According to Taylor, Mayor Marion Barry met with the city manager and the director of the Department of Human Services on Monday and decided that if the temperature requirement was met and all the shelters were full, the two public buildings should be opened.

Taylor said that the Hagen Hall shelter had averaged 15 women per night since opening Wednesday. Figures were unavailable for the Clinic building's first two days.

Throughout the Washington area, shelter officials reported concern about overflow and the plummeting temperatures.

Mitch Snyder, an activist for the homeless who said his shelters were at capacity, criticized Barry, saying the mayor had moved too slowly to open public buildings to the homeless.

"I think that the mayor has been absolutely irresponsible," Snyder said. "He is responsible for a tremendous amount of hardship."

Snyder said he had heard rumors that public buildings had been opened to the homeless, but had received no official word from the city government.

Judi Goodenough, coordinator of the District's Luther Place, said that her 35-bed shelter at 1226 Vermont Ave. NW already had about 47 people and that newcomers were "sleeping on mats in the hallway."

"They're too cold to stay out," Goodenough said. "They had been sleeping in abandoned cars and buildings . . . . We'll get a lot more people coming in."

Articles appear as they were originally printed in The Washington Post and may not include subsequent corrections.