CITY SHELTERS JAMPACKED, SNYDER SAYS

BARRY QUESTIONS OCCUPANCY FIGURES

Advocate for the homeless Mitch Snyder said yesterday that city shelters are full or crowded far beyond their capacity, a situation that would require the District to open public buildings to the homeless.

Snyder released figures that he said refute Mayor Marion Barry's claim that adequate shelter beds are available and that the city need not open more space.

"The mayor is simply lying to the people of this city," Snyder said at a news conference outside the District Building. "People are packed like sardines at some of these places."

Later, Barry questioned the authenticity of Snyder's figures on shelter occupancy. "I don't know where he got them from," Barry said. "He does lie from time to time . . . . We will check them out."

Barry said the city is still committed to providing shelter for all who need it. Last week, the mayor said more shelter space was unnecessary because there were still beds available and because homeless people often refuse offers of beds.

"We'll take anybody who comes," Barry said yesterday.

Under a voter initiative approved four years ago, the city is required to provide "adequate" shelter for all who seek it. City law also requires the District to open buildings as emergency shelters when the temperature drops below 25 degrees.

Snyder yesterday released a list of 19 private and city-funded shelters that are filled to capacity or well beyond. Snyder said the shelter at Second and D streets NW operated by his group, the Community for Creative Non-Violence, has been turning away 25 to 50 people each night. The shelter has 1,112 beds.

According to Snyder's list, La Morada, a city shelter for Hispanics at 14th and Irving streets NW, had 150 people on Sunday, or 2 1/2 times the capacity of 61. "People are sitting on washers and dryers because there aren't any more chairs there," Snyder said.

At the Blair shelter at 611 I St. NE, operated by the Council of Churches of Greater Washington under contract to the District, as many as 75 homeless men have been sleeping in chairs because the beds are full and there is no more room for cots.

"It is a mind-boggling situation," said Michael Ferrell, who runs the Blair shelter and a second shelter at 1335 G St. NE, where he said 34 men slept in chairs Sunday night. The two shelters each have beds for 150. "We don't turn anybody away. You just try to grapple with it the best you can under the prevailing circumstances," Ferrell said.

John C. White, Barry's spokesman, said, "It is not against the law to have more people than beds temporarily."

White said he didn't know how long "temporarily" is. He said the city is prepared to open 150 beds at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium if necessary.

According to Snyder, the city last weekend opened two overflow shelters, one with 75 beds for men at 14th and Q streets NW, the other with 50 beds for women at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Southeast.

Snyder accused the city of keeping the availability of those beds a secret. He said both facilities had dozens of empty beds Sunday night.

Ernest Taylor, chief of the city's Office of Emergency Shelter and Support Services, declined to be interviewed.

Ferrell said his shelters sent people to overflow facilities last weekend after being told that some beds were available. Ferrell said he did not know why he was not offered more beds when there apparently were additional vacancies.

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