Homeless Struggle in DC Snow

While it's becoming an historic snow season in the U.S. capitol, it's another night on the streets for dozens of Washington, DC's homeless.

Many choose to remain outside in a tent community, under the shelter of office buildings used by lawyers and lobbyists during the day.

[Bernard Spalding]:
"It's up to you to curl up and stay warm. If you want to sleep on a park bench that's you. Me, I'll go to a cascade roof somewhere."

[Yang Jin]:
"Many homeless people who go into shelters, they come out again because there are a lot of drug users and gay people."

With frigid temperatures — not to mention the snow — the city has stepped up its efforts to get the homeless into shelters.

Donald Page helps run a homeless shelter in the shadow of the Washington's Capitol building.

[Donald Page, Community for Creative Non Violence]:
"The district government operates hypothermia vans that travel throughout the city and they see individuals who are out on the streets and they ask them 'do you need to go into a shelter overnight?' Now legally, you cannot force a person, unless their life is at extreme risk, to go into a shelter."

For many homeless, the tent community offers them something the city's shelters don't — a sense of autonomy. But major snowstorms are forcing some homeless to reorder their priorities.