Cold weather tests local warming shelters
Colorado Springs officials said they have enough space in warming shelters even though some people were turned away when the largest shelter was full during the last cold spell.
“We’ve increased capacity from 70 to 200 in the past few years,” said Aimee Cox, the city’s manager of community development. “And these are shelters that are open daily, not just during cold weather or when other shelters are full.”
Still, Cox said the city is working with service providers to find other buildings that can serve as temporary shelters if needed.
“We also need a backup plan for shelters,” she said. “They don’t have one. Where do (people) go if there’s a fire or other emergency? For many years, we’ve had a winter sheltering plan that identified the City Auditorium as a backup location. We’re not sure that the City Auditorium is the right facility for that, so we’re looking at what other facilities would the city have available.”
The city’s largest warming shelter on Weber Street, managed by the Salvation Army, was full on the coldest night of the season recently — even though the Fire Department allowed a temporary exception to the fire code that increased the capacity from 156 to 170.
“It’s a life safety thing,” said Kris Cooper, the city’s assistant fire marshal. “If there’s an opportunity to work with the shelter, and they have the space, and we can allow them to have a few more people in, obviously that’s a win for everyone.”
Cox said establishing more warming shelters is difficult because of limited staffing, equipment and other resources.
“But by not making sobriety a requirement and allowing pets, we can get more people into warming shelters,” she said. “We haven’t found an increase in problems.”
Cox said the warming shelters are intended to be more than just temporary shelter for the homeless and needy; they’re also designed to be a link to more permanent housing.
The Springs Rescue Mission also has a warming shelter with a capacity of 60, and plans to expand and increase capacity.
The capacity of 210 in homeless shelters is separate from the capacity of 290 in longer-term homeless shelters throughout the city.
