Use of warming center increases fivefold

More than 660 homeless people in Spokane took advantage of the Salvation Army’s consolidated warming center from November through February.

Unlike past years when warming centers were opened at 20 degrees or colder, the Salvation Army opened when the forecast was for a low of 32 degrees or colder.

As a result, the agency at 222 E. Indiana Ave. logged more than 6,000 visits, a fivefold increase from the 2013-14 season.

The center was open for 76 nights, including 55 when the temperature was between 21 and 32 degrees. Under the old temperature threshold, the openings would have been for 21 nights at 20 degrees or lower.

Maj. Steve Bell said that raising the temperature threshold was a commitment that the agency made to be compassionate and to reach people in need of community assistance.

“It’s kind of a philosophical shift,” he said. “Cold is cold wherever you are at.”

Opening on more nights likely reduced emergency room visits by homeless who would otherwise have been out in the cold and may have reduced calls to police for incidents involving homeless those nights, resulting in a clear benefit to the wider community, he said.

A number of participants were brought to the warming center by police because they needed a warm place to stay.

Ball said he wants to continue the expanded program next year, but plans to ask for additional funding to hire more paid staff. The crowd at times was rough-edged. Getting enough volunteers proved to be a challenge, he said.

The warming center this season combined shelters for single men, single women and families at the same facility, using partitions in the gymnasium to provide separation and privacy.

Volunteers and staff worked in two shifts, 7 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. and 1:30 a.m. to 7 a.m.

The hours became a hardship, so top officials at the agency pitched in to make sure there was enough staffing.

In addition, volunteers were surprised at the hard lives of the homeless who showed up on shelter nights, said agency spokesman Dan Curley.

“A lot of people were taken out of their comfort zones,” he said.

The city provided $19,500 to the effort, which was combined with $15,000 in grants from Avista, Providence Health Care and the Ludlow Foundation. Individual donations were also taken. The agency ended the season near a break-even point, Ball said.

Providence also donated new blankets and provided laundry services for them.

The largest turnout was 139 people on Dec. 29 when the temperature dropped to single digits under bitter northeasterly winds.