As temperatures fall below zero, Spokane boosts beds for homeless

With temperatures dipping near or below zero, city officials are expanding beds available to the homeless.

About 100 additional shelter beds above and beyond the city’s normal capacity are being made available in response to the dangerously cold weather.

The temperature fell to zero overnight Sunday at the Spokane International Airport and was expected to dip to minus-2 Monday night and minus-3 Tuesday night, said Laurie Nisbet, National Weather Service meteorologist in Spokane.

While the temperatures are the coldest of the year, the bed surge for cold weather is not uncommon.

The city has surged its available shelter beds roughly 70 times this winter, part of its longstanding program to add beds whenever the thermometer plunges below freezing, roughly in line with the city’s estimates and budgeting, said Dawn Kinder, the city division director who oversees homeless services. Those surged capacity beds have been frequently completely filled, particularly at the women’s shelter at Hope House, Kinder added.

There’s funding available in the year’s budget for 143 of these “inclement weather” days, which also include summer days peaking over 95 degrees or when wildfire smoke clogs the air.

There are technically fewer of these inclement weather beds available this winter than last, when the city opened up 140 beds, though 90 of those have since become permanent parts of the city’s year-round shelter system, Kinder said. There also wasn’t funding last year to open those shelter beds during the summer as the city had done in years prior – this year’s budget is expected to include sufficient funding for surge beds, including during the summer.

The number of beds available this winter remains well below what was offered during the peak of the Trent Avenue warehouse-turned homeless shelter, which had as many as 500 beds during freezing weather and Mayor Lisa Brown closed in November, citing costs and poor performance.

Overnight temperatures will be warmer Thursday night, possibly in the low 20s. Snow is in the forecast for Thursday night and into Friday, when 1 to 3 inches of snow could fall, Nisbet said. Temperatures are expected to rise above freezing Sunday and Monday, when a mix of snow and rain is possible.

Jonathan Brunt contributed to this report.