[BoulderCouncilHotline] Proposal to expand severe weather shelter policy

[Jones, Suzanne]

Dear All—

This Saturday morning, Councilmember Brockett and I attended the annual solstice “Day of Remembrance” service hosted by Bridge House to honor those experiencing homelessness who passed away in 2018. While it was good to be there, it is sad that this has become an annual tradition. Seventeen people from the homeless community that we know of died in Boulder this past year—a reality which is heartbreaking and unacceptable.

Boulder invests a fair amount of resources in addressing homelessness in our community and has consequently achieved some measurable progress and positive results in the past few years. We have deliberately focused on providing access to housing and targeted services to help people out of homelessness and to prevent families from becoming unhoused. Consequently, since October 2017, our new adult homeless services system helped over 357 people in the City of Boulder exit emergency sheltering services for more stable solutions, including 157 adults into housing. Despite these hopeful results, however, there are still holes in our safety net, and unhoused people are still dying in our community.

One issue raised at the Saturday morning service that Aaron and I would like to address is the trigger for when the city provides severe weather emergency services. Currently, homeless services are available for clients via a coordinated entry system with short-term support provided through the Bridge House’s Path to Home Navigation program (capacity 50) and longer-term housing services provided by the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless (capacity 160); in addition, under certain winter weather conditions, the City of Boulder provides additional severe weather shelter options (capacity 100). The trigger for severe weather shelter was changed in January 2018 to the following conditions:

  *   National Weather Service warning or watch for winter weather, winter storm, blizzard, cold/wind chill, extreme cold/wind chill, heavy snow, ice storm; OR
  *   National Weather Service predicts a temperature of 32 degrees Fahrenheit or below without snow; OR
  *   National Weather Service predicts a temperature of 38 degrees Fahrenheit or below with snow predicted. A warning of a winter storm, blizzard, wind chill, extreme cold, heavy snow or ice storm.

Our understanding is that severe weather sheltering is triggered around 4-6 days per week all winter, with unhoused clients having to figure out each day whether the temperature is cold enough to meet the sheltering threshold. After attending this morning’s memorial service, and knowing how cold a 33 degree night can be, Aaron and I are proposing that we simply make severe weather sheltering available every night in the winter months so that no one in our city is forced to risk their life sleeping outside on a cold winter night.

We understand that this will cost some additional money, but we think that it is worth it given the lives at stake. Because of our better-than-expected sales tax returns, this level of compassion is also something that our community can afford in the current budget. We will propose that CAC schedule this matter to see if there is a “nod of 5” from the City Council.

Thank you,
Suzanne Jones & Aaron Brockett



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