Michael Harper went to Old Town’s group for the homeless, Street Roots, to obtain a referral to a nearby year-round shelter after Multnomah County closed all of its overnight warming shelters on Wednesday.
However, he was informed that the shelter was filled when he got to the Union Gospel Mission.
Harper, 49, stated, “I slept on the sidewalk directly in front of the church, and a few others did the same.” Tonight, I’m probably going to sleep on the sidewalk once more.
County officials said winter conditions no longer necessitated emergency sites, forcing Harper and an estimated 1,200 others to evacuate a dozen warming shelters Wednesday morning.
The county’s decision to block access to safe areas while the weather remained wet, windy, and icy caused great concern and frustration among homeless Portlanders, advocates, and NGO leaders throughout the region.
Ejected shelter guests reported that finding a place to stay dry overnight was difficult and that it was dangerous to even walk from the warming centers.
In fact, the county said that all of its own offices and libraries would be closed for safety concerns because of the ice at around 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
County officials relied on a number of meteorological projections that, as recently as Wednesday morning, predicted that ice would thaw and temperatures would climb by mid-Wednesday. However, these forecasts proved to be inaccurate. However, it was 31 degrees outside and there was still slippery ice on several streets when they closed the shelters between 10 a.m. and noon.
Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson told The Oregonian/OregonLive Thursday afternoon that severe weather shelters save lives on the coldest and most difficult nights of the year. Preparations for both severe weather shelter openings and closures take several days, and Multnomah County makes decisions based on the best information available.
Up to 1,300 individuals were housed each night for five days, according to Vega Pederson, which she claimed is evidence of the county’s dedication to enhancing its collaborations, procedures, and output. The previous peak was just under 1,000 people in December 2022.
According to Vega Pederson, we confer with specialists in emergency management and weather before and during events. No decision is taken lightly because the weather is unpredictable and occasionally very unlikely weather phenomena, such as yesterday’s delayed thaw, occur.
According to the Portland office of the National Weather Service, another bout of freezing rain is predicted for the metro area as early as mid-afternoon Thursday.
Thursday through Friday are predicted to have overnight highs of about 30 degrees. It is not anticipated by forecasters that temperatures will rise above freezing or that ice will melt until approximately 10 a.m. on Friday.
However, Multnomah and Washington County officials have stated that they have no intention of reopening warming shelters. A warming shelter operated by Clackamas County in collaboration with Clackamas Community College remained open Wednesday night.
As visitors left the warming facilities on Wednesday, shelter staff distributed a large number of brand-new orange tents. The Old Town area and other locations featured the corresponding tents.Oregonian/OregonLive’s Nicole Hayden
According to Multnomah County regulation, winter shelters are opened when temperatures are predicted to drop to 25 degrees or lower, when at least one inch of snow is expected to accumulate, or when at least one inch of precipitation is expected to occur during the course of the night while temperatures are at or below 32 degrees. According to the county, the thresholds must last for four hours or take place between 8 p.m. and 7 a.m. in order to cause shelter openings. Any additional circumstances that can raise the community’s risk may also be taken into account by the county’s chief operating officer.
According to national meteorological service estimates, there is little chance of rain continuing throughout the night, and temperatures will stay over 25 degrees but below freezing, which would not cause the county’s current criteria to be reached.
The county has provided three locations for folks to pick up cold weather gear from 1 to 4 p.m. on Thursday in lieu of shelter. The locations are Market Street Shelter, 120 SE Market St., Bud Clark Commons, 650 NW Irving St., and Cultivate Initiatives, 14625 SE Stark St.
In Oregon City, Clackamas County decided to set up a warming shelter at The Father’s Heart from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Thursday. It will reopen for overnight refuge at 6 p.m. According to county spokesperson Scott Anderson, nightly warming centers are opened if temperatures are expected to drop to 33 degrees or lower, including windchill, or if other conditions make it unsafe to sleep outside.
Proponents think Multnomah County ought to implement a comparable, more accommodating policy that takes into account hazardous situations that are not covered by their normal regulations.
According to Liz Starke, development director at Rose Haven, a women’s day shelter in Portland, it is illogical to decide to send everyone out into the cold based solely on an arbitrary temperature. There is obviously still an emergency situation, and there is nowhere for people to go.
According to Duke Reiss, a peer support specialist at Blanchet House, one of their regular visitors passed away from hypothermia inside their tent over the weekend; however, that person is not counted among the hypothermia-related deaths in Multnomah County. According to Multnomah County officials, if any more people passed away, the number of deaths linked to hypothermia will be updated at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday.
According to Reiss, she was discovered dead in her tent. Her partner and others were informed that she may have died from hypothermia.
Before the winter storm hit Portland, the woman and her boyfriend were referred to Bybee Lakes Hope Center. However, according to Reiss, the woman’s partner was denied entry since he possessed a warrant for a non-violent criminal charge. If he couldn’t stay there, she didn’t.
Reiss stated that although her spouse pleaded with her to remain at Bybee Lakes without him, she was anxious to do so alone. We put them on waitlists for other shelters, but at the moment, a lot of them are full. This death might have been avoided with more low-barrier shelters.
Because the locations are genuinely low-barrier, Reiss said the winter shelters were especially useful in reaching a larger population of homeless Portlanders than would normally seek refuge. Everyone who comes is welcome.
Rose Haven’s Starke reported that her staff was having trouble finding housing for individuals on Thursday mornings since all of the nonprofits they contacted were full.
According to Starke, we require these kinds of low barrier shelters throughout the year. The shelters should, at the very least, open before the crisis starts and remain open until we are safely out of it if we know terrible weather is approaching. The situation is still an emergency, and those who are most at risk are having a lot of difficulties.
According to Starke, there are other risks besides hypothermia. As people attempt to keep their tents warm, she said, there is a greater risk of injuries from smoke inhalation or tent fires. By Thursday morning, the Old Town area was filled with brand-new orange tents. As they left the warming facilities on Wednesday, campers reported receiving the tents.
Raymond remained in the Market Street Shelter in Southeast Portland until it closed at 10 a.m. on Wednesday. He requested that his last name not be used because he does not want anyone to know that he is homeless. He feels that the shelter ought to have stayed open for at least one more night, even if he was grateful for the food, sleeping bag, tarp, and tent he was given before departing.
Raymond, 66, remarked, “I was thinking, no way this is what they’re going to do.” It was similar to being on the ice rink at Lloyd Center. All I could think was that someone would step out on that ice and break their neck. I fell once and I just kept thinking, what were these people doing, pushing everyone out while it s still all ice. The shelters did good for people, but they should have given us an extra day.
A man standing next to Raymond waiting in line for lunch service at Blanchet House said he slipped on ice three times already. And many people could be seen walking down streets instead of sidewalks to avoid ice Wednesday night and into Thursday evening, though many of those individuals were hard for drivers to spot in the darkness.
Raymond is hoping to snag a spot at another shelter this week, but until then, he plans to ride TriMet buses throughout the city to stay warm.
Nicole Hayden reports on homelessness for The Oregonian/OregonLive. She can be reached [email protected]. Editor Brad Schmidt contributed to this report.
