A person entering the tent Monday afternoon in search of warmth caused the makeshift door to flinch before being completely pushed aside by chilly fingertips.
A wind chill warning issued on Saturday by the Salt Lake City National Weather Service for dangerously low temperatures is still in place as of Tuesday morning, however it may be prolonged depending on the weather. On Monday night, wind chill values in the northern Wasatch Front were predicted to drop as low as 10 degrees; in Salt Lake and Utah counties, the wind chill was predicted to be between 0 and 10 degrees.
The risk of hypothermia and frostbite is enhanced by the subfreezing temperatures and wind chill. The weather agency recommended that individuals restrict their time spent outside, dress appropriately, and stock their cars with supplies in case of emergencies.
“Unsheltered populations are especially vulnerable to extreme cold,” weather service officials noted in a tweet.
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On Monday, homeless advocates started getting ready for the evening while the temperature in Salt Lake City remained around 20 degrees. Advocates claim that the people without shelter is susceptible to the cold and has few options because there aren’t many winter overflow beds available.
On Monday, those protesters erected an unauthorised temporary warming tent complete with chairs and propane stoves. The tent was lined with tarps, and there were blankets on the ground to keep the cold out. While the tent was being built, advocates were on hand, distributing blankets and survival supplies during the day.
“These are contemporary buffalo hides. This is creativity, “At 350 S. 500 West, close to the Rio Grande Depot, Carl Moore of Our Unsheltered Relatives was working on erecting a tent as he spoke. The tent, which is made up of five connected canopies and is covered in tarps, is roughly 20 feet by 60 feet in size. On Monday night, some 20 individuals crowded inside, standing or sitting to stay warm from the arctic conditions outside.
Moore is a part of the 2nd and 2nd Coalition, a group of activists who, in defiance of the law, hold “movie evenings” at the First United Methodist Church when it is below freezing to give the homeless another avenue to escape the cold. On evenings like Monday when the church isn’t open, coalition members try to provide for the need in whatever way they can.
The church can only be used for a few days at a time because it is a donated space. In order for the building to function during that time, the utilities must be maintained.
“This is life and death. We’re not able to keep the shelter open every day, or even days where it’s below 20 degrees,” said Moore. “This is something we’re doing because the city is not doing enough to help people out.”
“If the police care about people, if they care about protecting and serving they should be leaving this up. In fact, they should be helping in some kind of way,” Moore continued.
The warming tent was supposed to be in use through Monday night so that Tuesday and Wednesday evenings may be spent in shelter at the First United Methodist Church.
“If the housed population had their heat shut off, the city would be falling all over themselves to open up a building to get people inside. The fact that they don’t do it shows they don’t value our unhoused neighbors,” said Wendy Garvin, executive director of Unsheltered Utah.
“We are constantly torn between communicating with the city in an effort to get more services active and the city using their enforcement arms to shut us down. Like there’s no logistical reason why this should be illegal. In fact, the city should have opened a building and the city should be staffing of building and there should be a response,” Garvin added.
Advocates claimed they informed the city of their anticipated efforts and were informed that it would look for a building. By 5 p.m., the tent’s continued operation was in question because homeless advocates said Salt Lake City officials might close it.
“I think we’re all working as hard as we possibly can to figure out options for tonight but really it’s too early to say, there’s a lot of moving parts,” Salt Lake City Homeless Coordinator Andrew Johnston said at the time.
Johnston and the State Homeless Coordinator Wayne Niederhauser spoke with activists while they were at the improvised warming shelter on Monday night. Salt Lake County opened the Central City Recreation Center, which is situated at 615 S. 300 East, as a temporary warming centre at around nine o’clock. While the dangerously cold weather lasts, the centre will still be utilised as needed.
“I want to thank and acknowledge not just the efforts of city and county staff but also the many volunteers who moved quickly to establish this additional site today,” Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson said in a news release.
“I’m grateful for Mayor Wilson’s eagerness to partner to keep as many of our unsheltered neighbors as safe as possible during this cold weather,” added Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall. “We will continue to work collaboratively across the board to find solutions for those most in need in our community.”
Although the county was able to supply the centre, another challenge was finding staff to work there. The lack of staff has been a hurdle for the homeless resource system, as employees complain about their low pay and severe burnout. The ability of providers to staff the system is necessary for the expansion of winter overflow shelter beds.
“Providers are doing all they can to staff up but there are staffing shortages statewide. The staffing problems, that has nothing to do with the state or the city. The providers are doing staffing and everywhere has staffing shortages right now. There is nothing the state or city could be doing to help with that,” said Sarah Nielson, spokesperson for the Utah Office of Homeless Services.
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Although there have been beds available in the Salt Lake Valley Coalition to End Homelessness system, the county acknowledged the personnel limitations, indicating that current shortfalls continue to make it difficult for nonprofit shelter providers to add more capacity.
According to state data, the system is currently lacking about 10 beds from the winter overflow plan that was approved by the state with the additional beds expanded by the emergency measures.
As Garvin argued, “You need employees, but the city didn’t fund their increase in limitations with financing to hire additional staff or to raise salaries, since they’re offering, I believe, $18 an hour and you can’t live in the city on $18 an hour.
In order to fill the personnel gap at the Central City Recreation Center, officials wanted to rely on activists.
“We are tired. This is emotionally draining. It is the city’s responsibility, they should staff everything. We’re only doing this out of our moral obligation because the city isn’t doing it,” said Moore.
According to Salt Lake County, medical professionals and volunteers from the community were on hand on Monday to assist with the plan. In order to locate and bring people inside, staff personnel and other homeless advocates were out on the streets, according to the officials. According to supporters, about 30 people were able to find sanctuary in the leisure centre on Monday.
Advocates reported that it looked late Monday that the warming tent would be permitted to run all night, but that it would be subject to a camping ban or take-down scheduled for the area the following day.
Cleanings where unsheltered populations have lived for a while are called “camping abatements,” and they are done by the health department in collaboration with city staff. Usually 24 hours before the cleaning is done and goods are taken out throughout the process, a notice is put. Tuesday morning saw the arrival of Salt Lake police and city employees to clean the area.
Although there is some debate about the procedure, state and local health department representatives claim it is essential to prevent the spread of disease and other problems with health and cleanliness.
“They continue to make commitments to not to push people and then they push them,” Garvin said. “They do it without notice; they do it without adequate facilities. People don’t have anywhere to go that’s safe. And they do it without case managers on-site, without social workers on-site to mitigate some of the trauma that they’re creating by their bulldozers and their police officers.”
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