As a cold spell blankets Colorado, housing advocates argued the temperature threshold for Denver to open its emergency "warming" shelters needs to be higher than 10°F.
Denver District 9 Councilwoman Candi CdeBaca said the current threshold is "so out of step with regional standards."
Those standards, she said, are 32 degrees during wet conditions and 20 degrees during dry conditions. CdeBaca did not specify which metro regions.
Denver is not the only Colorado city with the current threshold. The City of Boulder's temperature threshold for extra shelter beds to open is also 10°F. Previously, Boulder's threshold stood at 32°F. The threshold changed, the city said, when it expanded available year-round shelters.
Metro Denver has struggled to address homelessness, which jumped by 12.8% – from 6,104 to 6,888 – between January 2020 and January this year. Local authorities have been pouring significant resources into tackling homelessness in the last few years. In September, for example, the Denver Coalition for the Homeless opened a $46.5 million building that gives homeless people a chance to transition from homelessness. Denver's Department of Housing Stability had invested $4.1 million in the building.
In a recent report, the Common Sense Institute said local governments and nonprofits are on track to spend nearly $2 billion over a three-year period to tackle homelessness in some counties in the Denver metro area. Critics called that study "purposefully misleading." The explosive projected growth in spending from 2021 through 2023 reflects the gravity of the challenge that the public and private sectors face as they struggle to contain homelessness in Colorado's biggest cities. Indeed, the study from the Common Sense Institute said the number of homeless people grew by double digits from 2020 to 2022 – levels unseen since 2008 for one specific population.
In a Safety, Housing, Education & Homelessness committee meeting Wednesday, Department of Housing Stability said 10-20 homeless people die of exposure in Denver each year. The agency also talked about the measures it is taking to get homeless people indoors during extreme weather.
"Cold weather poses a serious danger to those staying outside and we encourage people to come inside," HOST spokesperson Derek Woodbury said. "Denver has ample shelter space available, including day shelters and overnight shelters, for people who are seeking to come inside."
The City of Denver has weather thresholds that triggers the opening of additional shelters. These thresholds are triggered by heat advisories, wind chill advisories, and watches and warnings issued by the National Weather Service.
Generally, for cold weather, this means temperatures below 10°F or 6 inches or more of snow forecasted.
CdeBaca questioned HOST officials during Wednesday's meeting about these standards, particularly whether medical professionals weighed in on deciding the thresholds.
HOST said the thresholds historically have not been based on medical evidence. CdeBaca said frostbite can occur at 31°F and be life-threatening. CdeBaca also said officials need to include medical professionals in the process of deciding temperature thresholds.
The councilwoman also said the use of shelters extends beyond homelessness, adding people who lack personal transportation, such as those waiting a long time for a city bus, can suffer from cold temperatures and need access to shelter.
