MIDVALE — The weather is still warm, but it's not the temperature that made Monday the move-in day at the Road Home emergency winter shelter. While there have been improvements for some, the economy is not turning around for everyone. For the first time, the Road Home has opened its winter shelter for families a month early in Midvale.

Sixty-two families — between 160 and 170 men, women and children — arrived. There is no more room at The Road Home in downtown Salt Lake. Managers said this is the earliest opening ever.

"So far this year, we've already served 709 families, which is about 9 percent ahead of last year," said Matt Minkevitch, executive director of The Road Home

Rachel Jeffers and her 1-year-old daughter, Keiana, were among the first to move in. Her 3-year-old son is living with his father and she is expecting another.

"It's a lot better than being downtown where we were all crowded," Jeffers said. "Here we have a lot more space and we have kitchen access and stuff."

Rachel had been living with friends but then lost her car which led her to the shelter. She worries about the effect on the children, like other families do.

"A lot of them are going through the same thing that I am," she said. "We got rid of everything to avoid coming to the shelter and then everything goes and you have no other choice."

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5,600 back-to-school items to children at shelter

Children at the Road Home shelter in Salt Lake City have new clothing and school supplies in time for the first day of class.

But this is not only a temporary home. The employees here work with the families. The Road Home managers also help the homeless children with transportation both to and from schools. Even if they move to the winter shelter, they can stay in the same classes in downtown Salt Lake.

"We work closely with the Department of Work Force Services who will help families to connect to services and also look for employment opportunities," Minkevitch said. "We also provide rapid rehousing assistance, working diligently to help families get out of shelter."

It happens fairly quickly: Because of these community services, the average stay is 30 to 40 days. What most people don't know is that 90 percent of these families are experiencing homelessness for the first time and they don't return.

"People do overcome homelessness, they overcome homelessness everyday," Minkevitch. "This is a brief and disappointing chapter in many people's lives, but it is brief."

Homeless advocates hope this is the tail end of the three-year period of increased homelessness. They hope the number of families needing this shelter will begin to decrease in the weeks and months ahead.

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