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SALT LAKE CITY — As the days grow shorter and colder, Salt Lake City officials and members of the City Council are on different sides of "an ocean" on their respective approaches for winter overflow homeless shelters, one council member remarked Tuesday.
The City Council had proposed two overflow sites to better meet the needs of people experiencing homelessness that cannot be accommodated at The Road Home's downtown shelter or do not want to go there out of concerns for their safety or other reasons, Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall said.
"This claim what we have right now is sufficient feels like we're on the other side of an ocean," Mendenhall said.
David Litvak, deputy chief of staff to Mayor Jackie Biskupski, said the city has been in conversations with Catholic Community Services of Utah about increasing its operation hours at the Weigand Day Center and funding required to do that.
Conversations are also underway as with The Road Home about the funding it would need to operate an overflow shelter in Catholic Community Services' dining hall, as it has in previous years.
Part of the challenge is that The Road Home's Midvale Center, which previously operated in winter months as a family overflow shelter, is now open year-round. Until state funding became available this summer, the nonprofit organization was dipping into reserves to pay operation costs.
Increasing day services and funding nighttime shelter could cost $250,000, but the administration is still studying how much money above what is already budgeted for homeless services would be needed, Litvak said.
Catholic Community Services receives some ongoing funding from the city now, he said, so the administration wants to clarify whether requests for new money would be covered in the existing budget.
But Mendenhall argued the council wanted other sheltering options to assist people who are afraid or otherwise reluctant to turn to The Road Home.
"That is quite contradictory to what this body has expressed," she said.
Councilman Andrew Johnston said opening an overflow shelter in a separate building is no small undertaking and could end up more dangerous than current conditions.
"We have to be very, very clear what the end game is. It’s not as simple as asking volunteers to stay the night at a building," Johnston said.
Before forging ahead, the city needs better data to encourage other cities to help with the cost of providing shelter because people who use homeless services come from other parts of the county and state, Litvak said.
"We're trying to prepare and do it in a way that recognizes this is not just a Salt Lake City-specific issue," he said.
Moreover, using data to guide future planning is a key component of Salt Lake County's collective impact initiative, Litvak said.
"Data actually counters what we were all feeling that there are more people out on the street," he said.
Mendenhall said she appreciates the need for data but questioned the accuracy of the federally required Point in Time Count as a guide.
"There is a real situation happening in the community, and we have our heads in the sand if we don't think there is a significant need out there," she said.
Meanwhile, the administration and the council will jointly announce on Nov. 21 possible sites for four planned homeless resource centers, to be followed by a period of public engagement and comment.
“City residents should be assured that with every elected official in city government involved in the site-selection process, their concerns regarding location of the new facilities will be carefully considered before any decision is made,” Biskupski said.
