Cold weather prompts expansion of homeless services

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The frigid weather expected over the next couple of days has Boulder advocates preparing to open additional shelter space for the homeless.

Chris Mitchell, manager of operations for Boulder Outreach for Homeless Overflow (BOHO), told Boulder Weekly that at the city’s request, his organization will have a special day center opening at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, as well as two warming centers open Tuesday night, when temperatures are expected to dip below zero.

He says the last time BOHO opened a day center was during the cold snap over the New Year’s holiday, when the Boulder Public Library was closed and the Carriage House had reached capacity.

On Tuesday, the day center and one of the night warming centers will be located at the Boulder Mennonite Church, at 3910 Table Mesa Dr., near the intersection of Broadway and Table Mesa.

“We’ll be open there from 9 a.m. Tuesday until 7 a.m. Wednesday,” Mitchell says.
The other night warming center on Tuesday will be at Cornerstone Church, farther south off Broadway at 1190 S. Lashley Ln.

Mitchell also says that he has seen a significant increase recently in the numbers of homeless BOHO has been serving, especially since the Jan. 20 Boulder Weekly story on the local homeless population. He says the average number of people is about 75 a night, with a high of 114.

“We are almost to maximum capacity at a number of our churches because our numbers are so high,” he says.

Karen Rahn, director of the city’s housing and human services department, which helps fund BOHO, the Carriage House and the Boulder Homeless Shelter, says her department and these local organizations are now coordinating with each other really well on providing the basic safety net that homeless people need when Boulder sees extremely cold temperatures or heavy snow.