City still working on options
Boulder looking to provide resources to homeless in cold weather
As someone who got frostbite while living on the streets of Boulder, Jennifer Livovich understands how important it is to provide resources to those experiencing homelessness during the coldest months of the year.
“I understand the importance of something as simple as a clean, dry pair of socks,” she said.
Livovich in 2018 began an initiative called Save-a-toe wherein she collects socks, warm clothing and more and delivers the items directly to Boulder residents who are homeless. Livovich regularly works to share resources so community members without a home know what’s available for them. Advocates say Boulder’s resources are dwindling, particularly in terms of what’s offered in cold weather.
While the city’s severe weather shelter stayed open all day on Sunday and a temporary emergency warming center opened for a few hours on Monday in Boulder, the city has yet to implement any permanent solutions to protect those experiencing homelessness from freezing temperatures and snow.
The severe weather shelter, which is run out of the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless at 4869 Broadway, typically opens from Oct. 1 to May 31. The temporary service is triggered on nights where there is a National Weather Service warning or watch for winter weather, a prediction of temperature below 32 degrees or a prediction of temperatures below 38 degrees with a likelihood of precipitation.
However, unless the forecasted high is 10 degrees or lower or 10 inches of snow is predicted, the shelter closes during the day, leav
ing those without a home stuck in the cold until the shelter reopens for the evening.
It’s a struggle Boulder has faced for years, and COVID19 has only intensified the issue. Because of health guidelines, many gathering places, such as libraries and recreation centers, have closed altogether or limit capacity, and shelters must meet cleaning protocols that often require residents to leave during the day.
Further, there is limited available space at the severe weather shelter, dependent on how many regular residents are staying there each night. While Boulder Shelter for the Homeless says it’s yet to turn people away because of capacity, there have been people who are prohibited from staying because they’ve violated the shelter’s behavioral guidelines or because they do not go through the city’s Coordinated Entry system. Executive Director Greg Harms confirmed this but wasn’t certain how many had been turned away the past few nights.
“This is a challenge that has been going on for a long, long time. If I had complete solutions to the problem, we would’ve solved it a long time ago,” Harms said. ‘I don’t have the silver bullet.”
“COVID hasn’t helped,” Harms added. “Our ability to keep people safe in that environment is a secondary challenge.”
Vicki Ebner, Boulder’s homeless policy manager, said Boulder City Council in September tasked the city with exploring permanent solutions, particularly for the colder months of the year, but it’s struggled to find the right answer.
“It has certain challenges in being able to do something sort of long term,” she said. “We’ve made several inquiries, hit a couple walls. … We’re still looking into it.”
If anything, Harms said the shelter’s “housing first” approach is the best way to address the problem. According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, that approach prioritizes providing permanent housing and operates under a belief that people must have basic necessities in order to get a job or address addiction or mental health disorders.
Advocates, on the other hand, believe the most important first step is for Boulder to stop enforcement of the urban camping ban.
“When that happens, people lose their shelter,” Riley Mancuso said. “If people are allowed to set up in one spot, stay there for a while, keep their stuff and take care of it, then community members can help get people zero-degree sleeping bags and tents and (other) gear that will help them stay alive.”
Mancuso, a member of Safe Access For Everyone (SAFE) Boulder, said if Boulder stopped enforcing the camping ban, it could find more creative ways to house people such as a designated campground, a tiny home village or more affordable housing projects while also looking into opening other emergency shelters and day resource centers.
Ultimately, though, Harms said overnight and day shelters remain inadequate.
“They never completely meet the need or solve the problem,” Harms said. “It’s hard to have those conversations on a day like today, but that’s where we keep our focus.”
Regardless, advocates with SAFE Boulder say something must be done. The organization says it’s for months pushed the city to prepare.
In September, during Boulder’s first snow of the season, a 57-year-old man experiencing homelessness was found dead in the parking lot of Unity of Boulder Church. Medical experts days later revealed he died of cold exposure.
“Even if there are no lives lost to the cold, our unhoused friends will suffer extensive, lasting damage — both physical and mental — due to the city’s failure to prepare for last night’s storm and the winter season more broadly. This is inexcusable,” SAFE Boulder said on Monday in a statement.