Residents and volunteers urge city to provide winter shelter as warming center options end

Several residents and volunteer organizers told the Washington City Council that Washington is entering the cold season without a warming center and urged the city to identify a heated building the community can use this winter.

The appeals came during the meeting's public-comment period Monday night, when speakers described recent volunteer efforts to feed and shelter people who are unhoused and asked the council to partner with them to provide a stop-gap facility. “This issue isn't going away, and this issue needs your attention,” Bill New, a First Ward resident, said. “As a community, let's come together to help love our neighbors.”

Why it matters: Speakers said existing volunteer-run efforts and past sheltering arrangements ended in recent years, leaving the…