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Portland committee reviews warming-shelter thresholds as city operates program for first time
Summary
City staff told the Health, Human Services & Public Safety Committee that the city-run winter warming shelter uses a 15°F overnight (or 10 inches of snow) activation threshold, costs about $7,700 per night, has been open 12 nights this winter and served 208 unduplicated people; changing the threshold would add significant staffing and budget costs.
Portland City Council Health, Human Services and Public Safety Committee Chair Anna Bullitt and staff reviewed the city's winter warming shelter activation process and the fiscal and staffing consequences of changing the activation threshold during the committee's Jan. 13 meeting.
Katie Hager, the city's emergency management coordinator, said the city is using the same activation thresholds as last winter: a low of 15 degrees Fahrenheit overnight or 10 inches of snow, and that staff aim to announce activations 48 hours in advance after checking two National Weather Service forecast points. "So this winter, we have the same thresholds as we had last winter, which is a low of 15 degrees, or 10 inches of snow," Hager said.
Maggie McLaughlin, director of Health and Human Services, told the committee the city's winter warming shelter costs roughly $7,700 a night to operate, with staffing the largest expense. McLaughlin summarized modeling of alternative activations: a 20°F threshold would add an estimated 14'21 nights and roughly $108,000'$201,000 in additional costs; expanding activations toward the 40°F level described in discussion as a hypothermia-related benchmark would add about 131'160 nights and approximately $1.0'$1.2 million more in annual funding needs. "It costs us about $7,700 a night to operate the winter warming shelter," McLaughlin said.
Staff emphasized the city's current staffing limits. McLaughlin said the shelter application this year assumed an upper expectation of 50 nights because available staff must fill shifts. She added that operating at a much larger threshold would require hiring full-time staff and restructuring shifts to avoid excessive overtime.
Councilors asked whether the city tracks deaths occurring on nights the warming shelter did not open. Hager said the city does not have a reliable data source tying deaths to shelter openings and that housing status is not recorded on state death certificates, so the information is not available. "That kind of data isn't tracked," she said.
On usage, McLaughlin reported the shelter has opened 12 nights so far this winter and served 208 unduplicated individuals, averaging about 40 people a night and never reaching capacity. She said roughly half of those served had not been in Homeless Services Center (HSC) records in the prior year, and that most arrivals were transported via shuttles from the Peninsula rather than walking in.
Committee members praised staff for standing up the city-run program and agreed to keep warming-shelter updates as a standing item through the winter so staff can use ongoing data to inform any threshold adjustments.
The committee did not take a formal vote on changing activation thresholds at the meeting; staff will return with more information and continue to monitor usage and staffing constraints.
