Long stretch of snowy weather created more demand than the city’s 14 available sleeping spots could handle
By Lex Treinen for Ashland.news
On a cold, drizzly Friday, homeless people were gathering up outside the city’s shelter at 2200 Ashland St., even though the shelter doesn’t open for another two hours.
The reason: They’re vying for one of 14 beds on a night when temperatures were forecast to be in the upper-20s.
If they don’t arrive early enough, there are 14 more chairs to sit on, but clients aren’t allowed to sleep. Anyone who shows up after those 28 spots are full gets turned away.
“It’s kind of torture sitting in that chair,” said Charles Rice, 52, sitting near a power box with a backpack of gear and an Epiphone electric guitar. “Most people end up leaving and bearing the cold instead.”
The situation has led advocates to demand more capacity at the shelter, which is operated by Rogue Retreat under contract with the city of Ashland. The capacity is set by the city’s fire marshall in accordance with building codes, but can be raised in extraordinary circumstances.
During the recent snow storm, with most of the city shuttered — including the library and bus lines — the fire marshall temporarily boosted capacity to 39, despite concerns that included an inadequate fire sprinkler system at the facility.
Homeless advocates like Caren Caldwell were among a small group who gathered before the weekend at the 2200 Ashland St. facility to call on the city to keep the capacity at 39 through the rest of the winter.
“We’re wondering why that set of rules worked last week but not this week,” Caldwell, who is with the advocacy group Southern Oregon Housing for All, said Friday, Feb. 14. “No person without home or shelter should be turned away from the city’s official shelter whenever the temperature drops to 32 degrees or rain and/or snow occurs.”
Caldwell, a retired minister, told reporters that the current capacity restrictions “threaten the health and lives of people living in this community without homes and shelter.”
Southern Oregon Housing for All, the city, or Rogue Retreat could not provide specific examples of people suffering cold-related injuries in recent weeks due to the shelter shortage.
People were turned away from the shelter even when the shelter capacity was at 39. Mayor Tonya Graham, who is executive director of the Geos Institute, opened its office building for additional shelter during the snowstorm. Volunteers helped shuttle clients to the building.
The Rogue Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship said offered space at its Fourth Street facility as an extra shelter space during cold weather, but the fire marshall has restricted its capacity to five.
Still, people involved with the emergency sheltering said the system worked during the snowstorm, which was one of the biggest snowstorms in recent decades.
“There are times when we are going to get hit with something that is bigger than normal. When we do, it can’t just be the city that provides assistance. And it wasn’t,” said Graham. “It’s not always optimal, it’s not always perfect … but what we really need to focus on is getting through this winter season.”
The city has plans to make required fixes to the building, which was acquired in November of 2023 for $1.1 million, but have hit some hurdles. Last year, the state of Oregon offered more than $1 million to make the required fixes as well as continuing money to operate the shelter, but the council turned down that money on a 5-1 vote due to uncertainty about stipulated conditions attached to the grant.
Since then, the money, which is allocated through the Jackson County Continuum of Care, may have been allocated to other projects, according to Linda Reid, who oversees housing in Ashland.
“We have inquired and they are looking into it,” said Reid.
That’s left the city on the hook for the building remodeling. Late last year, the city voted to use federal grants for the repair project and is currently awaiting a design-build proposal that would be completed by next winter, but it’s still unclear how many people would fit at the shelter. An ad-hoc committee recommended that a remodel include laundry, shower and day-storage spaces. That means there could still be people turned away from the shelter during extreme weather events.
For the rest of this winter — however long that might be — unhoused people will have to either brave the cold, wet weather, or hope they arrive early enough to claim the coveted spots that make it possible to sleep on a cot.
“They need to have more shelters. They need to open up the beds here,” said a client of the shelter who gave her name as Echo McCracken, saying she didn’t want to give her real name for fear of identity theft. “It’s excruciating, it’s just inhumane.”
Freelance journalist Lex Treinen previously reported for publications including Alaska Public Media, Anchorage Daily News, Mushing Magazine, The City Paper Bogotá, Fodor’s Travel and the Chilkat Valley News before moving to Ashland. Email Ashland.news at [email protected].
