SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — A frigid night in San Diego standards means inclement weather shelter beds like those at the Living Water Church of the Nazarene are activated.
The Church, Father Joe’s Villages - which has two centers with beds - and San Diego Rescue Mission are welcoming people.
“Opening up these additional options when the weather is extremely critical,” Casey Snell, Interim Senior VP of Homelessness Innovations for Housing Commission, said. “Sleeping outside in 40-degree weather, nobody should have to do that.”
The City’s website states that these beds come online when it’s 50 and below with rain, 45 and below regardless of rain and exceptional weather conditions.
“Since we activated at the beginning of November, we’re up to, at this point in time, 15 times that we have activated inclement shelter, and we’re not even about halfway into the season,” Deacon Jim Vargas of Father Joe’s Villages said.
Housing Commission said these beds provide this critical resource.
“This is a critical intervention. Just to give you some recent data, you know, we’ve activated five times this month and have already had 462 folks utilize the beds. I mean, so data shows that the need is there,” Snell said.
Pastor Deron Matson of Living Water Church said they’ve also been handing out other needs like blankets and other items left and right to keep the unhoused warm this season.
“Very vital. It’s key to them. It can definitely provide the warmth they need, brighten their day,” Matson said. “We pass them out quickly. We don’t have a lot of space to store things. That’s not necessarily required because they go just like that.”
Matson said the church can be strapped for those donated supplies at times.
“It’s hard to turn people away when they ask for something, and we don’t have it. And, it’s the opposite when you have it, and they ask, and you’re able to provide it,” Matson said.
For Vargas, he said that these types of donations are always needed.
“We may provide these blankets and these sweatpants and the like, and if they get wet, they’re useless. Right? So that’s another component. So that’s why we’re always in need of those types of items this time of year,” Vargas said.
But it can also give those like Father Joe’s a chance to connect with those looking for a way off the streets entirely.
“So that we can get them into the broader system. Get them into the regular shelter beds, being able to offer our comprehensive services,” Vargas said. “Whether it’s from our health clinic to our therapeutic childcare center to our employment center and then be able to move them into a more permanent situation.”
