Officials delighted to find space for a warming shelter in Bend

Published 9:37 am Friday, November 22, 2019

After months of struggling to find a location for a warming shelter this winter, the Homeless Leadership Coalition finally has one.

On Thursday, the coalition announced the shelter — which will serve the homeless on frigid winter nights until March — will be staged this year at the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office Work Center.

And with temperatures dipping into the 20s and snow in the forecast, the timing could not be better, said Colleen Thomas, a co-chair of the coalition.

“We are so grateful to the sheriff’s office and the board of commissioners to step up to the plate,” Thomas said Thursday.

The building, which can house up to 48 people, is on the county’s public safety campus and is the former home to Bethlehem Inn. And this year, there is no temperature threshold, which means the shelter will be open every night.

“We could have still imposed a temperature threshold, but we came to the conclusion — especially with this location, which is available all season — that it made the most sense to alleviate the confusion and open it every night,” Thomas said.

Last month, the coalition asked for help from the community to find a location for the shelter. The former location, which was at Pfeifer & Associates for the past two years, is no longer available.

On Oct. 29, the coalition convened a meeting with the community and public officials to issue an emergency call for help in identifying a location for a warming shelter in Bend.

After attending the meeting, the Deschutes County commissioners looked at different county-owned properties — like the fire station on Hamby Road — but found each had logistical barriers, Commissioner Patti Adair said Thursday.

So the commission reached out to Deschutes County Sheriff L. Shane Nelson and asked if a portion of the work center could be used.

“We’ve already had a really cold year. We had snow in September,” she said. “This seemed like this was not the year to not have anything in place sooner rather than later.”

Adair said she was thankful a solution was able to come together before snow started to fall.

“I am really, really happy that the sheriff was able to step up,” Adair said.

Although the space will not accommodate the 100 shelter beds the coalition was hoping for — and needs — it makes a big difference for those without anywhere else to go, Thomas said. Any other churches or businesses interested in closing the gap with another warming location center are welcome to contact the coalition, she said.

The location will be solely run by a service provider identified by the coalition and be separate from the sheriff’s office in all its operations, according to the coalition.

The shelter will tentatively open by mid-December to allow whoever is providing the service to hire staff people.