North Texas homeless agencies have shelter space available as dangerously cold weather settles in

By Christopher Connelly

On January 12, 2024

Cities and nonprofits across North Texas are working to make sure people experiencing homelessness know they have somewhere to go as this weekend’s frigid weather rolls in. Temperatures are expected to plunge through the weekend, creating extreme danger for unsheltered people. Homeless services agencies are opening extra shelter spaces for people to get out of the cold.

Resources in Dallas

The City of Dallas opened a temporary inclement weather shelter Friday at Fair Park’s Grand Place, which is located at 3701 Grand Ave. in Dallas.

The Dallas Office of Homeless Solutions has a website providing updates and information about the shelter here, including a list of designated pick-up locations for people who need help getting to the shelter.

“You don’t have to stay outside tonight. If you don’t feel safe, if you’re concerned about the weather, use the shelter resources that are available to you and know that you’ll be treated with dignity and respect when you arrive,” said Austin Street Center CEO Daniel Roby.

The City of Dallas contracts with Austin Street Center to stand up and operate inclement weather shelters when extreme cold or heat blows in.

The shelter will have space for pets, and will provide meals through the duration of the freezing weather.

Resources in Fort Worth, Arlington and Tarrant County

In Tarrant County, homeless advocates are directing people to existing shelters, and say overflow shelters are ready to be opened as needed.

There’s more about Tarrant County’s emergency shelter options here. To receive alerts about cold weather shelter in Arlington, text “ARL COLD” to 877-799-4950. In Fort Worth, text “FWCOLD” to 877-799-4950.

First responders and outreach teams are spreading the word to unsheltered people about the danger of the incoming weather, and the shelter options available, according to a press release from the Tarrant County Homeless Coalition.

“Our community has a plan in place and is working to ensure no one is left out in the cold,” said Lauren King, the coalition’s executive director. “If a member of the public sees someone outside unsheltered, please encourage them to seek shelter. We will find them a warm bed.”

If shelters in Tarrant County reach capacity, the coalition said people needing cold-weather shelter should go to the Flag Building 1100 E. Lancaster Ave. in Fort Worth, or to the Arlington Life Shelter at 325 W. Division St. in Arlington.

Salvation Army shelters

The Salvation Army of North Texas has also activated overnight warming shelters in Collin, Denton, Dallas and Tarrant Counties. Locations are listed below by city:

Arlington: 712 W. Abram St., Arlington, TX 76013

Dallas: Carr P. Collins Social Service Center, 5302 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas, TX 75235

Garland: 451 West Avenue D., Garland, TX 75040

Lewisville: 880 Fox Ave., Lewisville, TX 75067

McKinney: 600 Wilson Creek Pkwy., McKinney, TX 75069

Plano: 3528 14th St., Plano, TX 75074

Setting up the Fair Park shelter

On Thursday afternoon, about a dozen volunteers and nonprofit staffers were busy at work, unfolding 944 navy blue and army green cots into orderly rows in the cavernous Fair Park Grand Place. They unloaded blankets, food and supplies from trucks. Curtained divide up the 50,000-square-foot hall into men’s and women’s dormitories, a dining area, and a section for pets to stay in when their people check in. A kitchen and dining area will provide meals.

Chris Rateau, taking a break from setting up cots, said he used to work on the fair grounds and appreciated coming back to volunteer his time. He stays at the Austin Street Center, a shelter and service provider for people experiencing homelessness.

“I enjoy it because I’m helping someone here for the future when the storm gets here. It’ll feel good [to know] that I helped to set this up to help them,” he said.

Dallas’ charter mandates temporary expanded shelters to be opened when the National Weather Service issues a weather advisory that the temperature will dip below 36 degrees, include freezing rain or when there’s over two inches of now on the ground. The city also opens inclement weather shelters when extreme heat pushes overnight temperatures above 90 degrees.

This inclement weather response relies on teams of people across nonprofits, service agencies and city departments, Roby said. Austin Street and other homeless service providers and volunteers staff the shelter, a host of city departments are involved in outreach, site safety and other services, and several agencies and nonprofits mobilize to get the word out and transport people to Fair Park. Austin Street also contracts out private security and other services.

Setting up the shelter well ahead of the cold weather is a relatively new approach to inclement weather, Roby said, and a good one. Not long ago, he said the city and service providers would mostly wait until dangerously cold weather arrived to start preparing inclement weather shelter space. That meant cots, blankets, food and other supplies had to be delivered as roads became icy and the space wasn’t ready until after people already needed it.

“Now we’re preemptive. We look at the weather and try to prepare for it and then we wait for the City of Dallas to be able to make the call [and officially activate its inclement weather strategy],” Roby said.

While the primary focus of the shelter is to simply keep people safe from the cold, Roby said it’s also an opportunity to help connect people with services and get them on a pathway to permanent housing.

Roby said homelessness is life-shortening in normal cases, leaving many on the streets especially vulnerable when dangerous weather hits.

“If you’re 45 and homeless, you have the health conditions of someone who’s 65 and housed,” Roby said.

That’s why Roby is keen to point out that, while inclement weather often generates attention to the vulnerability of people experiencing homelessness, they need help year-round. He said people can help by advocating for more services and policies that help people end their homelessness, and by donating to nonprofit providers who help unhoused people.

“I’d love to be in a situation where, instead of setting up 1,000 cots [when the weather turns dangerous], we’re setting up 200 because we’ve reduced our unsheltered numbers so much that that’s all that we need,” he said.

This piece was republished from KERA News.