SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Dec. 20, 2022 (Gephardt Daily) — Five unsheltered people have died in the past week in Salt Lake City as temperatures dipped below freezing and overnight shelters reached capacity.
Mayor Erin Mendenhall confirmed the number and time frame for the deaths during a news conference Tuesday to announce a temporary emergency expansion of overnight services at two Salt Lake City homeless resource centers.
“Every Salt Laker deserves a place to sleep at night,” Mendenhall said from the steps of the Salt Lake City-County Building. “And my heart goes out to everyone who knew and loved and worked to serve the unsheltered individuals who have passed away in just a few days here in Salt Lake City.”
The state medical examiner is still investigating the specific causes of death, but it’s “completely reasonable for us to assume that the exposure that they’ve endured was a factor in their tragic deaths,” she said.
Salt Lake City police said the deaths occurred:
- Monday, Dec. 12, near 1000 South and 500 West.
- Friday, Dec. 16, near 300 South and 500 West, and 600 W. Dansie Drive.
- Sunday, Dec. 18, near 1000 East and 100 South.
- Monday, Dec. 19, at 455 S. 500 East.
Salt Lake City police responded at 7:44 a.m. Sunday after a woman was found unresponsive near a bus stop not far from Salt Lake Regional Medical Center, 1050 E. South Temple.
A UTA spokesman said the woman was wearing a hospital bracelet when she was found.
Salt Lake City police told Gephardt Daily the woman was not homeless and there does not appear to be anything suspicious or criminal about her death. Police did not provide any additional information about the other deaths.
Mendenhall signed an emergency proclamation Tuesday to enable providers at two homeless resource centers — Geraldine E. King, 131 E. 700 South, and Gail Miller, 242 Paramount Ave. — to each expand overnight emergency shelter by an additional 25 people for the next 30 days.
South Salt Lake Mayor Cherie Wood also agreed to expand capacity at the Pamela Atkinson men’s resource center at 3380 S. 1000 West, and Millcreek Mayor Jeff Silvestrini plans to do the same at the Millcreek winter overflow shelter at the former Calvin Smith Library, 810 E. 3300 South.
“Together, these moves will allow our partner service providers the opportunity to add 95 beds as soon as they are able,” Mendenhall said.
Utah Homeless Coordinator Wayne Niederhauser said the state will fund the staffing and provide transportation for the expansion, noting shelters in the state are operating at capacity.
“There’s virtually no capacity available right now,” said Niederhauser, who joined Mendenhall in announcing the emergency action.
Due to staffing issues, making the additional 95 beds available could take up to two weeks, he said.
Prior to last weekend’s freezing temperatures, more than 100 beds in the county’s homeless shelter system had been available per night in December, Mendenhall said.
“The frigid temperatures led to those beds over the weekend becoming effectively full,” she said.
Volunteers from a coalition of advocacy groups for the homeless arranged for overnight shelter for 85 people Thursday-Sunday nights at the First United Methodist Church, 203 S. 200 East.
The shelter will be open again from 8 p.m. Wednesday until 8 a.m. Thursday, with future overnight accommodations to be determined by the temperature, said Courtney Giles, an advocate for the homeless.
“It was extremely successful and 1,000% saved lives,” Giles said. “Some of the people that were coming in, the condition they were in, I don’t think they would have made it out there.”
The emergency shelter came together quickly, Giles said, with volunteers getting to work about noon Thursday and having the shelter up and running by that night. The effort involved hundreds of volunteers from Unsheltered Utah, Our Unsheltered Relatives and the First United Methodist Church of Salt Lake City, she said.
“We didn’t have to turn anyone away, nor did we have to kick anyone out,” Giles said.
Both Mendenhall and Niederhauser praised the volunteer efforts for providing shelter to those who had nowhere else to go.
“Together, it’s our hope that by enabling this additional capacity, the operators of each of the shelters will be able to offer the space that our countywide system needs now in order to guarantee the availability of a bed for anyone seeking shelter,” Mendenhall said.
THE MAYOR HAD PLENTY OF TIME TO FIX THE PROBLEM SO NO ONE WOULD HAVE DIED LETS HAVE HER GO OUT AND STAY AT 10 DEGRESS AND SHE HW SHE FEELS FIX THE PROBLEM
THESE PEOPLE ARE HUMANS
Volunteers from a coalition of advocacy groups for the homeless arranged for overnight shelter for 85 people Thursday-Sunday nights at the First United Methodist Church, 203 S. 200 East.
ITS NOT THE COALITIONS JOB TO DO THE MAYORS JOB IM NOT VOTING FOR HER NOR I WILL INFOR THE HISPANIC COMMUNITY HOW SHE IS LACKING ON HER JOB