City temporarily raises cut-off for Wabash Warming Center amid calls for more change

Lauren Tronstad, Columbia Daily Tribune
·4 min read
Josh Carroll stands outside the Wabash Bus Station at Tenth and Ash streets last February, waiting for the station to open so he can get warm.
Josh Carroll stands outside the Wabash Bus Station at Tenth and Ash streets last February, waiting for the station to open so he can get warm.

As COVID-19 continues to run rampant in Columbia, the local unhoused population is facing multiple layers of concerns.

Wabash Bus Station, which is used as an emergency warming shelter downtown, can safely house 13 individuals each night it is open, allowing for social distancing. However, each night it has been available this winter, the center has exceeded that number, officials said this week, putting individuals at a higher risk for transmitting the virus.

The city announced Friday it is temporarily raising the cut-off temperature to open the overnight warming center from 9 to 15 degrees after repeated calls from advocates.

The decision was made "due to capacity limitations at other shelters as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and while the community works to find a more permanent solution," the city wrote in a news release Friday afternoon.

Friday night's low was forecast at 15 degrees at the time of the announcement.

Around 40 people demonstrated outside Wabash Bus Station on Friday night, calling for the temperature cut-off to be raised to 32 degrees; for the bathrooms to be unlocked; for those staying overnight to have access to fresh water; and for those staying to be allowed to stay an extra hour until 7 a.m., closer to when other facilities open.

Stephanie Browning, Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services director, said during Tuesday's Columbia City Council meeting that her department is trying to protect the unhoused population by developing safety plans, increasing funding in hopes of increasing the capacity for isolation and quarantine shelters, prioritizing vaccines, and conducting special outreach to increase testing.

"We're really in a tough spot right now," Browning said.

More: Columbia hospitals shuffle to combat 'very dramatic strain' from rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations

Although Browning said she believes the combination of Columbia's available shelters would offer enough room to provide shelter to all those seeking it, some individuals are unable to go to Room at the Inn because of guidelines that are in place.

"As far as outbreaks go, we are very concerned right now," Browning said. "... (Shelters) are struggling to have enough volunteers because as the number of cases goes up, the people that volunteer are worried about their own health and safety."

The Wabash Bus Station at 126 N. Tenth St.
The Wabash Bus Station at 126 N. Tenth St.

Hotels have been used for quarantining homeless individuals who have tested positive, but due to some behavioral issues, Browning said, there is uncertainty about whether that will remain a option.

The Commission on Human Rights on Tuesday brought before the city council its latest plea for the council to reconsider raising the cut-off temperature for the Wabash warming center, saying the 9-degree threshold was "inhumane."

"Our neighbors, many of whom struggle with mental illness and addiction, still don't deserve to freeze to death," Amanda Hinnant, chair of the commission, said Tuesday. "We've been kicking this can in front of us for a while."

Lawrence, Kansas, utilizes a cut-off temperature of 35 degrees for its warming center, and St. Peters has a threshold of 20 degrees, Hinnant cited.

More: Test positive for COVID on an at-home test? It's now easier to report in Columbia and Boone County

"With winter temperatures upon us, this is a matter of life or death for our unsheltered citizens suffering from severe health problems that make them ineligible for other emergency shelters," Hinnant wrote Jan. 5 in a letter to the council. "A small change in policy will make a world of difference."

City manager De'Carlon Seewood expressed concern Tuesday that the staff currently available would not be adequate for the additional nights a cut-off change would bring.

"My biggest concern with the Wabash Station is it's just not the right size facility for this type of use," Seewood said.

Council member Betsy Peters raised the option of using the pavilion the Columbia Farmers Market utilizes for a larger area to house more people at a safe distance.

Council member Ian Thomas visited the Wabash warming center Wednesday night and provided more information to Seewood, Thomas wrote in an email Friday morning to a group of concerned citizens.

Seewood is "discussing the situation internally and with service providers" and will have a new plan this coming week, Thomas wrote.

"The overnight warming center will serve as a resource for individuals unable to access local emergency shelter services," the city wrote in its release Friday. "City staff will continue working closely with emergency shelter providers to ensure access to overnight emergency shelters as the preferred option for persons experiencing unsheltered homelessness."

Other official shelters in Columbia that provide sleeping accommodations include:

  • Room at the Inn (roomattheinncomo.org for dates and locations)

  • Salvation Army Harbor House (men, women and families), 602 N. Ann St.

  • Rainbow House (for children/youth), 1611 Towne Dr.

  • True North (for domestic violence), call 573-875-1370

  • Welcome Home (for veterans), 2120 Business Loop 70 E.

  • St. Francis House (for men), 901 Range Line St., must be vaccinated to stay overnight

  • Flourish (for youth), call 573-615-6135

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: City raises cut-off for warming center while mulling COVID concerns