17-02-2025
Under Code Blue temps and increased camping enforcement, volunteers count Utah homeless
Volunteers carrying supplies look for people experiencing homelessness in Sugar House Park during the Point-in-Time Count on Monday, Jan. 30, 2025. (Photo by Ashley Fredde for Utah News Dispatch)
With questions of whether Code Blue temperatures and pressures to increase camping enforcement in Salt Lake City had pushed more unsheltered Utahns indoors, volunteers spent three nights counting how many Utahns slept on the streets.
For the first time, Utah's annual Point-in-Time Count not only surveyed the number of people experiencing homelessness but also asked them what would get them into shelter.
To Randy, a 31-year-old man who has been homeless twice in three years, the answer was simple.
'I don't want to be corralled like cattle,' he said. 'I still want to be with my community that I associate with.'
Randy indicated he wouldn't go into a congregate shelter but would access a dorm-style shelter or micro shelter that allowed pets. He said that while he struggles with substance use disorder, he's never had a problem staying housed during active addiction.
Randy was found near a southeast Salt Lake City TRAX station just as the sun was beginning to rise, dressed in some ill-fitting sweatpants, a loose sweatshirt, hat and a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. As he spoke his breath hung in the air and his voice wavered when he shivered.
Volunteers across Utah conducted the annual Point-in-Time Count on Jan. 30, 31 and Feb. 1. It's part of a nationwide tally under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development of sheltered and unsheltered people experiencing homelessness on a single night in January each year. Each count is planned, coordinated and carried out locally by the area's network of homeless providers, known as a continuum of care.
At the same time, a Housing Inventory Count is conducted to gather data on the utilization of beds dedicated to those experiencing homelessness including emergency shelter, transitional housing, rapid re-housing, domestic violence shelter and permanent supportive housing.
Data gathered in this year's Point-in-Time Count won't be available until summer.
While many factors can influence who is experiencing homelessness on a single night, the survey provides a snapshot of which services are being utilized and which are lacking. The data can help the state adjust its approach as it tries to make homelessness rare, brief and nonrecurring.
In its 2024 point-in-time data, the state reported a 9% increase in Utahns (or 794 additional people) who became homeless for the first time compared to the previous year.
The state last year also saw an uptick in the number of people experiencing homelessness multiple times (4%) and people accessing emergency shelter and transitional housing over the course of the year (4%) when compared to 2022.
Investments into permanent housing projects with supportive services showed success, with the number of people returning to homelessness within two years of exiting the system into a permanent housing situation falling by 5% from 2023 to 2024. Additionally, the report found that 93% of people housed by long-term housing projects maintained their housing or obtained permanent housing outside the project.
While the state has seen success in recent affordable housing projects, building takes time — and it so far hasn't kept up with a growing need. The number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness in Salt Lake County rose from 281 in 2022 to 435 in 2023, dipping only slightly in 2024 to 413.
When Salt Lake City volunteers began the count around 3:30 a.m. on Jan. 30, temperatures hovered around 25 degrees and fell to about 23 degrees by the time efforts wrapped about 6 a.m.
Frost coated abandoned carts and sleeping bags as volunteers worked their way through their designated areas. But as volunteers searched the city's nooks and crannies over a three-day span, there seemed to be little to find.
Efforts ahead of the count noted groups of unsheltered people and tents along Sugar House Park and Fairmont Park, but when volunteers arrived only one tent remained.
'I've never done a PIT count where I've interviewed so few people, but I've never done a PIT count on a Code Blue night,' one volunteer said as flashlight beams swept the parks.
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A Code Blue is called by a county's health department when the National Weather Service predicts temperatures will reach 18 degrees Fahrenheit, including wind chill, for two hours or more over 24 hours. The alert prompts an expansion of permanent homeless shelters' capacity limit by up to 35% or triggers operation of a temporary shelter. Some counties such as Utah County and Salt Lake County have elected for churches to open as a temporary shelter.
A Code Blue had been called for Salt Lake County on Jan. 30 but because of staffing issues St. Mark's Cathedral, an emergency shelter space, had not opened, though permanent shelters in the area upped their capacities.
'The Point-in-Time Count gives us an idea of where people are at and so when we're able to look at it as a big picture and not just the tracks we were in but the tracks everyone had — we're able to look at those heat maps and it'll help tell the story about where people are moving around,' said Tricia Davis, director of the Utah Office of Homeless Services.
'It'll be interesting to see what happens throughout the state. But we did see that in the data last year because of Code Blue emergency shelter being available that the unsheltered count went down and the sheltered count went up.'
But questions were raised by several volunteers about whether anti-camping enforcement or temperatures could have prompted the change.
Salt Lake City — the seat of the county with the state's largest homeless population — has been under scrutiny from Utah's top Republican leaders for on-street camping, violence and drug trade. Gov. Spencer Cox, House Speaker Mike Schultz and Senate President Stuart Adams issued a letter in December to Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall giving her one month to come up with a plan to 'restore public confidence, security and safety.'
If Mendenhall's plan or efforts are seen as inadequate, lawmakers have made clear their intent to intervene.
The letter additionally criticized the Salt Lake City Police Department for its enforcement, stating that 'the ineffectiveness of SLCPD has become glaringly apparent.' Within weeks, on Wednesday, it was announced Mendenhall had dismissed Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown to make way for 'the next chapter in the SLCPD's leadership.' Brown said he will retire after his final day on the job, Feb. 28.
Mendenhall's lengthy plan includes 27 city actions and recommends 23 larger system changes. The plan identifies six key actions to tackle barriers in addressing public safety without criminalizing homelessness such as targeting drugs and firearms, expanding emergency shelter options, stricter enforcement for repeat offenders, expanding mental health and substance abuse treatment options, continued investment in affordable housing, and ensuring coordinated efforts among city, county, and state entities.
In addition to the funding request for a temporary homeless campus, the mayor has asked for ongoing support for homeless services — including mental health and substance abuse treatment — and increased jail capacity. She also has asked for legislative changes for drug offenses, bail reform and better protection for cities managing homeless encampments.
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Tensions have been further amplified between Mendenhall and lawmakers as she has called for 'immediate action' to create more space for shelter while state leaders continue the search for a 30-acre property to house 1,200 new emergency shelter beds in its plans for a 'transformative, centralized campus.'
While the search for a new homeless services campus is ongoing, Mendenhall has offered a city-owned property for a campus facility for up to 24 months if capital can be allocated. Whether lawmakers will agree to the funding and where the temporary facility would be remains unclear.
While parts of Mendenhall's plan remain pending, increasing enforcement does not. In the first three weeks after the plan was revealed, Salt Lake City logged 460 jail bookings, issued 89 citations for illegal camping, and seized 42 guns.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recommends not interrupting street activities or enforcing anti-camping ordinances ahead of the count to help convey a more accurate number.
'If we're looking at Sugar House Park and Fairmont Park it is important for people experiencing homelessness to feel safe. It's also important for all of our communities to feel safe,' Davis said.
Some enforcement did occur, acknowledged Salt Lake City Director of Homeless Policy and Outreach Andrew Johnston, but it was mostly centered on drug dealing. 'There wasn't a lot of enforcement for the camping, maybe a couple of folks,' he said.'Ideally, we try not to disrupt the camps as much.'
Randy was one of seven other adults identified by Salt Lake City volunteers assigned to the Sugar House area on Jan. 31. Other efforts located two RVs that did not respond to volunteers' knocks and the single tent at Sugar House Park. Volunteers offered food, warm clothing and blankets, as well as a list of resources to those contacted.
'Every year I've done this there's been a sweet spot where, when we hit it, you just pass out, pass out, pass out, and those are the moments I relish. The last thing I want is to take those blankets home,' said Jason Miller, a volunteer.
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