Columbus City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to authorize a Community Warming Shelter at Propst Park that will likely open tonight.
The city agreed to donate space at the old VFW hut to shelter people in need during very cold nights. The Golden Triangle Homeless Coalition made the request via Director of Community Outreach Glenda Buckhalter-Richardson.
“They have had a lot of needy families that have had their electricity cut off, and we also have homeless citizens in our community,” Gaskin said. “They have been putting these individuals up in hotels, and they would like to use that facility as a warming destination just for night time.”
“Anytime the weather gets bad, we get an influx of calls, whether from people who are already homeless or people whose lights are out, or people who have been living in woods and now they don’t want to be out in the weather,” Buckhalter-Richardson said. “We got calls from people yesterday wanting hotels.”
The funding is not there for hotels this soon after Christmas, Buckhalter-Richardson said.
“We are trying to maximize our resources as best we can,” she said.
The shelter would require masks and social distancing inside, Gaskin said. The Homeless Coalition has two volunteers who would be there at night while it is in use. The shelter would be open until at least Sunday.
Temperatures are forecast to dip as low as 19 degrees Thursday night and 27 degrees Friday.
City Attorney Jeff Turnage suggested the council declare an emergency due to the cold weather, and he said that under state law the city could donate to social and community service organizations if there is a match of equal value.
“They would need to match the contribution (of the space) with another contribution,” Turnage said.
City Recreation Director Greg Lewis said the facility could hold as many as 193 people, but Gaskin said he thought the maximum at any one time would not exceed 50.
“The Salvation Army is providing cots,” Buckhalter-Richardson said. “You’re going to have some people who will not want to be there. Some of them like their privacy. I think the most we’ve ever had at one time is 14 or 15 individuals. If it’s a mom with children, we will put them in a hotel.”
Ward 5 Councilman Stephen Jones said he wanted some kind of hold-harmless agreement.
“If we have an outbreak in there and somebody dies the next thing they’ll do is sue the city,” he said.
“I just don’t think if you test temperature and a person is asymptomatic going in there that there is a way we would be liable for that,” Turnage said. “It would almost be an act of God, which is a defense. I wouldn’t think that’s a real concern.”
Jones asked for COVID testing, and Gaskin said the Homeless Coalition had said they had someone who could perform the tests.
The request was approved unanimously on a motion by Ward 2 Councilman Joseph Mickens and a second by Ward 1 Councilwoman Ethel Taylor Stewart.
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