Homeless services have been pushed to the brink during this week’s cold snap, but funding set aside by Arcata in November is saving lives. 

An extreme weather shelter run by the Arcata House Partnership has been filled to capacity during the last few days, AHP’s executive director Darlene Spoor told the Outpost today. All 80 rooms in an Arcata-area motel are being used; AHP staff had to send a few people who needed a room to other providers. 

AHP has only been able to provide extreme weather shelter housing for around 20 people at a time for 10 nights every season during the last decade, but this shelter is being funded by $217,000 from several state lawsuits brought against opioid distributors and manufacturers. Arcata’s city council set aside their portion of the settlement back in November for homeless services. Spoor said there may be increased interest this year because shelter residents get a private room, something AHP hasn’t been able to offer in the past. She said AHP is indebted to the city for funding this project.

Spoor said AHP’s staff is working all-out, cooking three meals a day for 80 people and contacting people living in encampments to tell them about AHP’s programs. They’re also short on volunteers.

The shelter is open until March 15. People residing in the shelter will have to leave, and Spoor said she was worried about them. Many of them are senior citizens who have never experienced homelessness before, but enough exposure to the elements can kill anyone, Spoor said.

“There’s nowhere to go,” she said. “There’s no long term shelter beds, there’s no affordable housing. This is a band-aid. I’m really concerned — what’s going to happen with people?…The biggest challenge is people are asking, ‘What’s going to happen in a couple of weeks?’ And there’s nothing. There’s nothing we can do. There’s no funding. [But] we are doing so much more than we could have ever imagined.”