Homeless shelters at full capacity during winter months

As temperatures across mid-Missouri drop below freezing during the overnight hours, shelters are running out of available beds.

Tammy Redden, a case manager at the Salvation Army Harbor House in Columbia, said all of its 61 beds have been full since about mid-November.

“When the weather changes, we’ll get pretty busy,” she said. “We’ll fill up with all of our beds first and then we offer cots. So normally, we have eight to 14 people here on a cot nightly once the weather gets too cold.”

The Salvation Army’s Jefferson City location has also been consistently full.

“During the winter we probably have more bed nights and we probably have more people that utilize our cold cot program, which allows them to come in even though we don’t have a room to put them in; at least we can set up a cot for them to be out of the elements,” said Maj. Nancy Holloway, the Salvation Army’s Central Missouri area coordinator.

Holloway said last year, the Salvation Army provided 13,120 bed nights and 45,000 meals in Columbia and 11,600 bed nights and 37,000 meals in Jefferson City.

“The programs are essential in the community because we’re providing services to individuals who simply need a helping hand,” she said. “As we’re providing that service, we’re also encouraging them.”

People can stay at the Harbor House for up to one year. Redden said the average stay is about three to four months.

Both Redden and Holloway said they try their best to find a space for people when they are full, or they’ll refer them to other shelters.

Room at the Inn has been providing a warm place to sleep at different locations around Columbia during the winter months for the past eight years.

The overnight stays for adults started this week at the Unitarian Universalist Church on Shepard Boulevard.

“There have been more guests than we expected,” said Jim Jantz, shelter operations coordinator. “We’re kind of in an out of the way location from the downtown. Our guests don’t like to wander too far from the downtown area.”

Jantz said they have 33 available beds, which have been completely filled the past two nights: “We just don’t have the space and the capacity for it. We wish we didn’t have to say no.”

The New Life Evangelistic Center and St. Francis House were also at capacity Thursday night.