A4
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TuESDAY, JANuARY 29, 2019
Shelter: ‘We’re here because ... we want you to stay alive’
Continued from Page A1
“It’s more of a regulated
center, if you will,” said
Annie Martin, who took over
as board president this sea-
son. Former president Dan
Parkison, who helped lead
the warming center through
the conditional use process,
stepped down because of
health reasons.
“I think we are just part of
the community more,” Mar-
tin said.
Soon the warming center
board will prepare to renew
the conditional use permit, a
process that went smoothly
last year. But when it comes to
really planning for the future,
Martin is waiting for the city
to finish developing rules
for warming centers in gen-
eral. City leaders postponed
the work so staff could fin-
ish drafting codes to address
Airbnb-type vacation rentals.
The warming center orga-
nizes regular cleanup crews to
patrol the neighborhood and
continues to operate under a
“zero tolerance” policy for
bad behavior — people may
be banned from the shelter if
they don’t follow the rules.
So far this season, police
have responded to the warm-
ing center four times. It is dif-
ficult to sort through the calls,
since some may have origi-
nated near the warming center
and not come from the facility
itself, but Police Chief Geoff
Spalding said there were
around 23 calls in 2018, most
of them disturbances.
Officer Kenny Hansen, the
police department’s homeless
liaison, said he fields com-
An individual’s
belongings
lie stacked
outside the
warming
center prior to
opening.
Colin Murphey
The Daily Astorian
plaints about people hang-
ing out in alcoves downtown
on nights when the warming
center is operating, waiting
for the doors to open.
Last year, as one season
ended and the board looked
ahead to the next, board mem-
bers debated how they would
continue to fund the warm-
ing center and keep paid
staff. They wondered if they
should — or even could —
make other cuts. Now, the
center is applying for more
and more grants and proac-
tively engaged in fundraising,
Miltenberger said.
“We’re going to end this
season in good shape,” she
said.
Money and volunteers
The center’s annual budget
runs around $42,000, a large
part of which pays for staff-
ing. The rest of the money
goes toward liability insur-
ance, rent, utilities and other
costs.
“If we get a significant
number of (grants) awarded
to us, that will be a big step to
sustainable funding,” Milten-
berger said.
To Miltenberger and other
board members, a challenge
as big, if not bigger, than
money is finding a way to
consistently attract and main-
tain volunteers. Around 300
people signed up at some
point to be volunteers, but
operations are still sustained
by a core group of just under
30 people.
Despite the policy changes,
the warming center’s mis-
sion is the same. The center
doesn’t allow people to bring
in drugs or alcohol and they
must turn over any weapons
for the night — often items
like pocket knives or tools —
but it remains a low-barrier
shelter.
“We’re here because no
matter what you’re doing, we
want you to stay alive,” Mar-
tin said.
Uncertain status
A longstanding concern
was that the warming center’s
uncertain status would keep
the center out of the running
for important grants.
That fear has not proven to
be true, Miltenberger said. So
far, only one organization has
cited the conditional use per-
mit as a reason not to award
grant money. Still, clear city
rules will help the center
establish firmer footing, Mar-
tin said.
Though Martin and board
members have looked at
other locations, the Meth-
odist church remains ideal.
It is already equipped with a
kitchen, showers and laundry
facilities. Besides, until the
city finalizes rules for warm-
ing centers, the warming cen-
ter would have to operate
under a conditional use per-
mit no matter where it was
located.
For a moment, the warm-
ing center was the only one
in the region after an emer-
gency shelter on Washington
state’s Long Beach Peninsula
closed for good. A warming
center in Warrenton has since
pushed to reopen, and Help-
ing Hands, which provides
services and transitional hous-
ing, opened a new facility in
Astoria that includes an emer-
gency shelter.
In December, Helping
Hands recorded 376 over-
night stays at the new shelter
in Uniontown.
The warming center,
which opens only when tem-
perature or rainfall is pre-
dicted to hit certain thresh-
olds, saw an average of
around 25 people each night
it was open last season, Mar-
tin said. After opening for
this season in mid-Novem-
ber, 236 overnight stays in 15
nights were logged by early
December.
Warming center staff hav-
en’t seen much of an increase
in the number of people seek-
ing shelter, even with the clo-
sure of the warming center
across the river, Martin said.
But it’s been a mild winter,
she noted. They have seen
more people come in for
dinner and then go back to
camps elsewhere in the city.
They have also seen more
seniors on fixed incomes who
have been priced out of their
homes.
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A night out of the cold
Kris Williamson relied on
the shelter on the Long Beach
Peninsula until it closed. He
has now traveled to stay the
night at the Astoria Warming
Center a handful of times.
“It’s a lot better than being
out in the cold and the rain and
the wind,” Williamson said as
he ate dinner at the warming
center Sunday night.
Cheryl Paul, the warming
center’s manager for the past
three years, believes policy
changes precipitated by the
city’s conditional use permit
and the good-neighbor agree-
ment have been good overall
— as onerous as the discus-
sions were at the time.
There was an adjustment
period, though, as people who
stayed at the emergency shel-
ter became accustomed to the
new rules and requirements.
“Last year there was a lit-
tle bit of resistance,” she said.
“This year, it’s the way it is.
… We have a really good
group right now.”
Things are cleaner, quieter.
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