Merced warming tent may be open fewer days this winter

Organizers of a warming tent for homeless people in Merced are looking to change the operating policies that have been used during the past few winters, making the tent open less often.

Figuring out how to gather volunteers and keep the tarp tent in operation has been a juggling act for organizers, Merced Rescue Mission CEO Bruce Metcalf said.

The warming center opened late last winter because of the lack of staffers. Metcalf said the tent, which typically holds 10 cots and several space heaters, averaged about nine people on any given night.

He said the D Street Shelter and the Rescue Mission, which both offer beds overnight, were rarely full last winter. He argued that a warming shelter should be necessary only if the other spots are full.

“We’re still working on a place (for the tent), but the tent is not something volunteers want to come to,” he said Monday.

Maintaining volunteers over about four months of winter is unrealistic, Metcalf said. He recommended that a warming shelter of some kind be implemented only if the other shelters are full and the temperature is predicted to dip to less than 35 degrees or it is raining.

Volunteers counted 876 homeless adults and 23 children throughout the county in January, compared with last year’s 768. The number of homeless in the city of Merced was also higher at 592, compared with 476 in 2014.

Organizers have said the warming tent tends not to get significantly warmer than other tents already used by homeless people. Because the tent is relatively cold, it’s also drawn few volunteers in recent years, organizers said. Staying in the warming tent also means visitors can’t bring pets, organizers said, which makes the tent less attractive to some people living on the street.

In the past few years, the tent also has moved several times. The tent was moved from its original spot behind the Rescue Mission on Canal Street because there were concerns about the homeless that use the tent being in close proximity to children at a nearby church. Two other locations have not been successful either, organizers said.

Lt. Kimberly Boyd of Merced’s Salvation Army Corps said she’s spoken with organizers about getting the corps involved with offering shelter on the nights with inclement weather. Many of the details still need to be worked out, she said.

The shelter is more likely to work if it has a paid staff, she said. Organizers have estimated the cost to be about $5,000 for staffing for the winter months.

Keeping the tent in operation would likely take a collaboration of public agencies, churches and nonprofits, noted Mayor Stan Thurston. The council took no official vote on the tent’s future during it’s Monday meeting.

Thurston said it’s unlikely the city would front the entire cost of tent staffing, saying the tent’s past stability has been uncertain. “It’s kind of just up in the air,” he said.

This story was originally published November 3, 2015 at 7:07 PM with the headline "Merced warming tent may be open fewer days this winter."