More warm spaces available for Merced’s homeless

The Merced County Rescue Mission announced that more warm spaces will be available for the homeless during cold nights.

Phil Schmauss, director of marketing at the rescue mission, said organizers are working with a local church to accommodate people seeking overnight shelter when temperatures drop to less than 40 degrees.

Those seeking shelter, however, must check in at the rescue mission first. The mission provides 22 beds for men; once those beds are full, people are transported to the homeless shelter on D Street, Schmauss said. If the rescue mission and the D Street shelter fill up, then people will be transported to the church.

Organizers chose not to disclose the name and location of the church at this time.

“The church was very generous,” Schmauss said. “We don’t want homeless individuals camping outside the church waiting for it to open. They must check in with (the rescue mission) first.”

Organizers will pay close attention to the weather forecasts each night, Schmauss said. When temperatures are expected to fall to 40 degrees or less, or if wet weather is on the way, organizers will activate the efforts.

This weekend, nighttime temperatures are expected to drop to the low 40s, meaning it would not be cold enough to mobilize the arrangement between the facilities.

These efforts are an alternative to the warming tents the rescue mission helped set up in past years. This year, no warming tents were set up due to a lack of volunteers and because last year’s tent rarely filled up, rescue mission officials have said.

The warming tents usually held 10 cots and were set up in the recreation yard of the former juvenile hall on B Street, south of 13th Street. But the warming tents did not get significantly warmer than other tents already used by people on the streets, organizers have said.

Some cities in the county use public buildings as warming shelters and pay to have them staffed. In Los Banos, the Miller & Lux Building at Sixth and I streets is opened whenever temperatures drop to less than 32 degrees on three consecutive nights, organizers have said.

According to this year’s homeless count, there are about 876 homeless adults and 23 children living on the streets in Merced County.

This story was originally published December 4, 2015 at 4:45 PM with the headline "More warm spaces available for Merced’s homeless."