DENVER — The City of Denver said it plans to open its cold weather shelters more often this winter.
Most of the state will see snow on Tuesday, followed by a week of frigid temperatures.
“Tuesday’s high will be very cold, with no location in our forecast area expected to climb out of the 20s,” weather service forecasters in Boulder wrote Monday morning, adding that overnight lows are expected to fall into the single digits “with some locations seeing readings drop below zero.”
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Cold nights can be dangerous — and even deadly — for people sleeping outside. Denver’s Department of Housing Stability (HOST) told Denver7 the city is opening emergency weather shelters more often amid a change in criteria.
Under the city's previous criteria, temperatures needed to drop to 20 degrees or below for cold weather shelters to open. Now, it only needs to drop to 25 degrees or below, or there must be two inches of snow on the ground.
“We're anticipating about doubling the number of nights over the course of the entire winter season that will have cold weather shelter open,” said Derek Woodbury, spokesperson for HOST.
But capacity at city shelters is still a concern. Housekeys Action Network Denver (HAND) surveyed 46 unhoused people last winter. Nearly two-thirds of those who tried to access a night shelter were turned away, according to HAND, because of capacity issues, even during cold weather emergencies.
Weather News
Where to seek shelter from the cold across the Denver metro due to frigid temps
Denver7 asked the city about what progress has been made since last winter.
“Through the All In Mile High system, we expanded capacity throughout 2024,” said Woodbury. “There's roughly 3,000 beds across our system, across 25 different facilities, and there's about a dozen different nonprofit providers who are providing these mission-critical services for people in need.
“We have three extra shelter locations that we've opened up each and every night during cold weather shelter activations this year,” Woodbury added. “And we stand ready to open an additional location if needed.”
Getting the message out is also critical. Woodbury said the city has added a system where people can subscribe to text alerts to notify them when extra shelter capacity for cold weather is being added. Most of the outreach, however, happens on the street.
“We have more outreach teams than ever, you know, warning people of the dangers and the importance of coming inside,” said Woodbury.
The city’s cold weather shelter plan has been extended through 11 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 13. If you or someone you know needs to find shelter as bitterly cold weather moves into Colorado, you can find a list of shelter options in the Denver metro here.
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