Connecticut’s 211 center is seeing an increase in calls for help finding shelters as the temperatures drop.
With bitter cold temperatures in the forecast, over 100 warming shelters are open across the state until Monday.
Wind chills are expected to dip below zero, which can be life threatening for those who are unhoused.
“Stay out of the cold, stay safe, and stay warm,” Hartford Fire Chief Rodney L. Barco said.
Barco said the city is making sure there is open space at shelters for those who need a warm place to stay.
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“We do have folks that are housed in our warming shelters now,” he said. “What we’ve done is we had the ability to move those individuals that’s already been there for a few days to hotels in order to make room for new individuals that might appear, or not appear, during this cold winter snap.”
The shelters are open 24/7 and a full list can be found here. The United Way of Connecticut said their 2-1-1 line is ready to help people who need assistance throughout the weekend and beyond.
“When the governor declares this type of cold weather protocol, we spring into action to be an additional resource so that we can help immediately to get people who may be unsheltered inside, out of the cold,” Lisa Tepper Bates, president and CEO of the United Way of CT, said.
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Bates said 2-1-1 has already answered over 2,000 calls for help in recent days.
“We’re very concerned. The volume of calls, even in weather not this cold right now, in regard to inquiries about emergency shelter or assistance with housing, those calls have increased. We know that our partners who provide emergency shelter are telling us that they are full to capacity,” she said.
The increased calls and lack of overall shelter beds has them worried for the rest of the winter season.
“Even before this terrible cold weather, we knew that unsheltered homelessness, people who are living outside, on the sidewalk, out in encampments, we know those numbers have gone up. So, we are very worried about people who are unhoused in this terrible cold, knowing that there’s more this winter than we had this year," Bates said.
She said there are 104 warming shelters open across the state in 37 cities and towns. But they’re a temporary fix to the ongoing problem of homelessness.
“We are worried, we’re very worried. We go one person at a time to try and find a solution for each person who’s facing that terrible situation of having no adequate roof over their head,” Bates said. “We know that people can die. So we’re very, very careful to work quickly and get everyone who calls us inside.”
