No Shelter. No Excuses.

By Amy Seigel, 1-23-07

There’s no way around it—it’s darn cold outside. For most of us that translates to some minor discomfort in the morning when we go out to start our ice encrusted vehicles or go for an early, lung-chilling run. But for Utah’s homeless this cold weather is more than an inconvenience, it’s a life-threatening reality. While Salt Lake City shelters are filled to capacity, and overflow facilities are likewise taxed, Salt Lake County’s homeless advocates seem to be doing their best not to have to turn away those in need. But just one county south, in Utah County, those in need have recently, literally, been left out in the cold.

Despite being Utah’s second-largest county, Utah county has no homeless shelter. And although the Utah County Food and Care Coalition has plans in the works for a new facility that would provide 26 transitional housing units for men and 12 units for women, the coalition is still $7 million short of the $11.2 million it needs to make these plans a reality. In the meantime, there just aren’t a lot of options for those in Utah county who don’t have a warm place to sleep during these cold nights. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that while Community Action Services, a group dedicated to helping homeless families in Utah County, was able to provide housing vouchers for 157 people from 32 families over the past 5 weeks, individuals without children had to be turned away from the Food and Care Coalition due to funding shortages.

Sadly, turning people away in sub-zero temperatures can have deadly consequences. Just ask the family of Larry Edward Carter, a homeless man who was found dead in his Jeep in Provo on New Years Day. And although I don’t want to get on a soapbox or risk offending anyone’s delicate sensibilities, it does seem just the teensiest bit ironic that one of the most religious cities in the country would be so seemingly remiss in tending to such a devastating social issue. To be honest, I find it more than a little disconcerting. In a state where religious values so often take center stage, it is astonishing that people in need are struggling to get their basic needs met. Not one homeless shelter in the second-biggest county in the state. My goodness, what kind of a message does that send?

In this regard, Salt Lake City—often noted as the (semi)liberal bastion of an otherwise conservative state—is doing a pretty fine job of attempting to take care of its growing homeless population. In the face of recent federal government funding cuts, the state has indeed struggled to find the necessary cash to turn new plans for homeless housing into a reality. However, that hasn’t stopped the capital from pulling together the necessary cash to build the Sunrise Metro complex, a four story, 100 unit facility set to open in March, and working towards another housing project for South Salt Lake that would provide an additional 84 units along with a part-time health clinic, and mental health, substance abuse and job-training resources.

The most exciting news, however, is that all of us can do something, something very simple, to help the state attend to the needs of those 4,325 individuals deemed homeless by federal definition—put a few dollars (it doesn’t take much) down on line 23a of your 2004 state tax form. Any money you contribute will go directly into the Pamela Atkinson Homeless Trust Fund, a statewide trust which provides monies for services and programs to provide shelter, temporary housing, home placement, food, and career counseling for Utah’s homeless.