DENVER — On Thursday, Democratic Governor Jared Polis declared a disaster declaration as dangerously cold weather moves into Colorado. The declaration, issued verbally, activates the Colorado State Emergency Operations Plan, authorizes the Colorado National Guard to assist with resources, and directs other state agencies to assist as needed.
The state offered a list of warming shelters across Colorado, including:
List as of Jan. 11 at 7 p.m.
- United Way Cold Weather Shelter: 870 28th St., Greeley - Shelter
- Guadalupe Center: 1442 N 11th Ave., Greeley - Warming Center
- Catholic Charities: 460 Linden Center Dr., Fort Collins - Shelter
- Murphy Center: 242 Conifer St., Fort Collins, Friday-Monday: 8:00am - 5:00pm - Warming Center
- Jefferson County: Multiple Shelter Locations Posted to Severe Weather Shelter Network website
- Thornton: Call Community Connections HOTline at 720-977-5900 for locations
- Denver: Denver Navigation Campus (former Doubletree hotel) and New Directions (former Best Western hotel) overnight from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. and city recreation centers (in designated areas only) and libraries will be also available as warming centers during normal operating hours.
- Boulder: Locations listed on the City of Boulder website.
The City of Lakewood directs people to the Severe Weather Shelter Network, run by churches across Jefferson County.
But within the last year, the city opened an overflow shelter with capacity for 65 people for special circumstances like this deep freeze when additional shelter options are needed. Located at 8000 W. Colfax Ave., the overflow shelter operates between 7pm - 7am while activated.
Thursday night, the city’s homeless navigator team was trying to connect with people staying on the streets to offer options.
“We try to do some ‘pregaming,’ let people know ahead of time to make sure they know cold weather is coming,” said Princess Griffin, part of Lakewood’s Homeless Navigator team. “On a night like this, hopefully most people are going in, making plans, but it can be busy for us in Lakewood.”
In Westminster, the city is activating an emergency cold weather shelter that will be open Friday night through noon on Tuesday.
This shelter serves as an additional support system, like a back-up option, to other cold-weather services. Westminster Fire Chief Derik Minard said the city’s homeless navigators will offer people hotel vouchers first.
“That’s the first thing we try to do, place these families into hotels, and people experiencing homelessness. Then when temps gets to extreme levels, that’s when we open shelter to bring people in.”
The city’s threshold for opening the shelter is when the temperature, or wind chill, reaches zero degrees and stays there for at least six hours.
“Really want to get the word out that they have a place to go,” Chief Minard said.
Aurora activated its Cold Weather Outreach Team this week, at the temperature threshold of 20 degrees. The Aurora Day Resource Center is open 24 hours a day now through Wednesday, Jan. 17.
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