Homeless emergency plan for cold weather is ready in Allegheny County

With freezing temperatures coming as winter approaches, Allegheny County officials have announced their emergency plan for homeless residents.

Mark Bertolet of the county’s Department of Human Services said a Code Blue Action Plan will be initiated when the National Weather Service forecasts the air temperature will fall below 26 degrees between 4 p.m. and 8 a.m.A Code Blue event means that all county homeless shelters will remain open 24 hours a day, and an additional emergency shelter will open if the existing shelters reach capacity.

The emergency shelter will add additional overflow beds to the county’s existing total. The county has 457 shelter beds, including 377 permanent and 80 overflow beds. Andy Halfhill, of the county’s Department of Human Services, said the county hopes it will add at least 15 to 20 beds.

The county’s sheltered homeless population has been hovering around 400 since July, according to the Department of Human Services. The county has identified about 200 people who are homeless and unsheltered. The homeless population living in tents has been steadily increasing since June and currently sits at just over 100.

The county’s Homeless Advisory Board voted Tuesday to recommend the county’s emergency facility be opened whenever the temperature drops below 32 degrees, in an attempt to sway the county and city to open the emergency facility immediately. Tuesday and Wednesday saw low temperatures drop below 25 degrees.

Cold-weather emergency plans across the country tend to vary their temperature cut-off points. Some start at 32 degrees while others are below 25 degrees. For example, Philadelphia’s Code Blue is initiated when the temperature feels near or 20 degrees.

The county is working in partnership with the city of Pittsburgh.

Allegheny County’s update Thursday did not offer details about where the city’s emergency shelter would be or how many beds it would have.

Halfhill said Tuesday the county’s shelter beds are close to full, which is generally the case.

It does not appear the new plan will be activated in the immediate future, given the weather forecast. According to the National Weather Service, Pittsburgh will see low temperatures above 25 degrees for the next several days.

When a Code Blue event is initiated, people seeking shelter should present themselves at the Second Avenue Shelter in Downtown Pittsburgh, said Bertolet. If the existing capacity is full, then people will be transported to the emergency shelter.

Bertolet said the county is also developing and implementing new incentive initiatives to help transition shelter guests to permanent housing faster, including increasing landlord incentive plans and expanding the list of contracted housing providers.