North Texas may see its lowest temperatures in six years over the next week, and homeless shelters are working together to find space for people who may not have a place to stay.
The National Weather Service says temperatures could reach as low as 15 degrees with wind chills Saturday night through Monday ranging from -10 to 10 degrees.
"We're going to be trying to find creative spaces to get people into inclement weather beds, like hotel rooms and other facilities," says Wayne Walker, pastor and chief executive officer of OurCalling.
OurCalling is an outreach center for the homeless. The organization works with other non-profits in Dallas to find shelter for people.
Walker worked with other non-profits to develop an app to track real-time availability of shelter space in Dallas. The organization also has search and rescue teams who will seek out homeless camps to warn people about the cold and let them know about services that are available.
OurCalling is not licensed to stay open overnight, but the organization is now making a decision on whether to remain open. Walker says the facility on Cesar Chavez Blvd would "happily remain open -- and will pay the City of Dallas' fine [of $500 to $2,000] for violating the policy."
"We will do whatever is necessary to keep people safe," Walker says. "We're ready to deploy at a moment's notice."
The Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance reported 3,722 homeless people in the city in 2019. OurCalling estimates 10,000 homeless people in Dallas now.
"The homeless population has been devastated because of poverty and COVID. You add on top that this weather, and it's just a horrible recipe for disaster," Walker says. "We have more people experiencing homeless now than ever and more people becoming homeless on a daily basis than ever and very limited space in shelters."
OurCalling has received 6,000 rapid COVID tests to help people gain access to shelters. Walker says the City of Dallas had been paying for hotel rooms to house the homeless without violating capacity limits at shelters during the pandemic.
"Our partnership with the City of Dallas is really strong. They've been a really big help throughout this process, but the city is out of money for hotel rooms, so ourselves and a few of our partners have put money together to keep people in hotels. We just don't think we have enough money to keep them in there for the next four or five days," Walker says. "We know sometime in the middle of this cold weather spell, we're going to run out of money for the hotel rooms."
The OurCalling app can also be used by people who would like to help. People can donate at ourcalling.org/give